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Dietitian shares new details about what happened after eating ultra-processed foods for a month

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Jessica Wilson (with a soda cap) made headlines last year for her experiment, in which she almost exclusively consumed foods with more than five ingredients.

They have been described as the new cigarettes and are linked to cancer, obesity and premature death.

but a dietician who ate nothing but Ultra-processed foods (UPF) For a month now, he has revealed why he believes they have been unnecessarily demonized by the health and scientific community.

Jessica Wilson, 42, from California, made headlines last year for her experiment in which she almost exclusively consumed foods with more than five ingredients, including prepackaged and frozen meals and takeout.

Now, in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, he reveals that “UPF can be part of a healthy diet and policymakers need to change the conversation.”

One of Wilson’s biggest frustrations is the lack of a clear universal definition of UPFs, which she says simply confuses consumers.

From his research, he says he has been given “multiple definitions of UPF from different researchers and doctors” and was once told that a fresh croissant from a bakery in Paris would be considered UPF because grinding wheat flour is considered a form of treatment.

“People look for straws and try to insert themselves into a trendy topic, but that doesn’t look good,” says the dietician.

After taking on the UPF diet challenge, Ms Wilson says she adopted a more relaxed approach to food, which helped her reduce her stress levels.

Jessica Wilson (with a soda cap) made headlines last year for her experiment, in which she almost exclusively consumed foods with more than five ingredients.

Meanwhile, society has become more obsessed than ever with reading food labels and is plagued by what it calls “analysis paralysis.”

While hamburgers, French fries, and chicken nuggets are some of the most beloved examples of products that fall under the general term UPF, Wilson discovered in his experiment that there are many UPFs that are not bad and are actually nutritious.

Research shows that more than half of the calories consumed in the U.S. come from ultra-processed food sources, a statistic that has been considered bad.

But Wilson believes this simply shows that they are “essential for many people in our society today” due to their affordability and that being prosecuted does not necessarily mean a bad thing.

A typical day on Ms. Wilson’s UPF diet began with a Trader Joe’s egg sandwich for breakfast, the packaged creation of which contained eggs, turkey sausage, and American cheese, all sandwiched between two fluffy egg patties instead of bread.

The sandwich contains a variety of additives, including the dye Beta-Apo-8′-Carotenal, which in some studies has been shown to increase the risk of cancer in smokers.

Mrs Wilson would also order gluten-free toast and a home-grown tomato.

For snack, her preference was cashew yogurt with flaxseed and jam, while for lunch her preference was canned chili accompanied by a corn tortilla and baby carrots.

To round out his day, his favorite dinner was a bowl of packaged pasta and meatballs with an RX protein bar for dessert.

RX protein bars have more than five ingredients, so Ms Wilson says they would be considered ultra-processed in some people’s eyes even though all their ingredients are natural.

For example, the brand’s strawberry flavor only contains dates, egg whites, almonds, cashews, strawberries and natural flavors.

While 80 percent of Mrs. Wilson’s diet consisted of UPF, the remaining 20 percent came from vegetables, fruits, eggs, nuts and seeds.

Two weeks after starting her diet, Ms Wilson was surprised to report a variety of benefits.

He found that he was less hungry, moved more involuntarily, experienced less fatigue, needed less caffeine, and was not as “grouchy” after work.

Even his wife, Eliseo, commented that he “complained less and did more.”

By weeks three and four, Ms. Wilson said the positives continued, but she had a hard time keeping track of the things she was eating and became “bored” of the UPFs she had in rotation.

However, once the challenge was over, the dietician actually felt better than before.

To his surprise, he also became toned and noticed a difference in his physique.

The diet expert told this website: “I don’t wear a belt every day, but I do use a waist leash to walk my dog ​​and that leash became loose and I had to tighten it.”

While hamburgers, French fries and chicken nuggets are some of the most beloved examples of products that fall under the general term UPF, Ms. Wilson discovered from her experiment that there are many UPFs that are not bad and in They are actually nutritious.

