Why we go on about cutting processed carbs:

[PMRpro]

theguardian.com/food/2020/f...

A good read I thought and some scientific basis to why we lose weight as a result

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

‘Tis a good read.

But to really achieve anything there needs to be millions spent on educating parents, and children alike.... and make cooking from scratch look the simple/quick/enjoyable and invariably cheaper option it is.

While it’s too easy to buy processed meals (although I have to hold my hand up and confess I have a few in freezer at the moment for obvious reasons), busy people will continue to make that choice.

The school curriculum doesn’t help either...I know we need scientists and mathematicians, but we also need chefs and food experts.

I’m just off to have a beef curry that I did make from scratch post operation.

[SheffieldJane]

enlightening and thought provoking.

[piglette]

As I understand it, the reason for people eating processed foods is that they are cheaper than cook from scratch type goods, so we now have the situation of obesity where the individual, normally a child, is actually malnourished.

My sister and I have a game of having a basket of the cheapest “natural” things we can find and still have a good diet. We have found that so far porridge and sardines are cheap, but it is quite difficult to find cheap, good foods.

[scats]

Very interesting thanks for posting.

[Hidden]

I was discussing larger people with my friend a while back and she was saying when she was young lots of older people/women were cuddly and no one blinked. She grew up in ww2 in a small village where most of the food was grown in gardens and allotments. I grew up in the 60s/70s when much of the UPF started to appear and I can remember most women were always dieting and buying ski yoghurt. Now well known diet brands have UUPF meals in store freezers... (yes added extra U to denote everything even more stripped out than other non diet UPF). I have tried all the diets since the 1980s when I reached full adulthood. In a previous post in one of my previous iterations I discuss yoyo dieting. This article spoke to my experience of those products. I am leaning towards a weekly organic box from the local wholefood shop. This might just push me to a 3 month trial. Useful post as always pmrpro. 👍

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Hidden]

Germanic ladies of a certain age are what can only be described as solidly cuddly. But it is a very different sort of buxom - due to a very different sort of diet.

[Blearyeyed in reply to PMRpro]

I have seen a lot of Germanic ladies and gentlemen on my foreign travels , I have to say I would describe them as Sporty Stocky , and I was amazed at how well and muscular they looked as they seemed to have insatiable appetites for everything.

[Constance13 in reply to PMRpro]

Not so in the north. More slim than fat here. Or is it that I live in a health resort!?!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Constance13]

There is a special cut of jacket for Bavarian gentlemen ...

[Constance13 in reply to PMRpro]

I know! When we lived down there D tried to buy one - he only weighed 70 kilos and they were nearly all too 'sloppy'. As I only weighed 55 kilos a 'Dirndl' didn't look good on me either.

[Hildalew in reply to Hidden]

Remember the expression 'middle-aged-spread' - usually (possibly exclusively) applied to women?

[Hidden in reply to Hildalew]

Yes. I am sure the women she discussed were all 50plus.

[Joaclp]

Thank you for this interesting article, PMRPRO. I especially liked reading about the sceptic physicist's experiment. I lost the 60 lbs I had gained on 18 years of prednisone for multiple autoimmune conditions by eating a very very low carb diet for a year. Just lost another 10 on healthy eating! I have wanted to read something scientific about why/how pred affects the metabolism of carbs. Generally has to do with insulin production?

When I had a very high-pressure job, I would have Coke and cookies to keep me going and then cycle through sugar highs and lows!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Joaclp]

The pred triggers the body to release random spikes of glucose - which trigger release of too much insulin. Much the same as these ultra processed foods and artificial sweeteners - which leave lots of insulin floating around to make surplus carbs into fat deposits ... And bathe cells in insulin so they become resistent.

[Joaclp]

Thanks again.

[scats]

This has really got me thinking. Basically it expresses something I have felt for years. I taught in a very poor area and many of the parents were obese, I always put it down to poor processed diet.

Then why am I fat?

I don't buy processed foods, I have made all our food since I had to give up work 25 years ago, as a way of saving money, and mainly eat whole foods. I had snacks, but they were always home made.

There must be other factors involved, probably genetics in my case as all my family are overweight. Activity plays a part too.

I would love the solution to be as simple as don't eat UPF. I'm sure it's important, but I doubt this alone will solve the problem.

[Grammy80 in reply to scats]

I think there are many factors that contribute too. For me I think much of it is lack of excercise since hip replacement and hip revision. I became pretty sedentary. Now I would like to concentrate of which foods will help with inflammation....I need to be a bit more stabilized before I can concentrate on it. I'm a 16...my small sizes are but a memory...but that's ok.... 😉You go gal~

[scats in reply to Grammy80]

Very similar to me!

