If you’re trying to lose weight or clean up your diet, you may be cutting back on refined (processed) carbs, a category that includes both ingredients, like white flour and white sugar, and ready-to-eat foods like supermarket snack cakes.
But what are refined carbohydrates, exactly, and can avoiding them help you lose weight and improve your health?
Refined carbohydrates include both refined grains (white flour, white rice) and refined sugars (white sugar, high-fructose corn syrup). They comprise much of the Americans diet excluding whole foods like fruits, vegetables, meat, or seafood.
Refined grains and sugars are a staple of ultra-processed foods, industrial products made with little if any whole foods and usually lots of artificial colors and preservatives.
Refining wheat, for instance, requires removing the bran, a hard outer layer that’s rich in fiber, essential vitamins and minerals, and phytochemicals (nonessential nutrients that provide antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits), says Elisabetta Politi, CDCES, MPH, RD, a certified diabetes educator and dietitian at Duke Health in Durham, North Carolina.
November 12, 2025