Episode 67
Ultra-Processed Food Myths
What Are Ultra-Processed Foods?
Ultra-processed food (UPF) might sound like something concocted in a secret laboratory, but it simply refers to foods that are significantly altered from their original state. These often contain additives like emulsifiers, preservatives, and stabilizers—ingredients you wouldn’t typically find in a home kitchen.
This category includes everything from convenience-store hot dogs to plant-based meat alternatives. Yes, even your favorite vegan nuggets fall into this group.
Common Myths About Ultra-Processed Foods
Myth #1: They’re Toxic and Will Kill You Instantly
If ultra-processed foods were as lethal as some claim, most of us wouldn’t have survived past childhood. While some contain high amounts of salt, sugar, and fat, they aren’t inherently poisonous. The key is moderation. A diet loaded with neon-colored cheese puffs and soda? That’s a health disaster. But an occasional indulgence won’t do you in.
Myth #2: Twinkies Last Forever
Twinkies have a long shelf life, but they aren’t immortal. The idea that they’ll outlast civilization comes from misunderstood experiments on old snack cakes. In reality, they’ll go stale and unappetizing over time—just like any other food.
Myth #3: If You Can’t Pronounce an Ingredient, It Must Be Bad
Complicated words don’t necessarily mean something is harmful. For example, cyanocobalamin is just vitamin B12, an essential nutrient for your nervous system. Even dihydrogen monoxide sounds ominous—but it’s just water.
The Real Issue with Ultra-Processed Foods
Many ultra-processed foods are designed to be hyper-palatable, meaning they activate your brain’s reward system. Ever wonder why it’s so easy to eat an entire bag of chips in one sitting? It’s not just about willpower—these foods are engineered to be irresistible.
Additionally, ultra-processed foods tend to be calorie-dense but nutrient-poor. They can crowd out healthier, more nutrient-rich options, leading to deficiencies over time.
Can You Eat Ultra-Processed Foods and Stay Healthy?
Absolutely! The key is balance. If 80% of your diet consists of whole foods—fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains—you can enjoy processed indulgences in moderation. The problem arises when ultra-processed foods dominate your meals.
Final Thoughts: Should You Fear the French Fry?
No. Fear misinformation more than the occasional processed snack. The goal isn’t to live on a diet of raw kale and regret—it’s about making informed choices.
Enjoy your guilty pleasures in moderation, but don’t let them replace nutrient-dense foods. Science, not fear, should guide your eating habits.
For more food science insights, follow me on TikTok and Instagram at @drterrysimpson. And remember—eat smart, not scared!
Transcript
>> Speaker A: Today we're talking about ultra processed
Speaker:foods, the boogeyman of modern
Speaker:nutritionists. Every single
Speaker:chiropractor and health person
Speaker:wants to jump down the throat and tell you that
Speaker:you shouldn't be eating these things. Some of them say they're going
Speaker:to outlive cockroaches, the ultra processed food, and maybe
Speaker:chiropractors. Others say they're the fast track
Speaker:to doom. But what's the truth? Let's
Speaker:dig in. As only a podcast called Fork
Speaker:you can.
Speaker:I am your Chief Medical Explanationist, Dr. Terri Simpson,
Speaker:and this is Fork U Fork
Speaker:University, where we bust a few myths, make
Speaker:sense of the madness, and teach you a little bit about
Speaker:food as medicine.
Speaker:Let's start with definitions. Ultra
Speaker:processed food, or UPF
Speaker:if you want to sound like smart kids, sounds
Speaker:like it was forged in a laboratory by mad
Speaker:scientists in lab coats cackling as they add an extra
Speaker:pinch of bad for you, seeking to make
Speaker:people sick because they own part of the big
Speaker:pharma. But in reality, ultra
Speaker:processed food simply means food that's been
Speaker:heavily modified from its original state, including, including
Speaker:ingredients you wouldn't find in your grandmother's
Speaker:pantry like emulsifiers, um, preservatives,
Speaker:stabilizers. This means everything
Speaker:from your favorite gas station hot dog
Speaker:to those plant based meat alternatives
Speaker:that some folks like me, actually are proudly shoveling down
Speaker:instead of a burger. Yes, those vegan
Speaker:nuggets are ultra processed food and welcome to the
Speaker:club. But I want to go through some of the myths.
Speaker:Lets start with myth one. They're all
Speaker:toxic and will kill you instantly.
