Why Ultra-Processed Foods Are Harming Our Health

We’ve never had more food on our shelves, and yet, we’ve never been sicker from eating it.

For most of us, food scarcity is something we’ve never experienced. Instead, we live in an age of abundance with more variety and choice than any generation before us. Yet at the very same time, we are facing record levels of illness linked directly to the food we eat. How can both be true?

Over the past five years, I’ve been on a journey to change the way I live, starting with what I eat and drink. I cut back on sugar, shortened my eating window, added more plants, reduced meat, and most importantly, I dramatically reduced ultra-processed foods (UPFs). The difference in my energy, focus and overall wellbeing has been life-changing.

Today, more than half the calories consumed in Western countries come from ultra-processed foods. They’re cheap, convenient and everywhere but they are also making us increasingly unwell. The uncomfortable truth is that as UPFs have flooded our food system, rates of chronic disease (obesity, diabetes, heart disease and some cancers) have soared. This is no coincidence. These foods are engineered for profit, not health. They may look inexpensive at the checkout, but they carry a hefty cost to your wellbeing.

What Are Ultra-Processed Foods?

Not all processing is bad. Freezing, canning, drying, fermenting are ways of preparing and preserving food, and some practices have been around for thousands of years. But ultra-processing is different. 

Processed foods

Definition: Foods that have been altered from their original state, but still recognisable and mostly are the original food.

Examples:

• Frozen veggies
• Rolled oats
• Canned beans
• Cheese
• Plain yoghurt
• Sourdough

Daily Blend is an example of a minimally processed food designed to retain its natural goodness. The nuts are chopped, and the blend is lightly baked to bring out flavour and create a satisfying texture.

Processing can make foods safer, more convenient or longer-lasting without stripping their nutritional value.

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs)

Definition: Industrial formulations made mostly or entirely from substances extracted from foods (oils, starches, sugars, proteins) or created in labs (flavourings, colourings, emulsifiers, preservatives).

They are designed to be hyper-palatable, shelf-stable and convenient, often replacing real food.

Examples:

• Soft drinks & energy drinks
• Flavoured crisps
• Packaged biscuits & cakes
• Instant noodles
• Processed meats (ham, salami, hot dogs)
• Flavoured yoghurts
• Breakfast cereals with long ingredient lists
  

Why they’re problematic: They tend to be high in sugar, salt and unhealthy fats, low in fibre and nutrients, and full of additives that may disrupt appetite regulation and gut health. Many of the ingredients are highly refined or artificial, which can challenge the gut and triggers inflammation in the body.

Easy way to think about it:

Processed food = a food that’s been changed but is still recognisable as food (eg oats, canned chickpeas, cheese).

Ultra-processed food = a product engineered in a factory, with ingredients you wouldn’t cook with at home (eg maltodextrin, emulsifiers, artificial flavours).

The Health Toll

UPFs take a toll on health in multiple ways and scientists are uncovering more all the time:

• We overeat them: People eating an ultra-processed diet consume around 500 extra calories per day compared to those on wholefood diets, leading to weight gain over time.
  
  

• They harm gut health: Typically low in fibre and containing substances our bodies don’t recognise, UPFs disrupt the microbiome, leading to digestive issues, inflammation, and weaker immunity.
  
  

• They dominate our diets: In the Western world, more than half of daily calories come from UPFs, edging out fresh, nutrient-rich foods.
  
  

• They alter fullness: Grinding, extruding, isolating or pureeing food changes its structure, making it easier to overeat and causing sharper spikes and crashes in blood sugar.
  
  

• They affect the brain: Engineered to be hyper-palatable (the perfect combo of sugar, fat, salt and flavourings), UPFs can hijack reward pathways in the brain — driving cravings and making them harder to resist. Research suggests they light up the brain much like addictive substances do.
  
  

• They impact children disproportionately: Children’s diets are often the most UPF-heavy, from breakfast cereals to snack packs. Early exposure shapes taste preferences, setting up a lifelong preference for highly processed foods. Studies link high UPF intake in children to higher risks of obesity, attention and behavioural issues, and poorer overall diet quality.
  
  

• They may carry hidden risks: While regulators currently approve additives as “safe,” evidence is emerging that some, like emulsifiers and artificial sweeteners, may negatively affect the gut and metabolism over time.
  

The Business of Ultra-Processing

Walk into any supermarket and you’ll see shelves dominated by UPFs, they make up the majority of products on offer. These foods aren’t made in kitchens; they’re made in factories, designed and marketed by a handful of powerful multinational corporations.