[Grammy80 in reply to scats]

I may remember those small sizes....but I also remember when everything I owned in 2013 was a 3X....mostly emotional eating....I did lose 125 pounds by changing my habits!! and diet. Ever hear of Forks over Knives? That was the meal plan, plant based eating. There are some recipies on the internet. 😉😉if you are interested.

[scats in reply to Grammy80]

I've got masses thanks, I'm always looking.

[Ciar in reply to scats]

Not eating upf doesn’t stop me from gaining either. Even with lots of exercise, if I don’t watch calories and carbs (especially) I will expand. Prednisone or no prednisone. I grew up in a high baking, high sugar home, and genetics doesn’t help either. Bring on the famine...I would be a survivor 😂

[scats in reply to Ciar]

At least we will know we are not alone, even if it will take us a long time to find each other!

[Theziggy]

Poorer families have to eat more processed foods than natural 'good' foods due to economic reasons. Sad but true.

[tangocharlie in reply to Theziggy]

That's something that's often said but I'm not sure is true and I'm sure Jamie Oliver did a programme on it. I went on one of his learn to cook courses in Leeds market once, it was great, virtually free but not many people on it. People just don't know, or maybe it's don't want, to cook anymore (sweeping generalisation klaxon sound!). You see the programmes on food banks and they give out loads of sugary cereals, white bread because that's what people want or think you have to do. One of the most common questions for people starting low carb or keto diet is what to do for breakfast. The simplest answer is anything you eat at other times or leftovers from the night before, but we've been conditioned by the like of Mr Kellog that there are certain things we should eat in the morning like cereals and bread and pop tarts and orange juice and pastries. You can make family meals such as cottage pie, stews, soups, pasta bakes, roast chicken and veg for not much more than turkey twizzlers and oven chips.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to tangocharlie]

Helps knowing how to use cheap cuts of meat of course. In Italy the cheapest meal is pasta asciutta which is healthy - but now the supermarkets are full of the most appalling junk and you see loads of overweight Italian kids. Very few here though - too busy playing football or skiing/biking up and down mountains...

[Highlandtiger in reply to tangocharlie]

A lot of people in temporary accommodation who use food banks don’t actually have the means or facilities to cook anything there hence the inclusion of food that doesn’t need cooking or heating which often is, unfortunately, sugary.

[Theziggy in reply to tangocharlie]

A lot of people don't make home cooked meals any more.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Theziggy]

True - but saying you haven't time is just a get-out. Italians come home for lunch and they sit down to freshly cooked pasta - the sauce takes the same time as the pasta. And it is cheap and easy. But above all - no added sugar and "stuff".

[Grammy80]

Tons of great information there!! A little more stabiliaztion and I hope to get into a much healthier regimen. Good guide!! Thanks...

[tangocharlie]

Excellent read thank you. I have a general theory that anything that comes in a cardboard box or cellophane and has a long shelf life is about as nutritional and good for you as eating the box/bag it comes in! And anything with 'added vitamins' - it just means added chemicals which are not real vitamins. I once googled what 'modified' means as in something like modified corn starch and it can mean anything including irradiated, and as for MSG..... I despair for people's health when I see them piling up trolleys of cereals, biscuits, fizzy drinks etc. Of course there must be a few exceptions, eg oats.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to tangocharlie]

Some pasta is really good quality protein - certain ones are made with eggs and high quality flour. But it keeps for ages ...

[Constance13 in reply to PMRpro]

I'm not keen on pasta but they sell spaghetti made of lentils here. I break them up and put them in soups.

[tangocharlie in reply to Constance13]

I think I've seen lentil pasta in Sainsbury's. I get buckwheat pasta because it's gluten free and not wheat. Still a carb so only in moderation

[Theziggy in reply to Constance13]

I often (but probably not often enough) make courghetti spaghetti - just courgettes cut into spaghetti width pieces and sauted for a while - really nice.

[Constance13 in reply to Theziggy]

That's the sort of "pasta"😂😂 I like.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Constance13]

The pasta is really just the vehicle for the sauce - Italians are very fussy about which shape goes with which sauce!

[Constance13 in reply to PMRpro]

I really don't like pasta of any sort but I buy the sauces from our local Italian restaurant. Delicious!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Constance13]

Now that's a plus!! Not a lot of choice here though - no-one makes bol sauce like mine either ...

[Constance13 in reply to PMRpro]

Do you cook the tomatoes for four hours?? Our Italian friend says you MUST!! If I make my own I use tomato paste and cook for 20 minutes. 😊😊

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Constance13]

Tinned chopped - being as I can't be bothered to buy the tomatoes for sauce in autumn and make my own. Most Italians use good quality tinned toms too. I do cook the meat sauce for quite a long time though and watch the butcher mince it for me from the piece of stewing steak.

[Constance13 in reply to PMRpro]

👍