Ultra Processed Foods - Your Alternatives?
Discussion
As a former fat 
and now slightly less fat that's now found an interest in fitness in the last few years. I'm now a regular the gym, a religious calorie counter and am generally trying to ensure that I don't end up as a weak and feeble, pot bellied, red nosed geriatric by the time I reach 65 presuming I even last that long.
I've recently discovered Eddie Abbew on Instagram. For those who aren't familiar, Eddie is a former body builder and gym owner turned influencer based on the advocatacy of eating only natural foods and avoiding ultra processed foods.
I appreciate that he Is neither medically trained or a nutritionalist in any capacity and his claims of UPFs causing chronic illness need to be taken with a pinch of salt until he can otherwise back them up factually but he makes a lot of sense. At the very least he is amusing in his delivery of his content.
Based on this (and many other sources berating the proliferation of the modern diet with UPFs) I've decided to cut back as much as possible on UPFs and see if the claims of increased well-being, more energy, better focus and the ability to better maintain weight are true.
Anyone else following this track? If so, what have you replaced your every day UPFs with?
and now slightly less fat that's now found an interest in fitness in the last few years. I'm now a regular the gym, a religious calorie counter and am generally trying to ensure that I don't end up as a weak and feeble, pot bellied, red nosed geriatric by the time I reach 65 presuming I even last that long.I've recently discovered Eddie Abbew on Instagram. For those who aren't familiar, Eddie is a former body builder and gym owner turned influencer based on the advocatacy of eating only natural foods and avoiding ultra processed foods.
I appreciate that he Is neither medically trained or a nutritionalist in any capacity and his claims of UPFs causing chronic illness need to be taken with a pinch of salt until he can otherwise back them up factually but he makes a lot of sense. At the very least he is amusing in his delivery of his content.
Based on this (and many other sources berating the proliferation of the modern diet with UPFs) I've decided to cut back as much as possible on UPFs and see if the claims of increased well-being, more energy, better focus and the ability to better maintain weight are true.
Anyone else following this track? If so, what have you replaced your every day UPFs with?
Some great replies and I'll certainly look into Dr Idz, Dr Chris Van Tulleken, Drs Joey Munoz and Layne Norton. It's great to have a rounded view on subjects from many diverse sources. The UPF thing is relatively new on my radar with discovering Eddie and I've never really thought that much of UPFs provided they fit into my calorie and macro goals.
I am familiar with James Smith but his whole 'be suspicious of everyone else, they are trying to sell you something but btw would you like to be a part of my personal training program for only £x per month' and 'I won't spam you like everyone else but please give me your email so I can send you a marketing email dressed up as advice every day' schtick wears thin after a while despite him having some really good content on fat loss and being quite entertaining to watch. His latest venture seems to be based on every man and his dog is selling courses on how to be a PT but please spend £1000's on my course and you to can then train people to train other people to be PTs. It's like a reinvention of the FOREX traders course scam.
Perhaps I understated my current position in the OP. I'm down to 77kg from 105kg 4 years ago and previous to my last bulk I was 68kg with 10-12% BF and visible abs. Despite being 68kg and low body fat I was still on the healthy/overweight boarder of the BMI chart for my height/ weight and am now firmly in the overweight category again hence the slightly less fat. I appreciate the advise on fat loss in general that has been given though 
My aim of this exercise is to be aware of and avoid where possible foods that have excess additives and 'st' in them. Bread for example should have less than 5 ingredients in but regular shop bought wholemeal can have as many as 15. My long term favorite breakfast of crumpets with peanut butter on them turned out to be chocked full of palm oil, preservatives and whole load of other additives.
Having lost most of the weight that I gained in my 20's, I'm now trying to navigate the treacherous waters of gaining and retaining muscle in my 30's having been a life long weakling (prior to being a fat), with potentially naturally falling test levels as I age and without resorting to TRT or other PEDs to fill in the gaps. Part of this is being able to maximise the benefits of sleep, recovery and diet. If these internet experts are to be believed, UPFs are big problem on this front and should be eliminated as much as possible.
