By Shenalyn Page

Let’s start with a healthy food like corn on the cob. Then dry it, grind it, and soak it in water and sulfur dioxide. Now extract all the fat, fiber, and protein. Filter and wash the remaining starch, then use acid hydrolysis to convert it into syrup. Then add xylose isomerase and heat it just right. 

The result? High-fructose corn syrup. The sweet stuff manufacturers sneak into soda, candy, bread, sauces, burgers, crackers, and lots more.

Does that sound like God’s process of creating food from sunshine, rich soil, pure water, and growing plants? Not at all! Yet, according to the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, over 53 percent of American adults’ calorie intake comes from ultra-processed foods, such as high-fructose corn syrup.

The figures are even worse for children. They consume nearly 62 percent of their calories from ultra-processed foods. 

What Are Ultra-processed Foods?

When we talk about ultra-processed foods, we are not referring to foods that have been chopped or microwaved. 

Ultra-processed foods are food-like substances that originally came from healthy, whole foods like soy or wheat, but which have been torn apart, recombined, and treated with additives, emulsifiers, stabilizers, sweeteners, colors, flavors, and preservatives in ways God never intended. 

Even your grandmother could not have imagined foods like this! 

Unlike home-canned green beans, fresh strawberries, or a good loaf of sourdough, ultra-processed foods travel a long, convoluted road from the farm to your dinner table. They are engineered to taste really good, last a long time, and be easy to produce in large quantities. The NOVA classification system, created in 2009, is generally used to identify ultra-processed foods.

Good, Bad, or Ugly?

But are ultra-processed foods actually a health risk? Yes! 

A 2024 review published in the British Medical Journal examined 45 health studies of almost 10 million participants to see what effect ultra-processed foods had on people’s health. The findings? Eating more ultra-processed foods is linked to a higher risk of dying from any cause—and to 32 health conditions, including heart disease, mental health disorders, and type 2 diabetes.

Another study found that when people ate ultra-processed versions of foods (compared to minimally processed), they ate as many as 500 additional calories per day without even realizing it. One participant said, “Ultra-processed foods are so calorie-dense that feeling full meant I’d overeaten. Some days I would get through my meal in a few minutes without really noticing I was eating. It wasn’t satisfying.”

Some studies even suggest that ultra-processed foods may be as addictive and harmful as cigarettes. Such foods “deliver unnaturally high doses in an unnaturally fast way, often in unnaturally high combinations of rewarding ingredients,” says Ashley Gearhardt, a psychology professor at the University of Michigan and a key researcher in the field. She published a study in 2022 that used the same criteria established by the U.S. Surgeon General in 1988 to determine whether tobacco was addictive.

Not surprisingly, her study found that ultra-processed foods met all criteria. They can trigger compulsive behaviors, driving you to eat more. They can also affect your mood, just as nicotine gives smokers a feeling of euphoria. And just like cigarettes, ultra-processed foods significantly increase the risk of developing cancer.

Are You Trashing God’s Temple?

Okay, so ultra-processed foods are unhealthy. Does it really matter that much? Isn’t it okay to indulge in a bag of Doritos occasionally? Or down a pint of ice cream now and then? 

Consider this: The Bible tells us that our bodies are a temple for the Holy Spirit: “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). If that is true, we have the ultimate incentive to care for our physical health, don’t we?

If we fuel our bodies with trash, won’t that create an unholy place for the Holy Spirit to dwell? The passage goes on: “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (v. 20). 

Our physical bodies are a God-given gift—a vessel through which we serve, worship, and live. Any depletion of our health, energy, or willpower is not merely a personal inconvenience; it affects our ability to love God and serve others. While convenience food may not make you sick today, making it your regular meal plan will certainly trash up your body temple and decrease your ability to live for God.

Return to God’s Diet

How can you improve your diet? The first step is to prioritize foods the way God made them. Ask yourself: Did God make this? Then enjoy it. Did humans make it? Then put it down—or eat with caution. 

Try to get as close as possible to God’s original diet. “God said, ‘See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food’” (Genesis 1:29). After the fall, God added green plants to our diet (Genesis 3:18). Meat was not added until after the Flood, when vegetation was scarce (Genesis 9:3, 4). 

Eating God’s way looks like a plate of vegetables and fruit, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. Called a whole-foods, plant-based diet, it is associated with many health benefits: a healthy weight, cardiovascular health, reversal of type 2 diabetes, a lower risk of cancer, better mental health, and more.

Learning to eat God’s way can take time, especially if you are used to the convenience of ultra-processed foods. But is it possible? Absolutely! Ask God to change your desires and help you to form new habits. Look for ways to add more whole foods to your plate, and you’ll soon find that your taste buds are adjusting and that you are truly enjoying eating healthier foods. 

And if you fall off the path to good health? Get up and try again. We have a loving heavenly Father who gladly forgives and willingly picks us up. “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the LORD upholds him with His hand” (Psalm 37:23, 24). 

Need some inspiration for facing your ultra-processed foods addiction? Listen as Pastor Doug shares how God set him free from a lifelong love affair with ice cream in “A Cold Confession.”