When most people try to lose weight, they watch one number: the scale. But not all weight loss is...
Effects of Highly Processed Foods
By: Scottsdale Weight Loss Center
Published: April 7, 2025
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Diana Bone MSN, FNP-C
Highly processed foods can have several negative effects on weight loss, and understanding these impacts is key for anyone trying to shed pounds or maintain a healthy weight. Here’s how they influence weight loss:
- High Caloric Density: Processed foods are often energy-dense, meaning they pack a lot of calories into small portions. For example, snacks like chips, cookies, or sugary drinks contain high amounts of calories relative to their volume, which can easily lead to overeating without realizing it.
- Low Nutritional Value: Many processed foods are stripped of essential nutrients like fiber, vitamins, and minerals during the manufacturing process. When you consume foods that are low in nutrients but high in empty calories, your body may not feel fully satisfied, leading to hunger and overeating.
- Added Sugars and Fats: Processed foods frequently contain added sugars and unhealthy fats (like trans fats and refined vegetable oils) that can disrupt metabolic processes. These ingredients can promote fat storage, particularly around the abdominal area, and also cause blood sugar spikes and crashes that make you feel hungry soon after eating.
- Poor Satiety: Foods like white bread, sugary cereals, and fast food typically lack fiber, which is important for satiety (feeling full). Without enough fiber, you may feel hungry soon after eating, which can lead to overeating and hinder weight loss efforts.
- Insulin Resistance: A diet high in processed foods, especially those high in sugar and refined carbs, can contribute to insulin resistance, a condition where the body becomes less effective at processing sugar. This can lead to fat storage, particularly in the abdominal region, making it harder to lose weight.
- Increased Cravings: Processed foods can trigger cravings and make it harder to stick to a healthy eating plan. The combination of high sugar, fat, and salt can create a pleasurable “reward” feeling, which can lead to an addiction-like cycle where you crave and reach for more of these foods.
- Gut Health Impact: Some highly processed foods contain artificial additives, preservatives, and emulsifiers that can negatively impact gut health. A disrupted gut microbiome can affect hunger signals, nutrient absorption, and metabolism, making weight loss more challenging.
For weight loss, focusing on whole, minimally processed foods like fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains is generally recommended. These foods are more filling, provide essential nutrients, and are less likely to cause overeating or negative metabolic changes.
Nick
Nick's Story
"I wish I would have come here first. We spend all our time reacting to the next great weight loss tip or program. It might work for a while, but does not last and we end up yo-yoing from one fad to the next – as we gain more weight." Read More
Gina
Lost 44.5 lbs
"I had no trouble adhering to the meals and they really helped catapult my progress! The classes were so beneficial to me because they helped change my thinking about how I viewed health, nutrition, and fitness.
I will always have my relationship with Scottsdale Weight Loss Center. They truly helped me change my life forever." Read More
Lauren
Lost 60 lbs
"Dr. Ziltzer and everyone who I have come in contact with at the Scottsdale Weight Loss office have been so encouraging and I look forward to seeing them each week. It is now a year and 2 months later since I started. I am down 60 lbs., which is the average amount a 9-year-old weighs, it is crazy to think I lost a whole person! I feel amazing, I hit my goal weight in November 2021 just before Thanksgiving. Nothing on my body hurts anymore..." Read More
Chuck
Lost 66 lbs
"The best thing I did was call the Scottsdale Weight Loss Center. I have a lot more energy, I'm not hungry, and it feels great.
You can take it from me that this is a program that produces results. The staff is always positive, supportive, and never judgmental.
Your visits always result in positive reinforcement, no matter if you had a good week or a bad week." Read More
Emily
Lost 101 lbs
"Here I am at the lowest I have been since high school weighing in at 155lbs. I have lost 101 lbs, BMI of 39 when I started, to 21.6, and of course at body fat % of 47.1 to 26.5%. I told myself by my 30th birthday I wanted to be confident in the way I look and I owe it all to SWLC. The entire staff is so welcoming and they are rooting for you just as much as you are rooting for yourself...." Read More
Reviews
Meet Our Team
Robert Ziltzer, MD, FACP, FAAP, FOMA
Obesity Medicine Certified Physician
Diana Bone, FNP-C
Specializing in Obesity Medicine
Craig Primack, MD, FACP, FAAP, MFOMA
Obesity Medicine Certified Physician
Kristen Ash, FNP-C, FNP-BC
Nurse Practitioner
Alicia Earley, FNP-C
Family Nurse Practitioner
