Article
My Health Problems Disappeared When I Stopped Eating Ultra-Processed Food
What is ultra-processed food? In the NOVA classification, it is group 4: industrial food, formulations built mostly from cheap refined substances and additives, with little or no whole food left in them. Packaged snacks, fizzy drinks, instant noodles, reconstituted meat, sweetened breakfast cereals. The kind of product held together by emulsifiers, stabilisers, artificial colours and flavours that no home kitchen would ever keep on the shelf. I did not understand any of this until my own body forced me to learn it. This is what happened.
I have had stomach problems since I was a child. Pain, cramps, bloating, fatigue after eating, poor sleep – and eventually, frequent toothaches joined the party. Sometimes the combination of these symptoms would knock me out for weeks at a time, other times they would back off for a few days. But for most of my life, discomfort was my baseline.
Then, at the turn of 2024 and 2025, something broke. I was so exhausted I would get on the tram in the wrong direction. I was making mistakes at work, and my dentist saw me more often than some of my friends. When the adrenaline from the pre-Christmas season – the busiest time of the year in my industry, e-commerce – finally wore off, I realised I could not keep living like this. I made a simple resolution: health comes first. (I wrote about it here)
Chronic bloating and fatigue, and a medical dead end
I started seeing doctors. I went through dozens of tests – from fibroscopy to MRI scans. The result? "You are a healthy man."
Some might find that sentence frustrating. It did not solve anything. But for me, it helped. Hearing from a medical authority that I did not have any serious condition gave me permission to look elsewhere for answers.
In the meantime, I took medication that “reset” my stomach once a month. It worked... for a few days. Then the symptoms came back. I tried eliminating lactose, dairy, different food combinations. Nothing. The symptoms stayed. I dealt with the toothaches using antibiotics or extreme methods I will not even describe here.
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Summary
Common questions on this article's topic
What is ultra-processed food?
What are examples of ultra-processed food?
What health problems are linked to eating ultra-processed food?
How much of the modern diet is ultra-processed?
Why do doctors sometimes miss the connection between food and symptoms?
What happened after quitting ultra-processed food?
Is it necessary to completely eliminate all processed food?
Can ultra-processed food cause bloating and fatigue?
What is the difference between processed and ultra-processed food?
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