Ultra-Processed Women: Why the Food Industry is Failing Us with milli hill

Ultra-processed food has become the backdrop to modern life. It’s in the supermarket aisles we pace every week, the cupboards we raid between Zoom calls, and — all too often — the family dinner table. It’s convenient, cheap, and engineered to taste irresistible. But could it also be quietly eroding women’s health?

That’s the urgent question at the heart of Milli Hill’s new book Ultra-Processed Women. Hill, already a familiar voice to many through The Positive Birth Book and Give Birth Like a Feminist, has built her career calling out the blind spots in how women’s bodies are treated.

With her latest work, she turns her gaze to the food industry — and the story she uncovers is far bigger than diet trends or clean eating fads.

UPFs — “industrially produced food-like items in plastic packets” — aren’t just making us hungrier and heavier, she argues. They may be affecting everything from hormone health to mood, immunity and even the ageing brain.

More striking still is the way these products have been sold to women for decades, wrapped in the language of liberation, while eroding both our health and our connection to food itself.

Here, she speaks to The M+ Edit about the lightbulb moment behind the book, why she believes UPFs are a feminist issue, and how mothers can navigate it all without guilt.

What first sparked the idea for Ultra-Processed Women? Was there a single moment that made you think, “I have to write this book”?

“It was really a culmination of moments. I was researching women’s experience of menopause across different cultures while also going through perimenopause myself. Reading about how diet might shape that experience was eye-opening.

Around the same time I read Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken, which raised a huge question for me: what about women? Women’s suffering is so often pathologised or dismissed as a mystery. What if diet was a key we’ve been overlooking?

When I started to dig into the research, I found there was already so much evidence linking UPFs to women’s health issues. That was the point I knew I had to write this book — because for so many women, it could be a game-changer.”

So much food marketing is aimed at busy women and mothers. What’s the one “lie” you’d most like to bust?

“There are two. The first is that UPFs are somehow liberating. We’ve been told the kitchen is a prison from which food companies can release us.

In reality, it was patriarchal systems that kept women in the kitchen, and it was grassroots feminism that set them free. UPFs are just another manifestation of patriarchy — toxic and exploitative of women’s bodies.

The second myth is that UPFs are cheaper. Since writing the book I’ve been sharing recipes on my Substack, Unprocess, where I compare homemade versions of supermarket staples. Pizza, ice cream, mayonnaise, pasta sauce, quiche — in every case, the homemade version is cheaper, often significantly so. UPFs aren’t saving women money, they’re costing us.”

Motherhood can feel like a constant juggle. Do you have any easy swaps that help avoid the ultra-processed trap without piling on guilt?

“First of all, make sure everyone in the house is pulling their weight — this is not only women’s problem to solve.

Beyond that, keep it simple. We’ve been sold the idea that dinner has to be elaborate — lasagne, curry, stir-fry — all of which are hard to make from scratch if you’re time-poor. But there’s nothing wrong with simple food: fish with potatoes and broccoli, an omelette with salad, a jacket potato.

We think UPFs offer variety, but really they’re the same three crops — rice, maize and wheat — in endless disguises.”

If someone only had the bandwidth to make one change in their weekly shop, where should they start?

“If you drink a lot of fizzy drinks, start there — switching to water or tea can make a huge difference. Otherwise, look at breakfast.

We’re culturally conditioned to think cereal and toast are the only options, but around the world people eat everything from noodles to rice in the morning. Eggs, yoghurt, porridge — they’re all better bets than ultra-processed cereal.”

Many mothers already feel judged around feeding their children. How do you suggest parents approach your book without guilt?

“I’ve tried to make it clear the guilt lies with the food companies, not with women. We’ve all been played. And I share plenty of my own failings — I’m a mum of three, there’s still UPF in my house. I’m not a diet guru. We’re all in this together and it’s hard, so there should be no guilt. Just small, empowered steps.”

Children can be picky eaters. How can parents move them away from UPFs without mealtime battles?

“With small children, quietly change what’s available at home, and involve them in chopping, peeling, baking — make food fun. With teens, avoid absolutist messages like banning things outright. Instead, encourage them to question social media and advertising. It’s about nudging, not controlling, and celebrating the small wins.”

Not all families have equal access to fresh food or time to cook. What realistic steps can most households take?

“Simplify, go back to basics, and don’t expect overnight transformation. This is a marathon, not a sprint.”

For many women, meal planning is part of the endless ‘mental load’. What helps lighten that?

“Delegate. Involve the whole family. Lower your standards — repetitive is fine. Cold ‘picky plate’ meals with lots of different things to choose from are quick, easy, and loved by kids.

Then, if you have energy, make one homemade addition like quiche, bread or soup. Think of it as a creative hobby, not a chore.”

Do you see a cultural shift happening in how we talk about women, food and health?

“I’d love us to reconnect with gratitude and the environment when we think about food. We’ve lost our sense that food is a gift from nature. Instead, we live in a throwaway culture that exploits the planet.

I believe women can lead the way in reshaping that conversation — moving from exploitation to care, from consumption to connection.”

And finally, if you could give our readers one take-home message, what would it be?

“That what’s on our plate reflects what we value in this short time we have. We are what we eat, but we also eat what we are.

Changing food choices isn’t just about nutrition. It’s about who we want to be — individually, culturally, collectively.”

Ultra-Processed Women: The Lies We’re Fed About What We Eat and How to Break Free by Milli Hill is out now, buy your copy here.