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Far 2 Fabulous
Join Catherine & Julie, your feisty hosts at Far 2 Fabulous, as they lead you on a wellness revolution to embrace your fabulousness.
Julie, a Registered Nutritional Therapist with over 20 years of expertise, and Catherine, a former nurse turned Pilates Instructor and Vitality Coach, blend wisdom and laughter seamlessly.
Off the air, catch them harmonising in their local choir and dancing to 80's hits in superhero attire. Catherine braves the sea for year-round swims, while Julie flips and tumbles in ongoing gymnastics escapades.
With a shared passion for women's health and well-being, they bring you an engaging exploration of health, life, and laughter. Join us on this adventure toward a more fabulous and empowered you!
Far 2 Fabulous
Food Fraud: How Ultra-Processed Foods Are Silently Changing Your Body
Episode 66
The food landscape has dramatically shifted in recent decades, with a staggering 80% of UK shopping trolleys now filled with processed items. This transformation has happened so quickly that many of us haven't noticed our creeping dependence on foods that barely resemble what our grandparents would recognize as nourishment.
Julie and Catherine dive deep into the world of ultra-processed foods, cutting through marketing hype to examine what's really happening to our bodies when we consume these convenient but potentially harmful products. They break down Dr. Chris van Tulleken's definition of ultra-processed foods – those packaged items containing ingredients you wouldn't typically find in a domestic kitchen – and explore why these unfamiliar substances create what amounts to an "emergency situation" within our digestive systems.
The conversation takes a fascinating turn when examining everyday staples like commercial bread, which despite its simple traditional recipe (flour, water, yeast, salt), now contains numerous additives and "improvers" that may explain why so many people experience digestive discomfort. Most revealing is the observation that individuals with non-celiac gluten sensitivity can often eat bread in countries like France where traditional methods still prevail – suggesting it's not the gluten but rather the chemical cocktail causing problems.
What makes this episode particularly valuable is the practical, judgment-free approach to making changes. Rather than advocating for perfection, the hosts offer realistic strategies like batch cooking, using kitchen tools effectively, and identifying which processed foods represent acceptable compromises. Their message is clear: awareness is the first step toward better choices, and small consistent changes ultimately create the greatest impact on your long-term health and wellbeing.
Ready to take a closer look at what's really in your shopping trolley? Join us for this eye-opening conversation that will forever change how you walk through the supermarket aisles. Connect with us in the Far Too Fabulous Facebook group to share your own food revelations and continue this important conversation.
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We look forward to you joining us on the next episode.
Welcome to Far Too Fabulous hosted by Julie and Catherine.
Speaker 2:Join us on a mission to embrace your fabulousness and redefine wellness. Get ready for some feistiness, inspiration, candid chats and humour as we journey together towards empowered well-being. Let's dive in. Hello, hello and welcome to the Far Too Fabulous podcast. And do you know what I feel like? I want to say more because people have such brilliant like. I know that we laugh with our intros quite frequently now because I introduce it like the Muppets and you introduce it like a newsreader. Yeah, what?
Speaker 1:are you thinking Like some kind of full-on professional introduction?
Speaker 2:to the podcast. So I've just done this. Um, I did mindset and action live with donna. Who was? Who was our, who was, who is our podcast mentor?
Speaker 2:she's she still is she still is and yeah, and she was talking about how she they were like they were talking about brands and keeping this consistent and how they remind people at the beginning or at the end, like who they're talking to, and so I'm thinking that it doesn't help to remind everybody that's listening that we're talking about empowered well-being, because I think that whole phrase for women, exactly, yeah, of a certain age, no, I mean yes, probably most of the time. However, the ripple effect of what we are talking to talking about and who we are talking to, then we get to empower and give permission to younger women yeah to like take take the reins with their own health and their well-being so, but don't we say that on the actual intro?
Speaker 1:I think we probably do?
Speaker 2:I think we probably do, which we need to change because it still says something about the first year yes I know we do need to do that.
Speaker 2:So when you're listening to it, just imagine we've changed it and we're talking about year two. We'll get there, we will. I can't tell you how difficult it is actually to get us two in the same room at the moment. So, uh, so the fact that we're here talking to you is is a miracle in itself, really, isn't it? Yes, it's a bonus for you guys. I mean, julie sat here in her gymnastics gear.
