Ultra-processed people - This book will definitely shut your mouth!

 Ultra-processed people by Chris Van Tulleken, a review by Barbara Echard

Have you ever noticed that the chocolate coating of supermarket ice cream does not melt easily? Neither did I. And what about the number of ingredients written on the package of some everyday breakfast cereal? I don't think we could ever make that at our home kitchen from scratch. Like, what even is soy lecithin, or sunset yellow? Is our food even real food anymore?  And why do I end up craving more every time I have a pop drink? 

Well, Chris Van Tulleken does know the answers to all of those questions, and once I read what he had to say about it, I don't think I will ever recover from the mind-blowing it was for me. I couldn't stop reading. I was ironically addicted to this guide to overcome addiction. It is a brilliant journey of awareness that made me feel both empowered by knowledge and, at the same time, so vulnerable against big food industries.

In the book, Ultra-Processed People, Chris Van Tulleken shared his personal process of submitting to an experiment. He commits to following an ultra-processed diet only for a limited period and regularly checks his weight and overall health. In every chapter, we learn what exactly constitutes ultra-processed food, how and what it is made from, and the way it affects our health. However, the author does not rely solely on personal anecdotal data; the findings are also comprehensively supported by high-quality, peer-reviewed studies.

The findings are dark. Ultra-processed food is, in short and literal terms, the fruit of capitalism. We are being fed with industrially processed, cheaply produced, low-nutrient food. Even though the extent of the damage these new molecules we are consuming does to our health is only beginning to be unveiled by Van Tulleken in this piece, the message was strong enough to prompt me to make serious changes in my life. I am now much more aware of my food choices, my food buying habits, my awareness of ingredients, their relationship with food allergies and intolerances, the link between food and health, or disease, the whole mass-produced food industry, its economy, its relationship to public policy and law, everything has changed in my mind. This book revolutionized my entire worldview! 

I will end by saying that, even though I read it by borrowing it from my local library, I definitely bought my own copy to keep at home as a key part of the basics of education. It now lives next to my dictionaries and language manuals, my all-time bookshelf essentials.  

This book is a whole experience. Buy it or borrow it, but definitely read it!