U.P.F.’s – What’s the deal?
Most foods in the supermarkets have been through an element of processing but UPF’s are defined by their high level of processing and multiple ingredient lists.
The usual suspects are often staples in our cupboards such as biscuits, sliced bread and cereals.
This level of processing is known to decrease nutrients and many of the chemicals used to increase palatability, shelf life, emulsify and sweeten products are associated with gut disorders, heart disease, obesity and many other diseases. In short, they are most definitely bad for our health. It would be very difficult to avoid them completely in the western world but we can take simple steps to reduce them and make healthier choices in our supermarket shops:
- Shop freely for single ingredient foods (fruit, veg, dairy, meat, eggs etc)
- Spend time label reading on your regular groceries – if you don’t recognise the ingredients try and find an alternative. Check out my http://www.flourishnutrition.co.uk/category/jen-loves/ blog section for suggestions. This is really helpful for the daily staples!
- Look at the freezer section, freezing can negate the need for preservatives and emulsifiers, it can also make better quality, organic or fresher produce more affordable and also pre-chopped veg can make batch cooking rather than buying takeaways seem more achievable
- If you don’t eat it very often don’t worry – it’s what you do every day that counts, not what you do on special occasions 🙂