Ditching This Food Could Lead to 8 Pounds of Weight Loss

Healthy eating doesn’t have to be black and white—and honestly, it shouldn’t be: It’s totally OK (and often recommended) to let yourself enjoy your favorite “unhealthy” foods every so often.

Why else would following the Mediterranean diet just 80% of the time be enough to reap its health benefits? Exactly.

Now, even newer research from Drexel University has further proven that fact—not by highlighting which diet to follow, but identifying which foods to limit for better health.

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Published in Obesity Science and Practice, the researchers tested whether a new program could help people reduce their consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPF). To do so, they enrolled 14 women, most of whom were overweight and obese, in an eight week program with daily educational sessions on nutrition and cravings, meal plan support, gift cards for healthier food options and household support to inspire family members to eat healthier, too.

After tracking food intake before and after the program and analyzing changes in processed-food consumption, weight and overall diet quality, the researchers found that participants cut their ultra-processed food consumption by nearly 50%.

Related: The Worst Ultra-Processed Food for Your Health

Ditching This Food Could Lead to 8 Pounds of Weight Loss

After two months of eating half the amount of ultra-processed food—which includes things like fast food, packaged snacks, frozen meals, sodas, candy and most breakfast cereals—participants ate an average of 600 fewer calories per day, 50% less sugar and 37% less sodium.

As a result, also lost an average 3.5 kilograms, or seven to eight pounds, and reported having more energy, being in a better mood, having less swelling in their hands and feet and fewer cravings for processed foods over time.

Related: Cardiologists Can’t Stand This One Popular Diet

How to Identify Ultra-Processed Foods

As for how to identify an ultra-processed food in your diet? One easy tip is to look for anything you wouldn’t cook with at home. Think: Quick, simple, easy staples of the American diet like packaged cookies and cakes, soda and chips. (Soda is often considered the “worst” of all.)

“Ultra-processed foods often contain long lists of additives, artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners and preservatives,” Kerri Hawkins, MS, RDN, LDN, cPT, a dietitian for Eden’s and January AI, previously told Parade, noting that they’re typically high in sodium and saturated fats while bringing little nutrient value to the table.

Translation? If you’re unfamiliar with and/or can’t pronounce any of the ingredients (that is, if you’re fluent in English and have a high reading level, to be fair), it’s probably ultra-processed.

Translation: People Who Never Gain Weight Avoid This One Food, According to Nutritionists

Why Does This Matter for Me?

This study is exciting because it further proves that you don’t have to completely cut certain food from your diet: Even smaller reductions in ultra-processed foods can have long-lasting benefits. It also shows that cravings for those foods will decrease over time, which is a good thing, since ultra-processed food consumption is also associated with cognitive decline.

It is however important to note why these participants were so successful in the end. It likely had something to do with the amount of support and education they received in the program, which included meal planning and financial support, allowing them to grocery shop and meal prep more more mindfully. Fresh, whole foods are usually much more expensive and ultra-processed foods, take longer to prepare and aren’t shelf-stable—which, after a long day at work and a busy schedule elsewhere, can make them difficult to justify financially. This is something to consider on your own health journey: Where and how can you find support?

Above all, this research demonstrated that if you’re trying to lose weight or feel better over all, simply cutting back on ultra-processed foods serves as a perfectly good—and more sustainable—alternative to calorie-counting or following a super-restrictive eating plan. And that’s definitely one “diet” we can get behind!

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