“You are what you eat” is a phrase that we’ve all heard but I’ll recommend an extension and add “You are what you absorb”.
With that in mind, have you considered what benefit ‘5 a day’ genuinely has for you and why ultra-processed foods are really not good for us?
For the last few decades, the decisions around what we eat has become heavily influenced by the marketing of food companies that put profit before health.
On average, only 8% of household expenditure goes on food – compare to the late 1950s when around 35% of disposable income was dedicated to the food we consumed. With the current cost of living crisis in the UK, there’s a very real risk that this will only decrease further and have an even stronger impact on whether we choose the cheap convenience of ultra-processed foods or nutrient-dense whole foods.
Food is more than just fuel - it is information and tools
Our bodies do a brilliant job of keeping us alive in the most difficult of circumstances but they need tools to make it happen. If the body isn’t provided with the nutrition it needs, processes in the body can slow or stop completely. Cue feeling unwell, tired, sluggish, getting headaches, bloating, and receiving a diagnosis.
In this state, you’re surviving. You’re not functioning optimally and life is far from where you deserve it to be. When food is the instruction manual for the body our choices have a very real impact on our day-to-day living – let alone our long-term health.
Ultra-processed foods – ready meals, biscuits, cereals, ‘fruit’ yoghurts, energy bars, mass-produced bread – are not real foods (yes, even supermarket bread is garbage).
They have been created in a factory and have taken the natural ingredients far from their original state, reducing the nutritional value along the way. With half of the UK’s food shop consisting of ultra-processed foods, it’s no surprise that as a nation, our health is suffering.
Our bodies constantly create new tissues, skin, muscles, bone and cells – including our brain cells. To create them, the body relies on what we eat. If you eat a diet full of ultra-processed food, this is what your body will use as raw materials to regenerate new cells. Think about that for a moment – do you want to be made up of high-fat, inflammatory processed and fast food or nutrient-dense, antioxidant-rich vegetables and lean protein?
When you eat real food, you send the right information to your body and give it the tools it needs to operate. That simple choice between ultra-processed and whole foods can change everything.
As one of my clients recently said: “I like who I am when I eat well. I only just realised I was surviving because now I am living”.
It’s the difference between coping and feeling fantastic. We deserve to feed ourselves well, as a form of self-care.
The gut is the root system of the body
One of the most crucial systems of the body that helps get the nutrients (aka tools) from food to the various organs in our body, is the digestive system – the gut! The digestive system is responsible for breaking down and absorbing our food. If the body is unable to break down nutrients and pull them into the bloodstream, the body can’t receive the information it needs. You may be eating well but the impact on your overall health is restricted.