Speaker 1:She's literally in my leotard flipped away back to the house. Yeah, because actually when this episode goes out, I've got my competition the next day. Oh, well, good luck for that then, thank you. I think it's gonna be a just go and have fun competition one of those.
Speaker 2:Eh, this is. This is like my, my marathon, actually. So what dates your competition? It's on good friday, oh, that's so.
Speaker 1:I think I'm the week after oh yeah, I'll be running my marathon yeah, and this is but mind you.
Speaker 2:So I go and do part run almost every single week and I start it thinking I'm just gonna get round, and then I look at the next bottom in front of me and I go, I'm just gonna catch that bottom up. Does your competitive side come in?
Speaker 2:a bit and I and I claim I don't have that. But actually it's quite funny. I have that over 5k. I don't have that over a marathon. I have, I'm going to finish. If I don't have that, I'm gonna catch every single bottom, unless it's dressed as a chicken. And I did tell somebody we just supported the marathon at Brighton this weekend and we were at the finish line and a chicken went past somebody and I was like and they've got their names on them Say it was Dan. Dan, you can't be beaten by a chicken. And he sped up. That's brilliant. So unless they're in the chicken, I did get overtaken by a rhino last year in the Brighton marathon At least it wasn't a tortoise no.
Speaker 2:Though I'm sure that a tortoise could have overtaken me, but yeah, anyway, right, what are we talking about today? So we are talking about ultra processed food, and I think actually to. To be honest, it will encapsulate processed food. I don't know whether we can give or take the ultra, I think we're, but it's just to highlight, um, the the fact yeah, I think that you know this.
Speaker 1:This latest statistic about 80% of the UK shopping trolley is now processed in some way. I found that quite shocking.
Speaker 2:Yeah, have you seen that? I think there's a thing on Instagram and probably on Facebook as well. The video really shows that. So it has a line of how much used to be fresh food. Yes, I have seen that. Yeah, and then how that's totally changed and the and the processed food line has gone skyrocketing up and the fresh food is very, very small amount of our shopping basket yeah, it's gone.
Speaker 1:It's gone so far the wrong way, hasn't it in a short amount of time?
Speaker 2:I think that's the scary thing, isn't? It is a very short amount of time that it's really got hold yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So I was thinking that you know a lot of people that are listening to this are going to be people that have got an interest in their well-being and their health and they're doing things proactively to help themselves. But I thought we could talk about this because I think that sometimes we don't realise how much even when we're aiming to be healthy still comes under that umbrella of being processed and the knock-on effect of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, and imagine we're all super, super busy and so lots of these foods are convenient, and also some of them are really nice.
Speaker 1:Yes, you know, if you think about, one of the biggest issues when I'm talking to clients and going through their food diaries is crisps. Oh man, people love crisps.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I love crisps. Yeah, crisps are really nice, aren't they? They're ticking all the boxes in the brain there, aren't they?
Speaker 2:That is the problem.
Speaker 1:But they are ultra-processed.
Speaker 2:Oh don't Now you're going to make me cry, but you're absolutely right when we're talking about ultra-processed food. So you've just been talking about this book here, that you've got.
Speaker 1:Well, I wasn't talking about it on this podcast.
Speaker 2:no, you weren't we were we were talking about earlier on, we were talking about this book, ultra processed people, and it's by chris van tolken toliken, so he's, so he's the doctor.
Speaker 1:You'll probably know him as the doctor who's got the twin brother. They're identical twins and they've done a lot of programs about various health things they've used themselves as an experiment and I think they also did a program about this processed foods I'm pretty sure I watched a program on it. It's a bit like I don't know when that book come out now, but it's not super recent, but I think again it came out, all this information blew up and then it kind of gets hidden again and it and and we forget that this is an issue well, you know why it gets hidden, though, don't you?
Speaker 1:because it doesn't make anyone any money. It's convenient for the food companies yeah, absolutely they.
Speaker 2:They want us to continue to buy, which is why they've got all the pretty packaging, which is why it tastes amazing because it hits all the is why they've got all the pretty packaging, which is why it tastes amazing because it hits all the buttons, because it's got all the sugar, all the salt, all the fat and your body's like oh yeah party time yeah, and it's really difficult to to kind of overcome that yeah, such a challenge and I have this conversation so, so frequently, when somebody says how hard it is and and I completely, completely empathize, it's, it's, and you're set up to fail like the kids are set up to fail.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I feel bad. I feel really bad for the kids nowadays with the type of foods that they're exposed to. It's it's.
