SHOULD I BE AVOIDING ULTRA-PROCESSED FOODS?
We hear a lot about how we should be trying to eat foods in their most whole form, cooking from scratch where we can and trying to avoid ready-made snacks which are full of lots of preservatives, emulsifiers and sweeteners. Whilst there is a lot of truth in this, we don’t want to be demonising certain foods and so I think it’s important to get clear on exactly what these ultra processed foods are and how they differ from processed foods.
Processed foods
These have been altered in some way during the preparation process, however, this is often minimal and includes processes such as canning, freezing, cooking or drying. This does not automatically make them ‘unhealthy’ contrary to common belief!
Tinned beans are a great example here - full of fibre, plant protein and lots of other beneficial vitamins and minerals, these have undergone a process to take them from freshly picked beans to now being stored in a tin and yet we wouldn’t consider them to be unhealthy - quite the opposite in fact!
Ultra-processed foods (UPFs)
These have undergone industrial level processes meaning they no longer resembles the original ingredient. UPFs tend to contain high levels of saturated fat, sugar and salt, making them highly addictive and we should be mindful of how much of and how often we are consuming these.
For example, corn tortillas chips would be considered an ultra-processed food as they have undergone various methods of processing and had numerous emulsifiers, flavourings and preservatives added to them to go from corn to a tortilla chip.
Unfortunately, due to clever marketing and inaccurate food labels, many of us are choosing foods which are advertised as being ‘healthy’ but are in fact ultra processed. Examples of these include protein bars, flavoured yoghurts, breakfast cereals and so it’s important to be mindful when opting for packaged goods as we can’t always believe what we read on the labels.
Why are UPFs so addictive?
Even when we know that they’re not massively beneficial for our health, it can be challenging to stop eating these UPFs. This is because food manufacturers know exactly which combinations of sugar, other refined carbs and fat really appeal to our taste buds meaning that these UPFs taste so moreish and we struggle to eat just 1 pringle or 1 square of dairy milk and end up wanting more. These flavours appeal to our brain's reward system and therefore we’re encouraged to go back.
Recent research has shown that around 60% of the UK population’s diets are made up of these ultra processed foods rather than freshly prepared dishes and this isn’t that surprising considering 70% of products sold in supermarkets are ultra processed. It’s hard to be making informed food choices when these products are literally everywhere and often marketed as a ‘healthy’ option. Ease and convenience also play a role here and whilst it’s often assumed that cooking from scratch is super time consuming, it doesn’t have to be!
What are the impacts of consuming UPFs?
Consuming UPFs has been shown to negatively affect our gut health by potentially disrupting the balance of bacteria within our gut microbiome, creating a state of dysbiosis. The state of our gut health can directly influence our energy levels, mood, immune function, metabolism, skin health and so much more and therefore, limiting our intake of UPFs can help to avoid negative effects on all areas of our health.
Rather than trying to instil a sense of fear around any of these foods, hopefully this gives you a better insight into exactly what processed and ultra-processed foods are why it’s good to be mindful of how often we’re consuming these, rather than cooking from scratch. Nobody is perfect and we all turn to these from time to time - there’s nothing wrong with that as long as the majority of our snacks and meals are made up of real, whole foods.