A man almost dropped a stone by cutting out just one type of food – a decision he made after being “outraged” by what he saw in the mirror.
Steffan Rhys, editor of WalesOnline, ECHO’s sister title, said he had changed his eating habits earlier this year by making “simple changes”. He said they were so simple that he continues to maintain the new lifestyle well past his initial one-month goal.
Steffan stopped eating ultra-processed foods and started feeling better almost immediately.
READ MORE: Dire warning signs as cases of medieval disease spread across England
READ MORE: The latest advice from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs warns against travel to Turkey, Mexico, Thailand and Egypt
He wrote: ‘The way we buy food, our busy lives, plus considerations around cost and convenience, all have a major influence on the type of food sold and the food we eat. This also applies to the profit margins of the multinational companies that produce it. .
“The supermarket shelves are full of ultra-processed foods, so much so that it seems difficult to avoid them. But actually, it’s not that difficult at all, and all you need to do is eat fresh fruits and vegetables.”
He adds that some of the most common ultra-processed foods (or UPFs) include:
- supermarket packaged bread
- cereal and muesli
- flavored yogurt
- chocolate, cookies and chips
- energy and granola bars
- carbonated drinks
- ready-made meals in the microwave
Steffan said the big shockers for him were granola and flavored yogurt. He added: “Before this year, I would eat granola for breakfast every day, assuming it was healthy.
“Because I ate it with fruit and, you guessed it, flavored yogurt, I thought I was starting the day healthy. In fact, I eat a ton of sugar and ultra-processed ingredients for breakfast.”
It’s important to remember, Steffan continues, that not all variations of everything mentioned above are ultra-processed. You may find a ready-made meal or a particular brand of granola that is not ultra-processed.
It’s also important to remember that people have been too process food for thousands of years. Bread, butter, cheese and (healthier) yoghurt are all processed foods. But ultra-processed food is one step further.
Professor Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, says: “Plain yoghurt, nothing added, nothing changed, is incorporated because you mix a basic ingredient, milk, with microbes. You create something, that is process. It’s when you take it to the next stage… [adding] various starches, emulsifiers, concentrates, artificial sweeteners and flavorings… that same yogurt is ultra-processed.
“It’s that extra step that’s the biggest problem. It’s when chemicals you don’t find in your kitchen are added to food that has been stripped of all its goodness… to make it look like food again.”
Dr. Chris Van Tulleken, an infectious disease doctor at University College London, BBC science presenter and bestselling author of Ultra Processed People, gave this simple one-sentence definition of ultra-processed food on the Zoe podcast: “If it’s wrapped in plastic and it If it contains at least one ingredient not normally found in the kitchen, then it is ultra-processed food.”
Dr. Van Tulleken also undertook an experiment where he ate 80% UPFs for a month. At the end of the experiment he said he felt ‘ten years older’, had gained a stone in weight, and said he ‘felt [himself] much more frequent cravings for food.”
Steffan says UPF is sneaky. He considered himself fairly healthy, exercising most days, eating a “decent amount of fruits and vegetables” and avoiding convenience foods.
But he also consumed things like sandwiches made with grocery store bread, or barbecue sauce, or mayonnaise, without thinking about it.
After removing UPF from his diet, Steffan felt much better and lost 10 pounds. He said: “I can run a 10k a little more comfortably, but that could also be down to the gradual process of moving a bit more. I also notice that I feel hungry less often.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m hungry by noon. But that’s better than being starving at 10am… I have two young children and a stressful job, so I don’t sleep well and I still feel always quite tired regularly.
“I have no expertise in science or nutrition and it’s been far too short a period of time to determine any kind of long-term benefits, but the Zoe website says ‘regardless of your age, if you switch from a unhealthy to a healthy diet, ‘You will likely see improvements in your cholesterol levels, blood sugar levels, inflammation and weight (Prof Spector gives two foods here to reduce inflammation and improve joint pain)’.
Here are Steffan’s best tips for eating fewer UPFs:
- cut out pre-made sauces and make them from scratch (you can make mayonnaise with four ingredients, and the same goes for pesto and hummus, which are delicious and go great with carrots, celery, or fresh sourdough bread)
- beans are tastier than anyone ever imagined – stock up on cans and cook them with spices (black beans and fresh cilantro and lime make a great side dish)
-
Nuts are great: they are filling, healthy and taste great raw, but they are even better cooked (dry fry them in a pan until golden brown and add them to chopped chicken or a baked vegetable dish)
- listen to the Zoe podcast – it makes food and nutrition so much easier to understand
- Eggs go with most things and can be used in many different meals
-
eat the rainbow: this just means mixing and matching plant foods with different colors. Food variety is important and different colors mean different compounds and good chemicals that benefit your health
- You don’t have to make meat the centerpiece of a meal. I haven’t given up meat, which shouldn’t be allowed in my house anyway, but there has been a gradual shift from big, meaty middles to a wider variety of filling and satisfying vegetable dishes
- fat is fine: nuts, avocado, olive oil, yogurt are all full of healthy fats. It’s the unhealthy fats and sugars in UPFs and meat that you should try to limit
- you don’t have to delete anything at all; even modest improvements will have corresponding benefits (I know there will definitely be a Friday night when I just want to score some Tony’s Chocolonely).
Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and current updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here