Speaker 2:It makes me very angry actually, but it's. I really do sort of sympathize with people that are trying to do sort of quote, unquote the right thing. No, really, really really difficult. So he describes ultra processed food as one that's in a probably a plastic packaging, but in packaging and one of the ingredients that you wouldn't typically find in a domestic kitchen, so things like additives, emulsifiers, stabilizers, I mean I'm not even sure I know what those are, so I'm fairly sure they're not in my kitchen no, definitely not in your kitchen.
Speaker 1:And you'll know when you look at the ingredients on something, especially the one that gets me is cake. Like I cannot get my head around buying a cake versus making a cake. Yeah, you know that when you make a cake you're using eggs, butter, flour and sugar. Yeah, that's how you make a cake. But if you then go and look at the packet, yeah, and it's got a list as long as your arm, the list is so long?
Speaker 1:yeah, because it's got to sit there on the shelf, hasn't it for god knows how long yeah, and this and then this causes a problem with lots of things in your body, and it's not like we're not saying never have these things. No, it's just again looking at how often am I having these things. Is this become a regular thing when, when you next go shopping, look at your trolley and go you know, could I actually physically make this in my own kitchen? Yeah, if not, then that is a processed food and the downside of that is it impacts everything in your body.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. And it's like a slippery slope as well, isn't it? Because I know that we are talking to super, super busy women and you think, all right, we're going to do this as a quick meal and then maybe that starts to become a regular weekly meal and you, it's just like um, like a boulder rolling down the hill, isn't it?
Speaker 1:it just keeps going yeah, it just gathers momentum and before you know it, that one meal that was processed turns into two or three, or even if it doesn't, there's still be things that you're using on a regular, daily basis. I bet it's a daily basis that you look at and go actually that's processed. Going back to food diaries, because you know I love a food diary- I love a food diary Because it's just so insightful.
Speaker 1:If you write down a food diary for a week and I've said this so many times, haven't I? I'm like a broken record. But if you write a food diary for a week, or even a few days, and then you get your highlighter pens out and you just put a green, for that was completely fresh, yeah, and a yellow one for it's kind of in the middle, yeah, and then you use that pink one for the red yeah, that that was processed, and you start to have an idea of what's going on.
Speaker 2:That's a great idea and again, it's that awareness, isn't it, of what you're putting in your body. If we are trying to find that middle ground, are there things in packets and jars and what have you that are in that middle ground that are kind of okay for us?
Speaker 1:yeah, definitely so. If you've got something in a jar that is like pesto, this is what this exactly.
Speaker 2:You just read my mind pesto or hummus?
Speaker 1:yeah, right, I could make both of those things. Yes, and I do, and when you make them, they are absolutely amazing, absolutely, yeah, but there's a time element there, yeah, yeah, so I will buy pesto and I will buy hummus. Yeah, and that is minimally processed, yeah, did I?
Speaker 2:say that word right minimally, I think you you took did I have a long way around but I think it was the right word yeah, yeah, so that that you know you could.
Speaker 1:then, when you're looking at your shopping basket, you can then go. Actually, I'm going to accept that. Yeah, it's not perfect. No, you know, in an ideal world we'd be all making our own hummus and jam and whatever else we're using that's out of a jar. Did I tell you I?
Speaker 2:broke a blender once, making my own hummus First. That's out of a jar.
Speaker 1:Did I tell you I broke a blender once making my own hummus first time I ever made it. How could you break a?
Speaker 2:blender making hummus, I don't know what I don't, I don't think I put very much either oil or liquid into it and, yeah, we burnt the motor out. I was, I was not, I wasn't very old, I was probably. We were living in battersea with the girls that I worked with and, yeah, me and Lisa had decided we were going to be healthy and we busted the blender, we burnt the motor out. Oh dear, maybe we put too many chickpeas in it. I don't know, I don't even know. Maybe we didn't even soak the chickpeas.
Speaker 1:Who knows what we did to them. Yeah, maybe you put dried chickpeas in and they weren't. Yeah, it's got to be something like that, because I'm thinking how the hell could you?
