2024 has been the year that we have all woken up to the damage Ultra Processed Foods (UPFs) have on our collective health.
But did you know that the impact of UPFs for women in menopause is even greater? The reason? Menopause already impacts:
- The health of our gut microbiota
- Our insulin resistance
- Blood Sugar balance
- Our risk of Type 2 diabetes
- Muscle density
- Skeletal health
UPFs exacerbate all of these risks. And in turn, our bodies are already less resilient so the compound impact of eating foods that do not nourish us is amplified.
A wholefood diet and cooking from scratch is the key to a happy body and mind. But at Christmas that can be hard to do. So, we’ve done the hard work to identify the worst festive UPFs and the recipes to make it easy to replace them!
1. Mince Pies:
Did you know most shop bought mince pies contain around 20g of sugar - as well as palm oil, fructose, rapeseed oil..gelling agents and colouring? In total, the largest supermarket brand has 34 ingredients listed in each pie. 15 of these are preservatives. Why not make your own this year? Deliciously Ella’s Vegan Mince Pie recipe is made with almond flour, dried fruit, spices, almond milk, coconut oil…and nothing else! Easy to whip up in batches and freeze. Not only can you bake to demand, every bite will be delivering you a nourishing hit of protein and natural goodness too! Check it out HERE
2. Potato crips / chips:
Some of our most-loved crisp brands have been specifically designed to make us crave more with very few natural ingredients. In fact, Pringles is not even made with potatoes - but a substance called dehydrated processed potato, which is then shaped to optimise ‘mouth feel’. It is a snack literally engineered to make it as difficult as possible to limit portion size. Why not replace your bowls of crisps this year with roasted chickpeas? Easy to flavour and, because of the fibre and protein content, difficult to over-consume.
3. Boxes of chocolate:
Most chocolatiers would argue that the chocolate we buy in big tins over the Christmas period isn’t really chocolate at all! Made with very little cocoa and lots of cheap fats, flavouring, preservatives and gelling agents, mass produced chocolate is also designed using a ‘bliss point’ model to encourage over-consumption. Dark artisan chocolate is a completely different product and uses a completely different process, roasting the beans before cracking which takes time and skill and working with just 3 or 4 ingredients. It is full of fibre and also a great prebiotic food too. Why not create your own chocolate tin this year using a few bars of artisan chocolate, mixed dried fruits and a swirl or two of nut butter? Simply melt a few bars, stir in your ingredients, pour onto a lined baking sheet and pop in the freezer to set. When hard, scrunch up the baking paper to crack and make delicious shards of chocolate that are a treat but feed your gut microbiota too?
With love, the LIMINAL team.
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