The new food pyramid talks about ultra processed foods, I am not sure what those are or why they are bad

Let’s talk about ultra-processed foods, because the problem isn’t just what’s in them, but how they’re made.

Ultra-processed foods are things like chips, sugary cereals, sodas, packaged cookies, and fast food. These foods don’t just come from a kitchen. They come from factories, where foods are broken down, changed, and rebuilt into something very different from what nature intended.

That’s where the trouble begins.

The Hidden Problem: How These Foods Are Made

When foods are heavily processed, they often start as real food: corn, wheat, soy, or sugar, but then they’re stripped apart. Fiber, vitamins, minerals, and natural fats are removed. What’s left is a base that doesn’t offer much nourishment.

After that, manufacturers add things back in, like sugar, salt, unhealthy fats, colors, flavors, and preservatives, to make the food taste good again and last longer on the shelf.

So even before we talk about ingredients, the processing itself creates food that no longer works with your body the way real food does.

Calories Without Nourishment

Ultra-processed foods are usually high in calories but low in nutrients. That means you can eat a lot of them and still feel hungry, not because you need more food, but because your body is missing fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

Your body is smart. When it doesn’t get what it needs, it asks for more. That’s why it’s so easy to keep reaching for another handful or another serving.

Designed to Keep You Eating

These foods are carefully designed to hit the brain’s pleasure centers. The combination of sugar, fat, salt, and texture makes them very hard to stop eating.

It’s not a lack of willpower, it’s biology.

Because the food is broken down so much, your body absorbs it quickly, causing blood sugar spikes and crashes. That can leave you feeling tired, hungry, and craving more shortly after eating.

Ingredients That Add to the Problem

On top of heavy processing, ultra-processed foods often include:

• Added sugars and unhealthy fats, like high-fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils

• Excess salt, which can raise blood pressure

• Additives, such as artificial colors, flavors, emulsifiers, and preservatives

• Very little fiber, which is important for digestion and gut health

These ingredients don’t just add calories, they can also increase inflammation and disrupt the balance of healthy bacteria in your gut.

What About Long-Term Health?

Eating a lot of ultra-processed foods has been linked to higher risks of:

• Weight gain and obesity

• Type 2 diabetes

• Heart disease

• Chronic inflammation

• Certain cancers

What’s important to understand is that some studies show these risks remain even when calories and nutrients are taken into account. That tells us the processing itself matters, not just the nutrition label.

So… Is It the Processing or the Ingredients?

The honest answer is: both.

The processing strips away what your body needs, and the added ingredients replace it with things your body struggles to handle. Together, they create foods that are easy to overeat, hard to digest well, and tough on long-term health.

The Takeaway

You don’t have to be perfect, and you don’t have to avoid packaged foods forever. But when you can, choosing foods that look closer to how they came from nature: fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, eggs, and simple home-cooked meals,

gives your body what it actually needs to feel satisfied and strong.