Speaker:Listen, if ultra processed foods were that
Speaker:deadly, the entire American population would have
Speaker:been wiped out by the mid-1990s. While some
Speaker:ultra processed foods are high in salt, sugar and fats,
Speaker:they are not inherently toxic.
Speaker:It's about how much you eat and what else,
Speaker:uh, you're pairing with them. If your diet
Speaker:consists solely of neon colored cheese puffs and
Speaker:soda, which sounds like my teenage son.
Speaker:Yes, your health might take a hit, but
Speaker:a little moderation, not a problem.
Speaker:Twinkies last forever. Look, Twinkies have
Speaker:a long shelf life, but they are not immortal.
Speaker:They're not going to be sitting in a time capsule a thousand years from
Speaker:now waiting for archaeologists to take a bite.
Speaker:They contain preservatives, sure, but nothing that
Speaker:defies the laws of chemistry or
Speaker:thermodynamics. The myth started after a
Speaker:few poorly controlled experiments on old Twinkies, but in
Speaker:reality, they get stale and they get
Speaker:gross like any other
Speaker:food.
Speaker:Myth three, my favorite. If you can't
Speaker:Pronounce an ingredient. It must be bad. This is my favorite
Speaker:myth because by that logic I should avoid
Speaker:eating cyanocobalbumin, which
Speaker:is just vitamin B12, essential for your
Speaker:nervous system. And of course there are some
Speaker:silly people who say, oh my God, it's cyanide
Speaker:in there, it's gotta be bad, it's killing you. And of course it's
Speaker:not. Not all long
Speaker:complicated words are bad for you. Some
Speaker:are just the scientific names for
Speaker:everyday things.
Speaker:Dihydrogen monoxide, that's water.
Speaker:But I'll bet it get banned if you put it on
Speaker:a food label. And if
Speaker:you see an ingredient that says meat, well that's got to be good. All it is
Speaker:is meat. Wait until we break that
Speaker:down and give chemical names to every little moiety in the
Speaker:meat. Uh, that will sound scary.
Speaker:The real problems with ultra processed food. Well,
Speaker:here's the issue. Many ultra processed foods are
Speaker:designed to be hyper processed, palatable.
Speaker:Meaning they hijacked your brain's reward
Speaker:system. Ever wonder why you can eat an entire
Speaker:family sized bag of chips in one sitting? It's not
Speaker:a lack of willpower, it's science.
Speaker:Those foods, by hook or crook, are
Speaker:simply irresistible. Not the scientists
Speaker:were smart enough to make them that way. They just sort of
Speaker:stumbled into it because we all know what we like to
Speaker:taste. And ultra processed foods tend to
Speaker:be calorie dense, but nutrient poor. You can eat a lot of them
Speaker:without getting fiber, vitamins, minerals, not that much, much
Speaker:protein. Things your body needs. That's
Speaker:the real danger. Not that they exist, but they can
Speaker:crowd out the good stuff. They don't take that much
Speaker:room. Can you eat ultra processed foods and still
Speaker:be healthy? Absolutely. The key is
Speaker:balance. If your diet is 80% whole foods,
Speaker:fruits, veggies, lean proteins, whole grains, then
Speaker:20% processed ingredients isn't just going to wreck
Speaker:you. The problem is in the United States, ultra
Speaker:processed food make up anywhere from 70 to 80% of the diet of
Speaker:the average American. And that's where the trouble
Speaker:starts. There are those people
Speaker:who are reductionists,
Speaker:meaning they will take ultra processed food and say, see
Speaker:the problem is, pick one. The problem is, uh,
Speaker:high fructose corn syrup. We can show you. High
Speaker:fructose corn syrup chemically is pretty similar to glucose, which
Speaker:your body needs as its metabolic currency. Or
Speaker:the problem is seed oils. That's the favorite one of the
Speaker:carnivore crowd. And they'll say, oh, seed oils are ultra
Speaker:processed and made with hexane. And we've covered this before
Speaker:folks, seed Oils are vegetable oils.
