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Since deciding to cut down on ultra-processed foods a year ago, nutritionist Rob Hobson has developed a more "realistic" view of how they fit into a healthy diet, he told Business Insider.
UPFs have made headlines this year as public awareness grew of the potential health risks of eating too many. Studies have linked a diet high in UPFs to a higher risk of 32 illnesses, including type two diabetes, cancer, depression, and cardiovascular disease.
UPFs tend to be highly marketed, shelf-stable, and hyper-palatable, making them easy to overeat, Hobson previously told Business Insider. Soda, candy, and fast food are obvious examples.
At first, Hobson, who is based in the UK, tried to eliminate UPFs from his diet as much as possible and to cook everything from scratch. "I was like a vigilante," he said. But now he incorporates them into his diet in a way that works for him. "I eat less ultra-processed food, but in a way that still makes it easy and convenient to eat. So there's certain foods now that I don't worry too much about, the healthier UPFs," he said.
Hobson, who still limits his intake, shared three changes he's made.
Cooking from scratch three times a day simply became too time-consuming, Hobson said. So now he uses some "healthier" UPFs in his cooking to "make life easier."
Previously Hobson would have been strict about only making a pasta sauce from canned tomatoes and fresh produce, for example, but now if he's strapped for time or energy, he's happy to pick up a pre-made sauce from the store. However, he still checks labels and looks for the items with the fewest ingredients.
"I still believe the first port of call is cooking everything as much as you can from scratch. But I'm not going to give myself a hard time about buying a tomato sauce, I'll just buy the best one I possibly can," he said.
Foods like packaged wholemeal bread, and baked beans, which are popular in the UK, might be considered ultra-processed because they contain additives, but unlike soda and cookies, they do have nutritional value.
"These foods still have a lot of fiber. They still contain protein. But they do contain a few additives," Hobson said.
He includes UPFs he considers healthier in his diet if he doesn't have time to cook from scratch or simply is craving them, he said. But he'll still aim to make it a balanced meal by adding some vegetables, a side salad, or some grains.
Over the past year, Hobson learned that putting different foods together on a plate is the easiest way for him "to eat unprocessed."
"Just putting plates together rather than thinking you have to create a proper big meal with lots of ingredients," works well, he said. Cooking a piece of fish or chicken and pairing it with some potatoes and vegetables is simpler than following a recipe and making, say, a pasta dish or a curry, he said. Hobson often adds bags of pre-cooked grains, too.
"It's great to spend time in the kitchen when you have the time, but then when you don't, you have to find all these ways of eating that are really simple," he said.