Just 10 multinational corporations (like Nestlé, PepsiCo, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Mondelez) control the majority of the world’s packaged food and beverage brands. These companies don’t care about or profit from your health, they profit from your consumption. The more you eat, the more they profit.

And here’s what really sucks: the profits often flow offshore, benefiting global shareholders rather than your local economy. Yet the costs of diet-related illness caused by the foods these companies make (obesity, diabetes, heart disease) are left for local health systems, communities and families to carry.

They profit. We pay.

Making your own food from whole real ingredients is the best way to avoid a diet of ultra-processed food. See my Nourish Bowl Guide for simple and practical ways to make healthy meals at home.

It’s Not Your Fault

If you find UPFs hard to resist, you’re not weak, you’re human. These products are designed to override your natural hunger cues. Food corporations spend billions of dollars on research and development, using the latest science of taste, texture and even brain chemistry to create foods that are hyper-palatable (the perfect mix of sugar, fat, salt, and crunch that keeps you coming back for more).

And it doesn’t stop at the product. Their marketing machines are just as powerful, tapping into psychology, neuroscience and cultural trends to make you associate UPFs with comfort, fun, status or even health. From cartoon characters on children’s cereals to social media influencers pushing energy drinks, every angle is carefully engineered.

When the deck is stacked this heavily against us, willpower alone was never going to win.

Why Willpower Isn’t Enough

You’ve probably heard the saying “The easiest Tim Tam to resist is the one you don’t have in your house.”

That’s the truth. UPFs are engineered to override our natural satiety signals. Relying on willpower is a losing game. The smarter strategy is to redesign your environment so that the healthy choice becomes the easy choice, and the unhealthy choice the hard one.

Willpower almost always lets us down, so if you are looking to change your relationship with UPFs, here are some ideas to set yourself up for success.

Set yourself up for a great day with the way you start the day. Most cereals you can by in a supermarket at UPFs and contain loads of sugar. Make this delicious granola at home for a nutritious, delicious and cost-effective start to your day.

Habit Hacking Ultra-Processed Foods

In our Habit Hackers framework, good habits are built by making them obvious, attractive, easy and satisfying. To reduce UPFs, flip the formula:

• Make it less obvious: Don’t keep them at home. Keep fruit and nuts visible instead. Mute food accounts that trigger cravings.
  
  

• Make it unattractive: Reframe them as “fake foods” designed in labs. Focus on how flat you feel after eating them.
  
  

• Make it hard: Create friction. Delete delivery apps. Shop online to avoid impulse buys.
  
  

• Make it unsatisfying: Track how they affect your mood, sleep and energy. Pair with accountability: tell a friend or keep a journal.

Practical Ways to Eat Fewer UPFs

Science suggests a few additional steps you can take to shift your diet:

• Awareness is key: Read labels. If the ingredient list is long and full of additives or names you can’t recognise (let alone pronounce), put it back.
  
  

• Cook more at home: Even simple meals are better than relying on restaurants, takeaways, or fast food, which are designed for convenience, not your health.
  
  

• Pack your own lunch: This prevents relying on quick, ultra-processed options when you’re busy or stressed.
  
  

• Crowd out UPFs with real food: Fill your plate with fruit, vegetables, pulses, whole grains, and fresh meat or fish.
  
  

• Start with the highest-risk UPFs: Focus on cutting back processed meats, sugary drinks, and packaged snacks first.
  
  

• Don’t aim for perfection: Eliminating UPFs entirely is nearly impossible in modern life, occasional indulgences aren’t the problem. The real win comes from gradually shifting your balance back toward whole and minimally processed foods.

Smart Swaps: Better Snack Choices

The good news? You don’t need to give up snacks altogether. Small swaps make a huge difference. Here's some ideas.

Remember: what you do 80% of the time matters most. The less UPFs you eat, the less you’ll want.

A Better Food Future

I am an optimist. I believe that with education and know how, we can all eat ourselves to a healthy future. Just like smoking went from normal to shunned, UPFs are heading in the same direction. We don’t have to accept fake food as our future.

The good news is that most of us do control what goes into our shopping trolleys and into our bodies. By reshaping our habits and choosing real food whenever we can, we reclaim our health. Your body, your community and your future self will thank you.

I’d love to hear from you: What’s one UPF you’ve swapped out for a healthier alternative? Your idea might inspire someone else.