Speaker:Vegetable oils, when looked at in large studies, are
Speaker:healthy. Now because vegetable oils are cheap, they're
Speaker:put in all sorts of stuff. Your favorite
Speaker:protein bar has a lot of vegetable oil and it doesn't mean it's healthy
Speaker:or unhealthy. It's your protein bar. You
Speaker:can eat a lot of them. And let's be
Speaker:clear, when we have sort of classified
Speaker:ultra processed food by a standard, but
Speaker:we don't know if there's a single ingredient in there that's bad or
Speaker:not. We do know that people, when given
Speaker:ultra processed food, tend to eat about
Speaker:500 calories more a day. Ever wonder
Speaker:why we're eating more calories in the United States and in the
Speaker:western world? It's because we're eating more
Speaker:ultra processed food. Some people say we just need to put more
Speaker:fiber in it. It's not that simple. Some people will say the answer is more
Speaker:protein. It's not that simple. People want to make this
Speaker:stuff simple when it's not.
Speaker:Ultra processed food has some benefits. Did
Speaker:you know that? Let me give you a few. They have a strong
Speaker:shelf life, a long, long, strong
Speaker:shelf life. Is that bad? The Twinkies lasting
Speaker:forever? No, it's not.
Speaker:Why? Well, the only thing worse than
Speaker:obesity is starvation. And when you have shelp
Speaker:stable food, you can live through
Speaker:famine. If you're going to eat only whole
Speaker:unprocessed foods, let me remind you, when
Speaker:you got healthy and decided to put all those fruits and vegetables in
Speaker:your crisper in the refrigerator, they weren't so
Speaker:crisp after a while, were they? But the
Speaker:frozen fruits and vegetables picked at the ripeness, they were
Speaker:fine. The canned fruits and vegetables, they were
Speaker:fine. It's great if you can afford to go to and
Speaker:live in a place like I do in California and go to a farmer's market and eat
Speaker:that way. But even I don't. Here's the
Speaker:thing. Ultra processed food
Speaker:may have been a key that hit the reward
Speaker:center that allowed obesity to unlock
Speaker:for which we now have medications to control.
Speaker:Maybe we don't have proof of that.
Speaker:So it's really nice when people say you should only eat this, that
Speaker:or the other thing. The answer is it's not that
Speaker:simple. Yep, whole unprocessed food is the way to go.
Speaker:We'd like you to be on the Mediterranean night eating those things that
Speaker:are fresh and delicious. The answer is
Speaker:you're not going to die if you eat some kettle
Speaker:corn. And if you don't want the kettle corn,
Speaker:send it to me. Ultra
Speaker:processed food it's not the enemy. It's a
Speaker:tool for nutrition. It can
Speaker:be good, it can be bad. There's a lot of research to go
Speaker:into it. So when those people who are
Speaker:shirtless salesmen of supplements and scams
Speaker:trying to say it's bad while they're selling you their own
Speaker:version of ultra processed food, usually like this is
Speaker:purified bovine liver or whatever
Speaker:they sell, that's ultra
Speaker:processed crap.
Speaker:All right, that should be it for my rant for
Speaker:today. This is Dr. Terri
Speaker:Simpson was written and directed by me.
Speaker:And while I am a physician, I am
Speaker:not your physician. If you're going to change your diet to
Speaker:a healthy diet like the Mediterranean, or an unhealthy diet like
Speaker:keto or Carnivore, please consult with a western trained
Speaker:physician with a board certified credentials and
Speaker:a registered dietitian. Don't check with a
Speaker:chiropractor. Don't check with an Eastern medicine person.
Speaker:God. Don't check with the functional medicine people who want to get hundreds of
Speaker:ccs of blood out of your arm and charge you a
Speaker:lot, you don't need them. We were
Speaker:distributed by our friends at Simpler Media, the pod God, Mr.
Speaker:Evo Terra. And we were produced,
Speaker:even though she never wants to admit it, by our friend
Speaker:Producer Girl Production, who, when you are
Speaker:listening to this, will be celebrating 15
Speaker:years of CO producing this
Speaker:podcast over its many years and many
Speaker:forms. I don't know what you get a producer of
Speaker:15 years. Probably
Speaker:Xanax, then Wellbutrin.
Speaker:I'm not sure. All right, thanks for
Speaker:listening. Have a good week.
Speaker:Hey, Ivo, what's your favorite ultra processed
Speaker:food? I kind of vary between Reese's
Speaker:peanut butter cups and wine.
Speaker:>> Speaker B: Yeah, color me shock there, wino.
Speaker:Uh, I. I can't keep chips
Speaker:or snacky foods like that in the
Speaker:house because, yeah, I'm that guy that will eat the
Speaker:entire bag and I don't want to be that guy
Speaker:anymore. So, yeah.