Speaker 2:manage to do that, unless we were just getting greedy. We just want to just put too much in it. Yeah, yeah, it's a very fond memory of mine. I used to make pesto. All of the time. I used to get told off for putting too much garlic in it, because I like lots of garlic I've definitely got out of the habit of making pesto because it is easier to just buy a jar, yeah, yeah and actually, when you do look at the ingredients, there are a couple of things in there that you wouldn't necessarily add if you were in your own kitchen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it's not got loads of ingredients that you don't recognize you haven't got. So, yeah, there are definitely things, but then you've got to start looking at the labels, haven't you?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, absolutely if you need. And why do they make those labels so blooming small? I know that my eyes are worse than they used to be, and I know that somebody needs to hold the label across the other side of the supermarket for me to actually be able to read it, but they're so tiny I feel like they're hiding stuff from me yeah, it's so small, isn't it?
Speaker 1:and I'm with you with the glasses. Today, when I was at gymnastics, I was trying to read the criteria for this competition and that's printed on an a4 sheet and I had to go get my glasses.
Speaker 2:So annoying, yeah, that really ever try and with a piece of paper or a photo? That really does bug me. Do you ever try and with a piece of paper or a photo that's on a piece of paper? Do you ever try and make that bigger? Yes, With your fingers, All the time.
Speaker 1:And then realise it's not on the screen. Yeah yeah, I've done that quite a few times.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh yeah, thanks, age for my eyes, but anyway, yeah. So looking at the ingredients, making sure, I mean, like, if you don't understand what it is, if you can't read it, not because you haven't got your glasses on, but just because you don't understand what the word is, then chances are you're not wanting to put that in your body, right?
Speaker 1:exactly, and those products that you were talking about are the ones that are acceptable. They're often ones that have got maybe five ingredients, versus the ultra processed foods that have got so many ingredients listed and some of them when they just put, like, the word flavoring in yeah and sneaky and you don't know what that is no and there's no reference to what that is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, or what, the five different ways of saying sugar or corn syrup or something like that, something, something sweet and definitely not what you want to be putting in your body. And as you look at the ingredients and it's like dotted through, there's got to be five different ways of saying it.
Speaker 1:And they're all in there. There are so many ways of saying sugar in their food industry. It's really disgraceful actually.
Speaker 2:I just got a message from spec savers telling me it's time to get a checkup.
Speaker 1:It's time, katherine, those glasses. They've got to be increased that that lens has got to be.
Speaker 2:They need to bring milk bottles back so I can get, so I can look through those.
Speaker 1:How rude oh, it's so annoying. I remember having a like an eye test and being so in denial well, actually, at the time I didn't have any problems the what they called optician there you go the optician saying are you having difficulty reading now?
Speaker 1:no, I just thought, no, how rude. She said, well, you're at that age now where things are going to change, yeah, and I just walked out there. And she said, well, you're at that age now where things are going to change, yeah, and I just walked out there and I thought, well, that is really rude. I look after myself. My eyes are going to be fine, yeah, and they literally changed overnight, yeah.
Speaker 2:And I thought, oh my god, I can't actually read that yeah, and it happens to us all around that, around sort of the age of like between 40 to 45. Yeah, that's exactly. And I remember friends of mine saying, oh, you just wait until you get to that age. And I was exactly the same as you. No, no, my eyesight has always been so, so clear. Yeah and yeah. And then suddenly, all right, yeah, I'm gonna have to get bigger things on my watch and all sorts of stuff. Anyway, what were we talking about? No, I can't remember. We were talking about ultra processed food. Oh, um, so I think probably the main thing, as well as the awareness is to make, is to talk about why, why do we not want to eat ultra processed foods? Now, I, we will go on to what it causes, what it leads to, but what you were saying earlier on, as we were just sort of chatting about this, was the combination yeah, the cocktail effect cocktail yeah so whenever these ingredients are tested, they're only ever tested on their own and
Speaker 1:this goes for all of the ingredients in body products, cleaning products. Only test one thing to see if it has an impact. But the trouble is is that we've got this load. Now we've not just got loads to our food, all those chemicals. We've got chemicals in our environment, in our water, in our air. We've got chemicals in products that we put on ourselves that have tricked us to think they're natural, you know, because they say they are, but that doesn't mean anything that's just, and they're in a green packet and the color green and things like that.
