Processed Food Is the Wrong Target

"Processed" is usually too vague to explain the problem. Cooking, fermenting, freezing, blending, drying, fortifying, and chopping are all forms of processing. The more relevant question is what a food does in context: how calorie-dense it is, how rewarding it is, how quickly it can be eaten, how much satiety it provides, whether it displaces more nutritious foods, and whether specific additives or preparation methods matter in a particular case. Hyperpalatability, low satiety, and ease of overconsumption explain far more than the label "processed".