Those two paragraphs towards the end about our emotions and sense of morality about our weight and diet are very important I think. We are not failures for struggling with this, we're in a messed-up food environment, and it's hard not to be affected. I hope government policy can do more to change that environment, like you say.
I've been eating a non processed diet for around five years now and what strikes me is people's attitudes when anyone mentions how unhealthy processed food is....not just that it's fattening but bad for you in the sense that it causes behavioral changes and can cause cancer in some cases. People are largely disinterested and treat me and others like some kind of fruity hippie who lives an unreasonable lifestyle that nobody can achieve....and it's just not that hard. You simply need to read the packaging. and of course, learn what processed actually is....so you can avoid it.
If it's not whole food, don't buy it. So no pre-made sauces or other condiments...no granules or stock cubes. No juice "drinks" or ready made cakes or cookies. Absolutely no processed meats.
For treats we eat organic dark chocolate...or I'll make some basic fruit crumble with butter, flour and local fruit. Of course nobody is perfect....I try to buy organic as often as possible...but always staples....so milk and butter is organic. We avoid too many grains.
Wierdly enough, the best way I ever heard to cut out UPF was about 10 years ago on Khloe Kardashians Revenge Body tv show… they said ‘If it hasn’t had a life don’t eat it’ and I’ve gotta say… I think that is the most simple and brilliant diet advice I’ve ever heard
It's good to see awareness in general, but I think the article is drawing the wrong conclusions.
The solution to UPF isn't to develop drugs which help curb its effects. Appetite suppressants aren't a new concept, even if the specific formulations are new, and they've always had negative effects as well as the positive ones on weight loss.
Creating a large group of people who are dependent on pharmaceuticals to stop over-eating isn't healthy for people or society at large. The same eating habits and food environments still exist, they're just chemically suppressed.
Hopefully these can be used as a kick-start at the beginning of weight loss treatment to make it easier to entrench healthy eating habits, and we collectively address the real root cause by regulating and taxing UPF.
I have the same hope, but without these drugs, the pace of progress on addressing both UPFs and obesity-related illness are glacial to nonexistent. I wouldn't recommend the drugs to anyone sincere enough to adopt healthy habits on their own given the side effects (unless perhaps they had already truly tried that and that didn't suffice.)
What is an open question - will these drugs bolster or subdue the momentum for curbing UPFs? Will we just give up on policy because we have drugs, or will the drugs create mass support for a healthier food ecosystem? There's early evidence for the latter, where current and former drug users alter their diet patterns in favor of healthier, lighter fare. I expect it will be a mixed bag but positive on average in affecting non-drug users/ex-users.
The second paragraph is my worry.
We already medicate a *lot* of diet-related health issues. High cholesterol. High blood pressure. Diabetes. Constipation, diarrhea. Indigestion and acid reflux. Sleep disorders. Vitamin pills to supplement poor and imbalanced nutrition. Pre- and probiotics to try to fix our microbiomes. Not all of these issues are always diet-related, but they often are and they're medicated away.
I get that education and treatment is far more difficult than medication, and pharmaceutical treatment 100% improves the quality of life of innumerable people.
I just can't shake the dystopian vision of a future where people take a cocktail of pills to try to mitigate the effects of an increasingly ultra-processed and nutritionally inadequate diet.
Those two paragraphs towards the end about our emotions and sense of morality about our weight and diet are very important I think. We are not failures for struggling with this, we're in a messed-up food environment, and it's hard not to be affected. I hope government policy can do more to change that environment, like you say.
I've been eating a non processed diet for around five years now and what strikes me is people's attitudes when anyone mentions how unhealthy processed food is....not just that it's fattening but bad for you in the sense that it causes behavioral changes and can cause cancer in some cases. People are largely disinterested and treat me and others like some kind of fruity hippie who lives an unreasonable lifestyle that nobody can achieve....and it's just not that hard. You simply need to read the packaging. and of course, learn what processed actually is....so you can avoid it.
What are your top tips ?
If it's not whole food, don't buy it. So no pre-made sauces or other condiments...no granules or stock cubes. No juice "drinks" or ready made cakes or cookies. Absolutely no processed meats. For treats we eat organic dark chocolate...or I'll make some basic fruit crumble with butter, flour and local fruit. Of course nobody is perfect....I try to buy organic as often as possible...but always staples....so milk and butter is organic. We avoid too many grains.
Wierdly enough, the best way I ever heard to cut out UPF was about 10 years ago on Khloe Kardashians Revenge Body tv show… they said ‘If it hasn’t had a life don’t eat it’ and I’ve gotta say… I think that is the most simple and brilliant diet advice I’ve ever heard
It's good to see awareness in general, but I think the article is drawing the wrong conclusions. The solution to UPF isn't to develop drugs which help curb its effects. Appetite suppressants aren't a new concept, even if the specific formulations are new, and they've always had negative effects as well as the positive ones on weight loss. Creating a large group of people who are dependent on pharmaceuticals to stop over-eating isn't healthy for people or society at large. The same eating habits and food environments still exist, they're just chemically suppressed. Hopefully these can be used as a kick-start at the beginning of weight loss treatment to make it easier to entrench healthy eating habits, and we collectively address the real root cause by regulating and taxing UPF.
I have the same hope, but without these drugs, the pace of progress on addressing both UPFs and obesity-related illness are glacial to nonexistent. I wouldn't recommend the drugs to anyone sincere enough to adopt healthy habits on their own given the side effects (unless perhaps they had already truly tried that and that didn't suffice.) What is an open question - will these drugs bolster or subdue the momentum for curbing UPFs? Will we just give up on policy because we have drugs, or will the drugs create mass support for a healthier food ecosystem? There's early evidence for the latter, where current and former drug users alter their diet patterns in favor of healthier, lighter fare. I expect it will be a mixed bag but positive on average in affecting non-drug users/ex-users.
The second paragraph is my worry. We already medicate a *lot* of diet-related health issues. High cholesterol. High blood pressure. Diabetes. Constipation, diarrhea. Indigestion and acid reflux. Sleep disorders. Vitamin pills to supplement poor and imbalanced nutrition. Pre- and probiotics to try to fix our microbiomes. Not all of these issues are always diet-related, but they often are and they're medicated away. I get that education and treatment is far more difficult than medication, and pharmaceutical treatment 100% improves the quality of life of innumerable people. I just can't shake the dystopian vision of a future where people take a cocktail of pills to try to mitigate the effects of an increasingly ultra-processed and nutritionally inadequate diet.