Why Ultra-Processed Foods Can Sabotage Your Weight Loss | Dr. Jim Loomis

The Exam Room by the Physicians Committee

Physicians Committee

Health & Fitness, Nutrition, Medicine

4.9 • 3.3K Ratings

🗓️ 18 December 2025

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Are ultra-processed foods the hidden reason weight loss feels impossible?

Chuck Carroll is joined by Dr. Jim Loomis, medical director at Barnard Medical Center, to break down the science behind ultra-processed foods and their powerful impact on weight gain, metabolism, hunger, and fat storage.

From packaged snacks and fast food to so-called "healthy" convenience items, ultra-processed foods now make up a majority of the modern diet. Dr. Loomis explains how these foods affect appetite hormones, blood sugar, calorie intake, and the body's ability to lose weight — and why simply "eating less" often doesn't work when ultra-processed foods dominate the plate.

You'll learn:

- What qualifies as an ultra-processed food
- Why these foods drive overeating and cravings
- How ultra-processed foods interfere with fat loss
- The role of fiber, nutrients, and food quality in weight control
- What to eat instead to support sustainable weight loss

Whether you're trying to lose weight, improve metabolic health, or understand why progress has stalled, this episode delivers practical, evidence-based answers.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Today, on the exam room.
0:04.0	Well, when we process all the nutrients, particularly the fiber, out of the food,
0:09.0	we end up short-circuiting this feedback loop.
0:12.0	And so when we eat ultra-processed food, our brain is expecting nutrition to come behind that
0:17.0	to tell us to stop eating, but it gets disconnected.
0:20.0	So we'll just keep eating and
0:21.7	eating and eating and eating because we're desperately looking for this nutrition, which is no
0:27.6	longer there.
0:32.3	Welcome to the exam room podcast, brought to you by the Physicians Committee. Hi, I'm Chuck
0:37.4	Carroll, raising health IQs coast to by the Physicians Committee. Hi, I'm Chuck Carroll, Raising Health IQs, coast to coast, and around the world.
0:41.3	Hi to the exam room, he's listening in Miami, Florida, Bozeman, Montana, and Flagstaff, Arizona.
0:48.5	Wherever you are, we appreciate you helping to make the world a healthier place.
0:52.8	This is episode 99 of season 8, number 698 overall.
0:58.1	And today we are tackling a topic that is seemingly everywhere, talking about on your plate,
1:04.6	in your pantry, and possibly even standing between you and your weight loss goals.
1:12.9	Today, my friend, we are talking about ultra processed foods. Yes, we are revisiting this because the question still remains.
1:19.4	Are they all bad? Are some worse than others? And why do they make it so hard to stop eating?
1:26.2	Well, to help us make sense of all of these UPFs, we are
1:29.9	welcoming back a fan favorite and a friend of mine. He is the medical director at the Barnard
1:35.4	Medical Center and one half of the Doc and Chef. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Dr. Jim
1:41.4	Loomis.
1:45.1	Great to see you.
	...

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