Ultra-Processed People: Why Do We All Eat Stuff That Isn’t Food … and Why Can’t We Stop?

Ultra-Processed People: Why Do We All Eat Stuff That Isn’t Food … and Why Can’t We Stop?

Chris van Tulleken

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THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERONE OF THE FINANCIAL TIMES' BEST SUMMER BOOKS OF 2023 AND SUNDAY TIMES' BEST BOOKS TO READ THIS SUMMER'If you only read one diet or nutrition book in your life, make it this one' Bee Wilson'A devastating, witty and scholarly destruction of the shit food we eat and why' Adam Rutherford---An eye-opening investigation into the science, economics, history and production of ultra-processed food.It's not you, it's the food.We have entered a new 'age of eating' where most of our calories come from an entirely novel set of substances called Ultra-Processed Food, food which is industrially processed and designed and marketed to be addictive. But do we really know what it's doing to our bodies?Join Chris in his travels through the world of food science and a UPF diet to discover what's really going on. Find out why exercise and willpower can't save us, and what UPF is really doing to our bodies, our health, our weight, and the planet ( nothing good).For too long we've been told we just need to make different choices, when really we're living in a food environment that makes it nigh-on impossible. So this is a book about our rights. The right to know what we eat and what it does to our bodies and the right to good, affordable food.

Publication Year: 2023


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  • booksgamesvinyl
    Jan 03, 2025
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  • ash23
    Apr 02, 2025
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    I completely agree with van Tulleken’s thesis that UPF is bad for us and we should all strive to eat as little of it as possible. I don’t think there’s a ton of people who would disagree with that. So writing a whole book about it is…fine…but is the issue really that people don’t know this information or that societies are structured in such a way that it’s not feasible for individuals and families to eat any other way? Is the biggest problem that scientists aren’t disclosing conflicts of interest on research papers or is it that companies are resistant to hybrid or remote working, which would make it easier to get a homemade dinner started? Should we fixate on baby formula ingredients or paid maternity leave? What about paid paternity leave, so fathers have time to up their cooking skills, as opposed to the weaponised incompetency the author exhibits when he says the best food he can make for his kids is bland porridge and cheese on toast (which he calls pizza for some godawful reason)? Why not advocate for a universal basic income instead of just telling people to suck it up and spend 50% more on groceries?
    TLDR the author isn’t wrong but really doesn’t go far enough. Also he makes a few pro-Trump  (you know, that expert on healthy eating) statements which instantly put my guard up. 

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