Industrially processed food is designed to be addictive. But what exactly is it doing to our bodies?

The second weekend of my diet I went on a camping trip with my brother Xand and my two brothers-in-law, Chid (Richard) and Ryan. We drove west from London toward Wales, stopping at Leigh Delamere services, a festival of Ultra Processed Foods (UPF). I bought Cool Original Doritos, two cans of Red Bull and packets of Skittles and Haribo Supermix for the rest of the journey.

We slept in a beautiful spot near a waterfall in the Brecon Beacons National Park, spoiled only by my waking dreams about food and my body. I imagined my blood had become thick and sticky, as if it had become too concentrated from the salt and sugar. I woke up early, feeling sad and unwell.

I diluted myself with some water and cheered up over breakfast looking at the ridge of mountains. We had Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Clusters (with wholegrain and no artificial colours or flavours and a promotion for adults to go free at Legoland) and Alpen Original Recipe “naturally wholesome muesli”.

Ryan, an internationally renowned psychology professor from Australia, was astounded to see I was eating Alpen on my UPF diet: “What’s wrong with Alpen? It’s natural and wholesome.” I told him that it technically qualified...

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