How Processed Foods Sabotage Weight Loss

So crunchy and addictive. Photo by Ishaq Robin on Unsplash

Once You Pop, You Can’t Stop

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

No, not Christmas. That’s over and done with for another year.

It’s January. New Year’s Resolution season!

The time of year when you step on the scale and it tells you the truth about exactly how much you overindulged over the holidays.

If, like me, you had second helpings at every turn and indulged in lots of gold-foil wrapped chocolates, then the scale might be telling you a story you don’t want to hear.

But before you go on a restrictive diet that cuts out any flavour… I want to offer a different idea:

Instead, cut out (or cut down on) processed foods—specifically the ones where you know, “Once you pop, you can’t stop.”

Hear me out.

1) The “Party in Your Mouth” Problem

We all know by now that processed food is designed to make you overeat, right?

Processed food confuses your brain with its complex flavour profiles, consistently causing you to eat more than you intended.

EXAMPLE: When you eat homemade food—whether salty or sweet—your palate eventually gets tired of that flavour and your brain says: “I’ve had enough.”

Homemade foods have mainly one flavour, and it’s easier to stop eating once you’re satiated.

But when you mix up ALL the flavours—as is the case with processed foods—your brain just says:

“There’s a PARTY in my mouth! Let’s keep eating.”

That’s why Doritos contain sugar (yes, really) and Oreos contain salt. The sweet + salty + crunchy + creamy + “what even IS that flavour” combo confuses your brain, which is why you can’t tell when you’ve had enough until you either finish the bag… or feel sick.

And it’s not just the obvious stuff. Even the most innocent foods—from granola bars to breakfast cereals—can be a trap.

Breakfast cereals are a real danger food for me. I cannot stop at just one bowl. I will pour one bowl with very good intentions… and then refill it once, maybe twice. That was not my intention when I started, but it’s what consistently ends up happening.

A taste explosion. Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

2) The “Have You Ever Binged on Homemade Cookies?” Test

Ask yourself this:

Have you ever truly binged on homemade cookies?

Chances are, you ate one or two and felt satisfied.

But I’m sure most of us can relate to opening a package of Oreos with the intention of eating one or two… only to find ourselves covered in crumbs a few minutes later having finished an entire row.

Processed food is designed to cause overeating not because food manufacturers deliberately want to fatten you up, but because they want to fatten their wallets—and as long as you keep eating, they keep making money.

Now here’s how this ties into weight loss:

The only way to lose weight is to eat less food. (I’m sorry to break it to you, but you can’t out-train a bad diet. Abs really are made in the kitchen.)

The problem with processed food is that it makes eating less food really, really hard.

3) The Snack-Attack Domino Effect

There is so much processed food in this world that it’s hard to avoid. And for me, it crept in slowly… and then suddenly I was standing in my kitchen asking myself:

“Why did I eat that much? I only intended to eat two of these little chocolate bars?”

(You know the ones I’m talking about—the ones that come out at Halloween but now seem to be available all year round.)

Two mini chocolate bars (chewy sweets) led to a few cookies (crunchy sweets) led to a few jujubes (palate cleanser—“refreshing” chewy sweets) led to one small bowl—and then another—of salty chips (too much intense sugar taste led to a craving for intense salt)… and then back to a small sweet to finish things off.

I don’t count calories, but I’m assuming that on nights where I had such a snack attack, I ate an extra 800–1000 calories easily.

That’s approximately half of an adult’s daily caloric consumption… in a blur… while standing up… in the kitchen… like a raccoon with a Costco membership.

Realizing this—truly becoming aware of it—is both disappointing and empowering.

It’s disappointing because eating processed foods is very likely to trigger overeating for me, and if I want to maintain my good health—as well as lose weight and keep it off—I shouldn’t be doing the equivalent of playing Russian roulette with my food.

But it’s empowering for the same reason: because I have the power to change things.

Costco is a rather wonderful place for snacks... Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on Unsplash

4) The Solution (No, It’s Not “Never Eat Fun Again”)

This is the part where I need to say something important:

Not all processed foods need to be cut out.

Some people can truly open a shiny package, eat a few bites, put the rest away, and walk off into the sunset like a wellness influencer who has never known chaos.

If you are able to eat processed foods without it affecting you—if you can truly eat a reasonable portion and stop—then 1) good for you and 2) I envy you.

I cannot do this. And in the process of changing ourselves, we have to work with what we know to be true for each of us.

So instead of making processed food the villain of your entire existence, do this:

Find your trigger foods.

The ones that flip a switch in your brain from “I’ll just have a little” to “I live here now.”

Then ask: can I make a version of this myself?

Because here’s the thing: I’m an excellent baker, and I will allow myself my own homemade desserts. I’m quite capable of eating one homemade cookie and then putting the rest away.

Same with salty stuff: I can eat a reasonable amount of unflavoured salty things—plain salted pretzels don’t trigger cravings. Same with corn chips.

But flavoured corn chips—like Doritos—make me want to eat the whole bag, and I often get very close. Plain corn chips (like Tostitos) don’t do that. I can eat a handful, feel satisfied, and put the bag aside like a civilized adult.

And if something is a trigger food? Make it harder to access.

For me, that means some favourite processed foods simply shouldn’t be kept in the house—because I know that anytime I eat them, I’m likely to eat to the point of feeling sick.

That doesn’t mean I’m bad. It doesn’t mean you’re bad. It means: that food is doing what it was designed to do.

Call to Action: Do the January Trigger-Food Audit

If you want to lose weight (or simply stop feeling like food has you in a headlock), here’s your challenge:

For the next 7 days, pick ONE category of processed food that reliably makes you overeat—chips, cookies, cereal, chocolate, whatever your personal kryptonite is—and run a little experiment:

Remove it from the house (or at least stop buying it “for now”).
Replace it with a non-trigger version (plain, simpler, homemade, or single-portion).
Notice what happens to your cravings, your portions, and your sense of control.

And then—this is the important part—be honest with yourself about what you learn.

Because awareness used properly doesn’t shame you. It frees you.

So tell me: what’s the food that turns you into the “Once you pop, you can’t stop” version of yourself?

Pick it. Audit it. Adjust it.

Your future self (and your jeans) will thank you.

As you can tell, I do indulge in snacks on occasion. Photo by Ricardo L on Unsplash

Hey Friend! Thanks for reading. If you loved 💙 this post, why not subscribe? I promise to keep showing up for you with high-quality, thought-provoking content. Because every day is a good day to feel your best.

Search This Blog

I Quit Binge Eating