It will not come as news to anyone that ultra processed food is bad for you. Nobody reaches for a slice of pepperoni pizza, a ready-made microwavable meal or a confectionary bar and thinks “yep, I’m making healthy choices”. But a new study has shed light on what actually constitutes ‘ultra processed’ food and I was a bit shocked when I saw the list which included common foods that my kids regularly eat.

As a family I would say we are pretty healthy. That’s a hard statement to define because obviously there are degrees of healthy eating - what seems healthy and well balanced to me might seem exceptionally healthy to you - or appallingly unhealthy depending on your own diet.

But I realised when I read the articles that appeared last week in the media (after the release of the data on ultra processed foods) that whilst my husband and I were not eating any of the common ultra processed food items on the list, the kids were eating a number of them. I encourage you to read the article because it makes clear the ingredients you want to avoid, but for the sake of simplicity, here is my regular-everyday-mum take on it as it relates to our family.

In addition to the below list are the usual well known culprits - basically anything in a packet - flavoured crisps, biscuits, store-bought cakes, frozen meals etc. We all know these aren’t healthy so no need to go over this.

What are the 8 Most Common Ultra Processed Foods?

Breakfast cereal
Muesli and protein bars and protein balls
Plant based milk
Processed meats
Fruit yoghurts
Ready made pasta and meal sauces
Margarine
Sliced bread

Breakfast cereals - of the above list, the kids are eating breakfast cereals daily - and not a small amount either. My son eats his out of a pasta bowl and it is mounded high. They also both eat a breakfast cereal melange - weetbix, cornflakes, rolled oats, special k and nutrigrain all tipped into a bowl together. It’s a lot! On the other hand, my husband and I both eat home made muesli (I have written about this before - I have literally eaten this same muesli for 15 years every morning and you can find the recipe here) with some plain yoghurt and fruit. So I’ve given the kids their new alternatives - porridge, our homemade muesli or weetbix with rolled oats (the weetbix aren’t great but they’re the best of the bunch and I don’t want to get into too much gatekeeping around food so a little of their regular cereal is ok). And then I’ve suggested that the other cereals become special treats - perhaps just for a Saturday morning etc.

Muesli and protein bars and protein balls - in this category I’d say we’re OK. My husband’s friend is the owner of 33 Fuel, a sports nutrition business that was founded to provide completely clean nutrional solutions for athletes (and the average person). Their products are favoured by world class endurance athletes and the like because they use all natural ingredients. My husband uses their Ultimate Daily Greens, Chia Energy Gel and Premium Protein. The kids also love the Chia Energy Gels for a post sport snack (you fill the little pouch with coconut water and keep it in the fridge so it’s kind of cold and refreshing and nutritious). I don’t eat / drink any of this stuff because I’m basically a lazy so-and-so and don’t exercise enough to warrant any of it. But that being said, I have been learning more about weight gain in peri-menopause (hello expanding waistline) and one of the key answers is to up your protein per day (apparently the additional protein per day helps reduce weight gain with the fall in oestrogen). So, I might start taking some extra protein to see if that helps (perhaps I should also consider not eating pastries and chocolate brownies too and exercise a little more..?) Just a thought.

Plant based milk - this is a huge ‘no’ for me. For a long time I drank almond milk but I just made it myself. Even though it was a bit of a faff, I was utterly freaked out when I looked at the list of ingredients for the store bought ones. It just didn’t seem right to me. And I was right to be wary. Plus soaking almonds overnight and then blitzing them in a blender and straining them is not exactly difficult - anyway, I’m back to drinking cows milk now so this isn’t a thing.

Processed meat - another ‘no thanks’ for me. My son occasionally has a pepperoni pizza but we are not a ham / bacon / sausage eating family because the link for these foods and cancer was already established so long ago (if you head to the Cancer Council of Australia website, processed meats are right up there with sun exposure) so this has never really been on the menu on a regular basis for us.