Speaker 1:Or they've got some health claim on that says high in vitamin c. Oh the way, don't look that.
Speaker 1:It's also really really high in sugar or whatever it is yeah yeah, so that cocktail effect has not been really tested fully other than in very small kind of independent studies. And then in those independent studies, I mean the best one which I'm sure we've spoken about I mean the best one which I'm sure we've spoken about maybe right back at the start of the podcast, when we were talking about that impact of your mind as well is those two smoothies that were made.
Speaker 1:Yeah, one was made fresh, one was made with processed products, or it was a diet, diet in processed foods. Oh, it's exactly the same calories. Yeah, it's coming back to me now, exactly the same calories, the processed food versus fresh whole food.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly the same level of protein and carbs. I mean, goodness knows how they managed to do that, yeah, but the people on the processed diet reported anxiety, problems, sleeping, weight gain, yeah, all sorts of issues being on that diet, yeah, and it wasn't even like they were on it very long, yeah, and but those symptoms that you have just spoken about have got to be top of the list.
Speaker 2:For women around our age. We're in like in a response to like menopause or just lifing. Those have got to be the top things that we want to get rid of. And now the food that we are eating as a convenience we think it's helping us because that's what they're telling us is actually causing that as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's because when we eat those foods, because they're not natural, our body doesn't recognise them and it has to do a lot of work. So it becomes an emergency situation inside the body, so that food turns up in the gut. The gut microbiome don't have a clue what this stuff is.
Speaker 1:The liver gets confused by it. It gets stored, it gets parked away in places. This is why you get things like when breast milk is um examined. You get to see certain things chemicals and things in breast milk because the body doesn't know what to do how to get rid of it.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's a great way to walk around the supermarket, though is it when you're looking? When you're walking around, will my gut recognize what this is? And if the answer is no, maybe don't feed it to it yeah, it's a good starting place, isn't it?
Speaker 2:isn't that I mean it's so interesting when you are really looking after your body. That I like. Sometimes I do genuinely feel sorry for my body. I do as much as I possibly can for it and and I ask a lot of it. But that's really. Yeah, I'd never really thought about it like that, but it is a punishment. I was thinking about when we're, when you're doing some sort of diet and I know for me. I don't know about you, but the word diet kind of makes me prickle a little bit because there's such negative connotations around it now, but when you are, I don't know doing a healthy eating plan, shall we?
Speaker 1:yeah, I was gonna say I call. I always call it a plan for whatever I may mean to do. So I say, oh, I'm just gonna follow a plan for a few days to just support detoxification or my energy. Yeah, or whatever it is.
Speaker 2:Yeah so when you're doing one at one of those plans probably, and the fact that you are so restricted in the supermarket, you can literally shop from that first bit where all the fresh fruit and veg are, and then maybe there might be a little section where the nuts or like grains and pulses are yeah, and that's about it, yeah, pretty much. Yeah, it makes shopping actually really quick and easy maybe the freezer section. Maybe you could head off to the freezer section for some frozen veg or something like that.
Speaker 1:It actually simplifies everything yeah, there's that saying about shopping the outside of the supermarket yeah and it is true. I mean there are loads of aisles that I don't even go down the supermarket at all. I don't buy any any of my cleaning products from the supermarket. I get them online because I get natural, organic stuff. Yeah, there's, there's lots of aisles that I don't even go down, but again, they don't make it easy, do they?
Speaker 2:because that's a lot of work, isn't it? When you are looking for things that are economical for you, that are environmentally friendly for you and the planet, having to outsource, not being able to just go to the supermarket, get everything that you need in one place, they're just not making it very easy for us, are they?
Speaker 1:No, no, they aren't, they really aren't. So, yeah, if you think about, look at your shopping trolley and just start to become aware of what's going in it, I think one of the ones that it probably shocks most people when I talk to them is bread yeah and it's interesting that over the years, I've seen lots of people that have a reaction to bread like gluten.
Speaker 1:They have a reaction that's not celiac based, so it's non-celiac gluten sensitivity is what it tends to get called, and yet those same people can eat the bread in france. Yeah, yeah, and so it's not necessarily the gluten. It's the additives, those stabilizers and emulsifiers and all the things you said before that actually are causing a problem with their gut. Yeah, because, again, those are going into the gut microbiome. They don't know what to do, so they try and consume it in order to help, but then they have to produce gas and then you get bloating yeah, yeah, and there's like things like when we talk about french bread particular, and there are so few ingredients so few, and french people do not have their bread last for days and weeks at a time it doesn't like when you go on holiday.
