Check the label!!

Do you Watch what's in your diet and I'm NOT talking calories?

Ultra Processed food is the biggest threat to your body in terms of weightloss and more importantly health and most worryingly it's designed to be over consumed.

So here we are. Here's a summary of the science behind how UPF (Ultra Processed Food) affects the human body.

The destruction of the food matrix by physical chemical, and thermal processing means that UPF is in general soft.

This means you eat it fast, which means you eat. Which means you consume Far more calories per minute and you don't feel full until long after you've finished. (remember food manufacturers, by law, are allowed to misquote Calories on packaging by up to 20%. It also potentially reduces spatial bone, size and bone density, leading to dental problems.

Secondly UPF, typically, has a very high calorie density because it's dry and high in fat and sugar and low in fibre. So you get more calories per mouthful.. Remember that 20% error rate and thats just just restricted to calories.. But fats, sugar and salt content.

Third, it displaces diverse whole foods from the diet, especially among low income groups, An ultra processed food itself is often micronutrient deficient, which may also contribute to excess consumption.

Fourth, those mismatches between taste signals from the mouth, and the nutrition content that arrives in the gut alters metabolism, and appetite in ways that we're only beginning to understand, but that seemed to drive excess consumption.

Fifth, ultra-processed food is addictive. Meaning that for some people binges are unavoidable.

Sixth the emulsifiers preservatives modified starches and other additives damage our microbiomes allowing inflammatory bacteria to flourish and causing our guts to leak.

Seventh the convenience price and marketing of UPF, urges us to eat constantly and without thought which leads to more snacking that's doing faster, eating and increase consumption and tooth decay

Eight. The additives, and physical processing mean that UPF affects our satiety system directly and other additives may affect brain and endocrine function and plastics from the packaging might affect fertility.

And Ninth, the production methods used to make UPF require expensive subsidy and drive environmental destruction carbon emissions and plastic pollution which harm us all.

UPF has been scientifically proven to create obesity.

So what is ultra Processed food.. Well check the packaging and ingredients list. With the exception of Fresh Fruit and vegetables if its packaged in plastic of any type it's processed and if there is anything on the ingredients list you don't recognise it's UPF. Check out the Nova Food classification too.

I work with the 80/20 rule as much as I can 80% whole foods. No one wants you to be miserable and eat like a monk and we haven't all got time to prepare whole meals or batch cook.. but you can still make better choices even if you're short on time.

Be mindful if your diet is 80% or even 60% loaded towards UPF.. It's not a good way to eat for your general health.