Richard Golian

1995-born. Charles University alum. Head of Performance at Mixit. 10+ years in marketing and data.

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My Health Problems Disappeared When I Stopped Eating Ultra-Processed Food

What ultra-processed food is, and what happened when I quit
Richard Golian
Richard Golian · 2 034 reads
Hi, I am Richard. On this blog, I share thoughts, personal stories, findings and what I am working on. I hope this article brings you some value.

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

Chronic stomach pain since childhood. Bloating, fatigue, poor sleep. Extensive medical testing found nothing. Then I stopped eating ultra-processed food, and every symptom disappeared. What we call 'food' is often nutritionally empty trash with ingredients no kitchen would recognise.

Common questions on this article's topic

What is ultra-processed food?
Ultra-processed foods are industrial formulations made mostly from substances derived from foods and additives, with little or no intact whole food. They are defined by the NOVA classification system developed by researchers at the University of São Paulo. Common examples include packaged snacks, instant noodles, soft drinks, and reconstituted meat products. They typically contain ingredients no home kitchen would use: emulsifiers, stabilisers, artificial flavours, and preservatives designed to maximise shelf life and addictive potential.
What are examples of ultra-processed food?
Common examples of ultra-processed food include fizzy and energy drinks, packaged crisps and snacks, instant noodles and packet soups, mass-produced sliced bread and sweetened breakfast cereals, reconstituted meat such as chicken nuggets, sausages and hot dogs, sweetened flavoured yoghurts, biscuits, sweets, ice cream, and most ready meals. The common thread is a long ingredient list full of substances no home kitchen keeps on the shelf: emulsifiers, stabilisers, artificial colours and flavours, sweeteners and preservatives. As a rule of thumb, if the label reads like a chemistry set rather than a recipe, it is probably ultra-processed.
What health problems are linked to eating ultra-processed food?
A growing body of research links ultra-processed food consumption to obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, depression, and all-cause mortality. A 2024 umbrella review published in The BMJ, analysing 45 meta-analyses covering nearly 10 million participants, found consistent associations between higher ultra-processed food intake and over 30 adverse health outcomes. In the article, chronic stomach pain, bloating, fatigue, poor sleep, and recurring dental problems all disappeared after eliminating ultra-processed foods.
How much of the modern diet is ultra-processed?
In the United States, ultra-processed foods account for roughly 55% of total caloric intake according to CDC/NHANES data. In the UK, the figure is approximately 57%, the highest proportion among comparable European countries. These products are engineered for maximum palatability and convenience, making them difficult to resist, which is precisely how they are designed.
Why do doctors sometimes miss the connection between food and symptoms?
In the article, extensive medical testing, from fibroscopy to MRI, found nothing wrong. The diagnosis was: you are a healthy man. This is not uncommon. Standard medical testing looks for specific pathologies, not for the cumulative effects of a poor-quality diet. The connection between ultra-processed food and chronic low-grade symptoms like fatigue, bloating, and inflammation is well-documented in nutrition research but often falls outside the scope of conventional diagnostic protocols.
What happened after quitting ultra-processed food?
In the article, the results were immediate and comprehensive. Stomach problems that had persisted since childhood disappeared. Fatigue vanished. Sleep improved. Energy and motivation increased. Even chronic dental problems, described as an endless saga of toothaches, stopped. The diet shifted to vegetables, eggs, fish, meat, kefir, and plain yogurt. Nothing with long ingredient lists. The body's response was clear and fast.
Is it necessary to completely eliminate all processed food?
In the article, the approach is not extreme. Occasional processed food is accepted as an exception, not a habit. The key change was making whole, minimally processed foods the default rather than the exception. Research supports this pragmatic approach: even modest reductions in ultra-processed food consumption are associated with measurable health improvements. The principle is simple. If the ingredient list contains words no kitchen would recognise, it probably is not food.
Can ultra-processed food cause bloating and fatigue?
In the article, chronic bloating, fatigue after eating, and poor sleep had been a daily baseline for years, and they eased within weeks of cutting out ultra-processed food. This is a single lived experience, not medical advice. That said, a growing body of nutrition research links diets high in ultra-processed food to digestive discomfort, low energy, and inflammation, partly through additives such as emulsifiers that may affect the gut. If bloating and fatigue persist, it is worth ruling out medical causes first, as I did, and then looking honestly at what is on the plate.
What is the difference between processed and ultra-processed food?
Not all processed food is ultra-processed. The NOVA classification sorts food into four groups: unprocessed or minimally processed food such as fresh vegetables and eggs (group 1), processed culinary ingredients such as oil and salt (group 2), processed food such as tinned vegetables, cheese, and fresh bread (group 3), and ultra-processed food (group 4), which is industrial formulations built from refined substances and additives with little or no whole food left. Tinned tomatoes or plain cheese are processed; a bright, shelf-stable snack held together by emulsifiers and artificial flavours is ultra-processed. The practical test is the ingredient list: if it reads like a chemistry set rather than a recipe, it is probably group 4.
Richard Golian

If you have any thoughts, questions, or feedback, feel free to drop me a message at mail@richardgolian.com.

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