Speaker 2:If you don't have it that day almost that morning, it's stale it's gone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it goes too hard. Yeah, because it hasn't got all those flour improvers and enhancers in it. So the bread is such a like if you think about it. Most people eat bread every day and that is actually comes under the banner of ultra-processed, because of the ingredients, because the ingredients is wrapped in plastic.
Speaker 2:We've talked about things wrapped in plastic before and those chemicals leaching into the food and the hormones and things like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So anybody listening thinking oh my goodness me, don't take my bread away.
Speaker 2:I know, I'm sorry that's wrong, that's totally wrong I'm not.
Speaker 1:I don't want to take your bread away, but luckily for us, nowadays we have these really great bread making machines, don't we? You've got one. Yeah, I've got one. Is yours on pretty much every day if not every other day, single day, every day, yeah yeah, and you can just put those ingredients in there without even thinking about it, right, and it takes. How many minutes does it take for you to put the ingredients in there?
Speaker 2:it takes, mark um not very many minutes at all.
Speaker 1:He's the one that knows the things off by two minutes maximum and then you just press it on and then you get your bread. And when you do your and I'm not talking about buying those pre-made bread mixes, because they've got flour enhancers and stuff in Don't get those, I don't think.
Speaker 2:I even knew those existed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you just buy the flour, and it is literally the flour, the yeast, a bit of oil, a bit of salt and the water.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that is it, that's it, yeah, and the water yeah, that is it, that's it, yeah. And I remember in my networking group we've got a lady that has got the Canterbury Baking School.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so she came and talked about flour, and so you can take this up a whole other level, can't you?
Speaker 2:Because she was talking about just your plain flours or whatever flours that are on the on the shelf, actually basically being like a bag of dust. They've not got huge amounts of nutrition left in them once they've, once they've arrived in your paper bags on the on the shelf, and so taking that up a whole another level with the like the ancient grains. Is it kamut? Yes, I said that, right, yes, and you, I mean I actually it's very sad.
Speaker 2:I get quite excited about finding different grains and stuff and but again, for convenience, we do often have just like strong brave flour, wholemeal flour. Um, I like the granary ones, we mix it, we mix it up a bit because also we have children, we have teenagers that, of course, like that. I mean, I don't know whether they are, I don't know whether society has taught them to like the look of white bread. I don't know how it, I don't know how it works, I don't know how that happens, because they've never really had lots of white bread, but they definitely prefer when we've run out of wholemeal and we've just got like plain.
Speaker 1:It's so interesting, isn't it? Because I've got the opposite thing with mine, so mine don't like white bread. So if they're somewhere where white bread sandwiches are being served, they don't actually like it, it's very interesting.
Speaker 2:But that is different when you've got the processed, the processed bread to even like making. Making well, actually, yeah, that yeah, of course it's.
Speaker 1:It's true, it's completely different, the processed white versus when you make it fresh. And there is something very nice about a fresh white loaf. Actually, when you make it it's, it's extra. Yeah, there's something. There's something nice about it, isn't there? Yeah so again, we're not saying don't have white bread, but if you made it yourself, yeah, at least you know what's in it.
Speaker 2:Another level, yeah, yeah, no, I completely agree and I mean hopefully it makes it easier, but I do, I mean I appreciate that then, once you get back home, it's that that, the the cooking of all of this fresh stuff, that does add the time element to it. I don't necessarily, because I think some of this processed stuff is really expensive yeah, I would agree with that.
Speaker 1:I think it is. And I've noticed that certain products, their recipe has changed because the price of things, because the price of things are going up. For example, chocolate digestive biscuits this is a classic one. Yeah, because the price of chocolate has gone up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they've changed their recipe so there's not as much cocoa in that, in those biscuits yeah, and so that gets then gets replaced by things like fats and sugars and stuff, doesn't it? So you've still got the taste of it, but it's cheaper for them and it's probably gone up for us. Yeah, it's crazy. That's the same with hot chocolate.
Speaker 2:The um, the percentage of of cocoa in the hot chocolate powders is less than it ever used to be, and again it's been replaced with more sugar and things like that yeah, and then they also have to add things to take account for that change in taste.