What I do struggle with is being able to find sweet treats that aren't laced with sugar and/or aspartame based sweeteners. I dislike most fruits (which is part of the reason why I ended up a fat in the first place) so outside of a small bowl of oats, honey and some nuts I'm out of ideas.
I am familiar with James Smith but his whole 'be suspicious of everyone else, they are trying to sell you something but btw would you like to be a part of my personal training program for only £x per month' and 'I won't spam you like everyone else but please give me your email so I can send you a marketing email dressed up as advice every day' schtick wears thin after a while despite him having some really good content on fat loss and being quite entertaining to watch. His latest venture seems to be based on every man and his dog is selling courses on how to be a PT but please spend £1000's on my course and you to can then train people to train other people to be PTs. It's like a reinvention of the FOREX traders course scam.
Perhaps I understated my current position in the OP. I'm down to 77kg from 105kg 4 years ago and previous to my last bulk I was 68kg with 10-12% BF and visible abs. Despite being 68kg and low body fat I was still on the healthy/overweight boarder of the BMI chart for my height/ weight and am now firmly in the overweight category again hence the slightly less fat
. I appreciate the advise on fat loss in general that has been given though My aim of this exercise is to be aware of and avoid where possible foods that have excess additives and 's
t' in them. Bread for example should have less than 5 ingredients in but regular shop bought wholemeal can have as many as 15. My long term favorite breakfast of crumpets with peanut butter on them turned out to be chocked full of palm oil, preservatives and whole load of other additives. Having lost most of the weight that I gained in my 20's, I'm now trying to navigate the treacherous waters of gaining and retaining muscle in my 30's having been a life long weakling (prior to being a fat
), with potentially naturally falling test levels as I age and without resorting to TRT or other PEDs to fill in the gaps. Part of this is being able to maximise the benefits of sleep, recovery and diet. If these internet experts are to be believed, UPFs are big problem on this front and should be eliminated as much as possible. What I do struggle with is being able to find sweet treats that aren't laced with sugar and/or aspartame based sweeteners. I dislike most fruits (which is part of the reason why I ended up a fat
in the first place) so outside of a small bowl of oats, honey and some nuts I'm out of ideas. oddman said:
Sensible advice. I think the evidence linking UPFs and obesity (and associated disease T2DM cancer heart disease etc.) is very persuasive. They are essentially calorie dense, ultrapalatable, low satiety foods. Whether there are direct links with the components of UPFs and disease remains to be seen.
I'm currently calorie counting to get in shape for ski touring. I find that the best way to fill up is unprocessed foods, especially veg. and protein and that UPFs are very wasteful of the calorie allowance and not satisfying. A current meal for example is savoy cabbage onion and garlic fried in olive oil then and braised with tinned tomatoes then baked with home made meatballs a couple of eggs and a small amount of cheese grated on top. Comes out about the same as standard meatballs and spaghetti but is much more filling.
Home made soups are also very satisfying.
You have to commit to a certain amount of organisation in shopping, meal planning, batch cooking etc.
Very good post. I've certainly become very experienced with calorie counting and when at 'peak counting' I can have 3 good meals a day and a snack and be within a 1600 calorie target.I'm currently calorie counting to get in shape for ski touring. I find that the best way to fill up is unprocessed foods, especially veg. and protein and that UPFs are very wasteful of the calorie allowance and not satisfying. A current meal for example is savoy cabbage onion and garlic fried in olive oil then and braised with tinned tomatoes then baked with home made meatballs a couple of eggs and a small amount of cheese grated on top. Comes out about the same as standard meatballs and spaghetti but is much more filling.
Home made soups are also very satisfying.
You have to commit to a certain amount of organisation in shopping, meal planning, batch cooking etc.
That recipe sounds great and right up my street.
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