Fruit yoghurts - this is another mainstay for the kids. They have one every day after school. Until yesterday I was buying them an organic brand that has a little lid of muesli on the top that they can mix in (yes…more cereal!) but having read the list of ingredients, this has come to an end. I did, however, find some good alternatives. The brand of yoghurt that I eat is Barambah Organics (you can get it from Cold Storage and Little Farms) - I just have the plain yoghurt but I saw that Little Farms sell the smaller pots of fruit ones which would be great for the kids. I read the label on each of them and the vanilla / and the blueberry ones were free of added emulsifiers and the like (some of the other flavours weren’t free from these things so it’s worth reading the ingredients list of each flavour). I also bought some process free granola for them to tip a little into the yoghurt to recreate the yoghurt-granola pot they were having previously.

Ready made pasta and meal sauces - it’s not really something we buy. Except for pesto. My daughter would eat that every day and twice on Sundays if she could. And she only likes the stuff in a jar. Otherwise, we just make our own pasta sauces with tomato sugo, an onion etc.

Margarine - my kids asked last night ‘what’s margarine??’ in total bafflement like they’d never heard the word before. Sometimes I think they lead a sheltered life. Anyway, I buy the Lurpak spreadable butter and double checked the ingredients to make sure it didn’t fall into the margarine category. It doesn’t. And anyway, switching to actual butter is also easy - especially in Singapore where you could take it out of the fridge and a minute later have ‘spreadable’ (read: almost entirely melted) butter to use. (Side note: it always freaks me out when I go to the UK and people have butter sitting inside those lidded ceramic dishes on the kitchen side. Like what the hell? Surely that’s just going to be a festering puddle of melted butter?! Oh no, that’s right, it’s too cold for it to melt). Strange. Butter, for me, lives in the fridge and always has.

Sliced bread - last but not least, good ol’ sliced bread. This is consumed by my daughter on the regular. The rest of us eat Culina’s Wholemeal Sourdough (in fairness we’re not a big bread eating family so often we don’t have any bread in the house). However, Culina’s Wholemeal Sourdough is literally the best bread in Singapore. Big call - but I’m prepared to make it. As for my daughter, she is partial to the sliced wholemeal bread that is stacked full of processing and well and truly sits in the ultra processed category. However, she has agreed to switch. So yesterday I bought her the sliced quarter loaf ‘Pain Miche’ from Baker & Cook as her new alternative (the fact it’s already sliced will help as she makes her own sandwiches and I have no desire to be running into the kitchen every time bread needs to be cut straight). (Cutting bread straight is one of my core skills. I could add it to my resume if I ever need to get a proper job because I’m really good at it).

So there you have it. I know some of these healthy eating news stories get a bit tiresome - do eat this, don’t eat that etc. Sometimes it just feels all too difficult. Plus, when it comes to kids and eating, most of us are trying to keep on the healthy side of the ledger without constant gatekeeping around ‘forbidden foods’ (never a good thing) and unnecessary battles. There are lots of things to tackle with your kids and you don’t want food to be one of them if you can help it. Plus, a little of everything is fine in my book. Nothing is ever a hard ‘no’ because there are times for a little crappy eating and I would hate the kids to become obsessed with foods that I’ve designated as ‘bad’. I don’t want food to be guilty or shameful. That doesn’t serve anyone well.

That being said, I grew up in an exceptionally healthy family and my parents who are now in their mid-late 70’s continue to be ridiculously fit, healthy and strong and I am incredibly grateful to them that throughout their life they have taken action to be the healthiest version of themselves possible. It has meant that they have always been able to enjoy life to the full and for my siblings and I, it is paying huge dividends as they age because we don’t have the added burden of our parents’ ill health to contend with. I literally want to thank them every day for this gift. All this to say, the habits we form start from a young age and can really help later in life. Our kids can’t see this - and nor do they need to, but we can. So for me, it’s worth the effort to make some small changes.

To learn more about ultra processed foods, you can read this article here.