Today, ultra-processed foods are everywhere you look – from your cereal at breakfast to the shop-bought sandwich on your lunch break, and weekday dinners to weekend takeaways.
UPFs can be defined as food that has gone through a lot of processes and contain ingredients we wouldn’t add if cooking from scratch at home.
And recent research found that adolescents’ diets are typically made up of two-thirds of UPFs, according to the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey.
Chef and food writer Melissa Hemsley says it’s “quite terrifying”, and “it doesn’t look like it’s in any way stopping”.
This year a study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) found “convincing evidence” that higher UPF intake was associated with around a 50% increased risk of cardiovascular disease related death, a 48% higher risk of anxiety and common mental health disorders and a 12% greater risk of type 2 diabetes.
“It’s causing alarm bells for all the different parts of the medical profession,” says Hemsley.
UPFs aren’t always easy to spot either, so many of us may not even realise how many we’re eating. Sweets and fizzy drinks, for example, are obvious culprits you might already try to limit, but even packaged smoothies, protein bars, stock cubes and bottled sauces all count.
Hemsley doesn’t think it’s down to cost-saving necessarily. “The argument that whole foods can be as cheap as UPFs, I don’t think, in reality, comes true for a lot of people. But the most important [reason], I think why people are eating so many ultra-processed foods is the convenience factor.
“Because we’re all busier than ever, more stressed than ever, and it seems that our mental health and physical health is poorer than ever.”
It’s why the 38-year-old is on a mission to help people cut the amount of UPFs down in their diet, with easy and convenient whole food recipes in her new cookbook – her 6th – Real Healthy.
Here’s her advice to redress the balance.
Identify your tricky spots
“A lot of people told me breakfast and lunch were their tricky spots,” says Hemsley – typical times when they would reach for the convenience of UPFs.
“So I thought, why don’t I make them the sweet spots where I focus my energy on recipes? So grab-and-go breakfasts, packed lunches you’ll genuinely look forward to,” says the mum-of-one, along with working-from-home lunches that are quick to whip up.
“When we’re working from home, we have a bit more of a luxury [to use a kitchen] but that doesn’t mean necessarily that just because we saved on commute time, we have any more time in the day.”
Think berry almond butter overnight oats or green beans on toast for breakfast, and sweet potato, chickpea and avocado salad with tahini dressing for lunch.
If you find yourself reaching for a pre-packaged meals for dinner, Hemsley recommends doing easy traybakes, like her harissa chicken with potato wedges, roasted lemon and spring onions, or meals that only require one pot you throw everything into – think one-pot lasagna or puttanesca bean gratin.
Stock up on the right long-lasting ingredients
Hemsley recommends using frozen vegetables frequently – and if you always have some in the freezer, you’ll always have the building blocks of a quick meal on hand.
“It’s about building your kitchen up to make it work for you. So making sure you’ve got a couple of things that you really rely on in the cupboard, a couple of things in the freezer,” she says.
Handy frozen items include: frozen leafy greens (“Which means I’m not buying fresh bagged greens that go off quickly and are way more expensive”), berries, edamame beans, peas, sweetcorn and mixed vegetables.
Pick up “a tin of beans you’ve never tried before, don’t overthink it, just any bean, whatever is cheapest”, she adds.
Meal prep with a base component
Hemsley suggests prepping one sauce that you can use in multiple meals throughout the week. A tomato-based sauce is really handy. “It’s one of the most bought ingredients, jarred pasta sauces, or in plastic, they’re expensive and you don’t necessarily know what’s in them and I find them not that filling,” she says.
“I’ve done mine with red lentils which just melt down into the sauce in 18 minutes, bulk it out, add lovely fibre, make it creamy, and I use that once as a sauce for pasta, then I turn it into a soup and have it with a cheese toasty, then I might have it with shakshuka-style eggs or use it as a base for chilli con carne or any kind of stew.”
Eat more mindfully
If we pay closer attention to our moods and energy levels, it may become clearer that the food we choose is often linked. “I talk about mindful eating – as long as it doesn’t make your eyes roll – but really thinking about if you’re eating food and it really makes you feel dreadful,” says Hemsley.
“Say I didn’t eat whole foods for a few days, I know that I will be way more of a pain to be around. I will be irritable, I will be moody, my blood sugar levels will be crashing, I might find it harder to sleep.
“I know a lot of people who work in the education system will say they can see a difference when children eat certain foods, in their concentration, disruption levels and their general moods.”
Real Healthy by Melissa Hemsley is published in hardback by Ebury Press, priced £26. Photography by Lizzie Mayson. Available now
