Ultra-processed food

Fear of ultra-processed foods.

There's been growing fear about ultra-processed foods, UPFs, with many people trying to avoid them entirely.

This is a perfect example of how oversimplified scaremongering messages about nutrition can be really harmful.

I've spoken to countless people who are really worried and stressed about UPFs.

Parents have told me how they feel like a failure for being unable to serve less UPF to their kids, who also have food allergies and are selective eaters.

Sadly, many people have told me how UPF anxiety has damaged their relationship with food, and in some cases, even triggered an eating disorder relapse.

But importantly, how processed a food is doesn't define its nutritional value.

Food processing also has many benefits, such as increasing food safety and shelf life, fortifying food with extra nutrients, and improving taste, convenience, and accessibility to food.

it's the most complex thing in the universe.

But nonetheless, those things were really influential to me because both the immune system and the hippocampus are modified quite profoundly by diet.

And now we're talking more about ultra-processed foods.

We've just done a podcast on this and people are becoming much more aware of it because it's cheaper to make food that's not really food and not good for us.

So in studies lately, they've actually been showing that link between anxiety and depression and what you're eating.

You're talking about the hippocampus.

So with that, are they researched now about it? ultra-processed foods and its effect on the hippocampus and things? Not

yet.

Canned beans are also considered processed.

But processing itself isn't automatically the problem when we talk about ultra-processed food.

But we're talking specifically about foods that are formulated to be incredibly convenient.

appealing, easy to overconsume, and many times addicting.

But I do feel like since making those changes, my kids behaviors better, it's more level, the less, you know, there's less ups and downs.

So I am so intrigued to understand more about just how bad ultra processed foods can be for our brain health, because we hear a lot about the body and how it affects the body, but not so much about the brain.

So that that just really intrigues me to know if any of the things I'm doing are making a difference.

And what's really going on when we're eating all this ultra-processed food?

It's just non-negotiable.

And so I kind of go back and forth on it.

I'm like, how serious is it? And are we being too hard on ourselves? And then the other thing that kind of is weighing on my mind a lot is that we just, there's this real push to demonize ultra processed foods.

And we are putting everything in the same category.

They cooked from scratch every single night.

But breakfast and lunch was a lot of ultra-processed food.

And that wasn't because my parents didn't care.

It was because the marketing was so good and the labeling was so good.

Maybe they did have pizzas back then, but they were probably just a handful of ingredients rather than emulsifiers and preservatives and ultra-processed pepperoni on top.

You know, just think about what you ate today.

would it have been around 100 years ago? And if the answer is no, then it's probably an ultra-processed food.

If it came out of the ground or off a tree or from an animal or out of the sea and it roughly looks like it did when it got there, then you're probably on the right track.

So we have to, as we age, we have to rely on ketones.

And you're not getting any ketones when you eat this ultra-processed foods.

So the best way to get ketones is to build a fasting lifestyle.

And I've explained this in this study is that it talks a lot about how brain cells, as they age, they don't know what to do with glucose, but they do know what to do with ketones.

So when we are constantly bombarded with toxins, we have these neurons in our brain that are carrying information.

And when the ultra-processed foods, when a lot of the chemicals in our environment hit us, or we all know, hopefully you know this, that Alzheimer's is considered diabetes of the brain, what happens to those neurons is they start to shrivel up and degenerate.

And now they can't carry information across.

That's why dementia is like a stop of thought because there's no neurons connecting each other.

So this one's November 3rd, 2026.

So kids who eat more ultra, and this is by the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

So kids who eat more ultra-processed foods show a troubling brain response.

A new study suggests that ultra-processed foods may influence children's developing brain in ways that encourage weight gain.

Researchers from the USC studied 46 children ages 7 to 10 and found that those who ate more ultra-processed foods showed stronger activity in the brain's reward system when viewing tempting foods like cookies and french fries.

These heightened brain responses were linked to greater increase in body fat, body mass index, one year later, suggesting that the brain sensitivity to food cues may help explain why ultra processed foods are associated with obesity.

I'll give you another one.