Speaker 1:So they put extra chemicals in to trick your brain. Yeah, to think that it's still the same thing. It's incredible when you look at it and it's true that a lot this is the other argument that comes up quite a lot is, you know, we ate all this stuff when we were younger and we're fine. Well, I do question whether we're fine, but when you look at even like, I'm just thinking of things that were really common when I was younger. So, angel delight, yeah, back in the 70s, angel delight I used to love angel delight so excited when we had angel delight.
Speaker 1:But angel delight in the 70s versus angel delight now is a completely different product. Yeah, in terms of the chemicals and the additives. Yeah, completely different again.
Speaker 2:I've I've seen something, I think probably on instagram, with things like with, even with things like pop tarts that are like ultra, ultra processed back when they first came out, yeah, compared to now, and even, uh, like mcdonald's. Have you seen like there's a? There's a comparison with the, with the chips of what we used to have that was literally just just potatoes, fat and salt, in comparison to what is wrapped around them all, like what they're fried in now. Hugely, huge, literally a different product.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they put like um, they put something because it's already chipped, isn't it? When it's delivered to the store, they put some coating something on it to stop them from sticking together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that has to be some sort of I mean it's fatty and then they plonk it in a load of fat then to cook it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and a lot of those fats get reheated oh yes. And every time you heat a fat, you're damaging it. Yeah, and you're breaking the chains that make up those amino acids. No, not the amino acids, the essential fats.
Speaker 2:And then that is a problem for your body. And again we're talking about sort of this trying to be economic and trying to be efficient with these processed foods, but actually, what a false economy. This is because, eventually you are, it is going to make us sick, if not not necessarily individually, but probably individually, but as a society it's going to make us sick. And it is making us sick. We talk about this, don't we? You think about with, uh the like, obesity, with diabetes, with your heart diseases on the increase?
Speaker 1:this is, it's a direct result yeah, and I think a lot of this behavior problem that we're seeing with our kids at school is connected to this as well. I agree, I think it's a massive problem and I think that we I'm going to be really controversial now- Go on then. I'm just going to put it out there. But I think diagnosing and labelling children with terms like ADHD without looking at at their what they're eating and their lifestyle, I think that is terrible.
Speaker 2:I think it's it failing the children, quite frankly yeah, and I mean, do you think about how long, like jamie oliver, for instance, has has been banging on about school dinners? I saw a picture of him when he very first started these campaigns. He looked super, super young, yeah, well he was 20 years yeah, and I on it. We haven't got any further along, no, in fact, it's probably worse.
Speaker 1:I think it is worse and it's only going to get worse, especially when we got all these trade wars going on at the moment.
Speaker 2:Right, no, it's, it is. It is scary. It is scary and you can do something really super simple in your shopping trolley yeah, I think just take a look without any judgment of yourself.
Speaker 1:You know, we know you're busy and it's very easy to get into habits with certain things as well. It's just again just looking and saying could I, could I actually make this better? Because all of those little things all combined together, especially when we've got hormone changes and we've got so many chemicals everywhere, and we really are up against it in the way that we live our lives that is something stress, it's everything, isn't it, that we're loading onto our body.
Speaker 1:That is something that could be looked at, because it is so detrimental yeah, and we've got we've got some control over that.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, being able to do something about it is empowering, hopefully, yeah I mean, I have to say that cooking from scratch which is what I do and I think it would be really odd as a nutritionist if I didn't do that and I would say I cook from scratch a good 90% of the time yeah, sometimes we have fish fingers and chips because I just need to get something quickly for everyone to eat, and sometimes we get garlic bread yeah, and I know that that's processed, but I don't worry too much about it. I think the most challenging thing of cooking from scratch is knowing how to, for a start, yeah, and then prioritizing it yeah, with your time, because the time it takes to make is mostly in the chopping vegetables, the peeling and the chopping of the vegetables is the time consuming bit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, physically making something is actually not really an issue, is it? Yeah, when?
Speaker 2:I do your reset. I'm like, oh my god, I'm just chopping and chopping, chopping. That said, when I do something like that, I often do a bit of a prep day and I will make so. If we're talking about soups and things like that, I will make a big batch of it and I think that's batch cooking is probably the best way to be able to not use processed foods yeah, I would agree with that and I do like the smugness that it gives you when you've done it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because you've just got something to go, yeah and it takes your mind off the repetitive strain injury from chopping and the blister on your hand from peeling it is the chopping.