While hamburgers, French fries and chicken nuggets are some of the most beloved examples of products that fall under the general term UPF, Ms. Wilson discovered from her experiment that there are many UPFs that are not bad and in They are actually nutritious.

Instead of focusing on demonizing UPF, Ms. Wilson believes US policymakers should examine the relationship between income inequality and fruit and vegetable consumption.

Instead of focusing on demonizing UPF, Ms. Wilson believes US policymakers should examine the relationship between income inequality and fruit and vegetable consumption.

“So my weight didn’t change but I had an improvement in body composition.”

When it came time to select UPFs, Ms. Wilson used the Nova food rating system as a guide and opted for Nova 4 products.

Nova 1 covers minimally processed natural ingredients, such as fruits, vegetables, meat and fish.

Nova 2 are cooking ingredients processed from raw ingredients, such as oil, salt and butter.

Nova 3 are processed foods made by adding culinary ingredients to raw ingredients, such as fresh bread and canned vegetables. Canning, pasteurization, freezing and drying are forms of processing.

Nova 4 are industrially processed foods that could not be produced in the home kitchen. That’s the UPF.

However, Ms Wilson is not convinced by this classification system, saying it is “very confusing”.

He ate 80 percent processed foods, but allowed himself some whole-grain snacks like this juice.

He ate 80 percent processed foods, but allowed himself some whole-grain snacks like this juice.

She told this website: ‘If we look at Nova’s food classifications, it’s not always clear what is supposed to distinguish a category 4: ultra-processed food from a category 3: processed food. Let’s take additives.

‘Additives are often the buzzword for what makes something unhealthy… I think the famous doctor Dr. Mark Hyman called them “body snatchers.”

«Egg lecithin is often used as an additive and may have beneficial properties.

‘Xanthan gum is often an additive in gluten-free foods that most of us wouldn’t demonize.

‘In addition, baby formula is listed as a Category 4 ultra-processed food and has additives to increase shelf life and food safety.

“I have yet to see the science that says it is healthier for babies to have nothing to eat rather than formula, yet as adults we are shamed and criticized for eating certain foods.”

The diet expert got 80 percent of her daily calories from highly processed foods for nearly four weeks and monitored how her body reacted as she went.

The diet expert got 80 percent of her daily calories from highly processed foods for nearly four weeks and monitored how her body reacted as she went.

The NOVA classification system for food processing classifies products into four categories based on their ingredients and manufacturing process. Some dietitians say these guidelines leave room for interpretation

The NOVA classification system for food processing classifies products into four categories based on their ingredients and manufacturing process. Some dietitians say these guidelines leave room for interpretation

From her experiment, Ms Wilson says the most important thing she has learned is that not all UPFs are bad and that there is “too much confusion around them”.

She believes there is a need to better understand the products found on our grocery store shelves.

The food expert adds: “There is a lack of conclusive and exhaustive science and much of it is due to the lack of a clear definition of what an ultra-processed food is.”

‘I have been given multiple definitions of UPF from different researchers and doctors.

‘Even Dr. Hyman said there are ‘many’ definitions of ultra-processed foods, which seems as if there is no singular, clear definition we can use for research.

‘Another frustration is that people don’t understand that so many “health products” like protein shakes, electrolytes and supplements are industrially processed, they are simply more expensive and exclusive.

‘Your favorite wellness influencers or celebrities, I think Dr. Mark Hyman, Jillian Michaels, Andrew Huberman and even Kourtney Kardashian, are pedaling UPF, but somehow those don’t count. UPF can be part of a healthy diet and we need to have a different conversation.”

Instead of focusing on demonizing UPF, Ms. Wilson believes policymakers in the United States should examine the relationship between income inequality and fruit and vegetable consumption.

And he concludes: “Focusing on and addressing the macro-level disparities in our country will reduce our dependence on UPF… and will also solve many other problems.”

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