Getting UPFs out of your life

Think about the last meal you ate, how much of it do you think was processed, and how much was ultra-processed?

It would be very hard to avoid all forms of processing – and that’s not the goal.

Processes like cooking, smoking, salting, and even canning are ancient techniques that have nourished people and been necessary for centuries.

However, Ultra-Processed Foods are entirely different. They’re industrially created, designed to be addictive, and primarily made to maximise profits – not health.

What are UPFs?

The boundary between processed and ultra-processed foods can sometimes feel tricky, but here’s a simple example:

• An apple is unprocessed.
• Home-made apple sauce or apple pie is processed but still wholesome.
• A frozen apple pie packed with additives to enhance flavour, shelf life, and marketability? That’s ultra-processed.

UPFs are filled with ingredients you’d never find in your kitchen, such as high-fructose corn syrup, modified starches, artificial flavourings, and emulsifiers – all derived from just 8 base foods (corn, soy, wheat, sugar, etc.). These are broken down into powders and pastes to create long-lasting, cheap, addictive products.

Why are UPFs a problem?

• They drive overeating: UPFs are energy-dense, low in nutrients, and engineered to override your fullness hormones, making it incredibly easy to overeat.
• They harm your health: Excessive consumption has been linked to obesity, diabetes, cancer, dementia, and more.
• They’re addictive: UPFs provide an instant ‘reward’ with minimal effort – and who doesn’t love an easy reward?
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You may have seen on TV Dr. Chris van Tulleken’s 30-day experiment eating 80% UPFs. The results? Weight gain, stress, poor sleep, and what surprised me most were changes in brain wiring that left him craving more.

He later found it hard to give up UPFs, even though they began to disgust him. Today, he’s entirely abstinent.

How to start reducing UPFs

Think of UPFs as products, not food: Real food nourishes you, it doesn’t make you ill.

Educate yourself, don’t restrict yourself: Learning about UPFs is more empowering than forbidding yourself from eating them. You may naturally find you want to cut down or stop.

Embrace simplicity: Focus on whole, minimally processed foods. For example:

Replace sugary cereals with oats or homemade granola.

Swap industrial snacks for one-ingredient snacks such as nuts, seeds, or fresh fruit.

Reclaim cooking and preparation: Planning, prepping, and cooking are part of what we’re designed to do! If your life feels too busy for these, it might be time to reassess priorities? Could you try listening to music or a podcast whilst you cook to make it feel like a treat?

Consider who you’re supporting: The food system is designed to extract money from you, not feed you. UPFs are heavily marketed by corporations focused on profit, not health. So, ask yourself: Who do you want to give your financial support to?

Even small, consistent changes can make a huge difference to your health and wellbeing. So just take small steps and perhaps start with looking at all of the ingredients in what you eat.

Another early step could be planning your food shopping and meals a bit better. Here's a recorded a meal planning masterclass for you where you can get a month's worth of meals organised in one hour! It's £10, you can find out more here