Speaker 1:So I think any any kitchen tools that can help you at this point, or even if you have to buy stuff that is ready chopped, yes, it will have less nutrition in it, because the minute you chop things that might be an impact there. But if that's the first step, then that's fine I mean like a bag of chopped onions.
Speaker 2:I just I was like I remember when I first discovered that I was like that's genius. It means I don't have to cry every time. I actually I still forget that they're at the other end of the supermarket. I did often chop my, but I do quite like a frozen bag of chopped onions.
Speaker 1:Yeah, dead simple right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so. Yeah, that's. I mean, that's a great. That is a great point that there are plenty. I was going to say there are plenty of frozen veggies there, but broccoli and cauliflower frozen broccoli and cauliflower, cauliflower. I don't know if I do something wrong, but I swear they always end up in mush I think it depends on how you're using it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't like it either, but if I'm making like a casserole, okay.
Speaker 2:No, it doesn't matter if something's done in the slow cooker yeah, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1:No, that's true, but if I'm serving like a side of vegetables with my meal, that is broccoli and cauliflower I'm going to steam them, because that is the nicest way to do it. I have to roast or roast them.
Speaker 2:They are nice roasted actually yeah, yeah, I have to roast them and then they go a little bit like especially if I forget that they've been in the oven for too long. They go a bit like kale crisps with a bit of paprika and some olive oil and a little bit of salt, and then I just it's so funny, and then I just I've eaten most of the broccoli before I've actually got to.
Speaker 1:Served it up yeah.
Speaker 2:I was like yeah, and the kids are looking at me going why haven't you got any broccoli? I was like I've eaten it, it's all gone.
Speaker 1:That's one of the things I notice the most if I'm doing a reset or something, is how often I will go to pick something up. That's still healthy, but it's because I'm on my plan. It's not in my plan and I think oh, that is just such a habit, isn't?
Speaker 2:it. Yeah, my nan used to have a fridge magnet that said little oh no, fridge pickers got big knickers or something.
Speaker 2:Maybe you're saying that Little pickers have got big knickers or something, little little pickers have got big knickers or something like that. But yeah, no, I am really really terrible with that and that's. There's a um a lot to be said about, like planning what you're going to eat so you're not sat in the kitchen going I don't wear what I want and then start eating something before you're preparing it and not waiting until you are really hungry yeah because I mean often and I will, I'm definitely guilty of saying this that, oh, I'm not hungry, but you are going to get hungry.
Speaker 2:And then again it's that it's that false economy not waiting, because if you wait until you're absolutely starving, then you end up eating much more than you would have done if you were eating regularly yep, absolutely, yeah, well, I think we ought to wrap this one up now.
Speaker 1:So I think not, not in plastic not.
Speaker 2:We're not going to wrap this up like an ultra processed food in plastic.
Speaker 1:I think I would just finish off by saying that book by chris van tulleken. We could put the link in perhaps. I think it's really a really good read. I think everybody should read it and have an understanding, or at least google and find the program I'm pretty sure there's tv program about it and watch that program with your kids yes, absolutely, and just yeah.
Speaker 2:empower them because they remember they are always watching, always watching. Yeah, absolutely, and like so. We do always finish our podcast by reminding you to come and join us in the Far Too Fabulous Facebook group. We had a really nice story of somebody that listens to us regularly. Do you want to?
Speaker 1:you can tell everyone anonymously yeah, so it was just someone that I'd worked with quite a few years ago, like, I think, about 10 years ago. I'd seen at the weekend and she just mentioned that she listened to the podcast and she was inspired to go for a new job and she got that new job and so, yeah, congratulations to you. We won't obviously give your name, but I know you're listening.
Speaker 2:So super, super proud of you. Yeah, that's really fantastic. And so what? And that's really that made us very, very excited that we're having we're having an impact from Julie's bedroom here. We're having we're having an impact from julie's bedroom here. So please do come into the far too fabulous facebook group and just chat with us. Let us know what you're doing with this information. Um, hopefully you are sharing this. If there's somebody that you think that this might help, then please go and share this episode with them so we can just continue to spread the love yes, absolutely so.
Speaker 1:We'll see you on the next episode.
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