[CadmiumYellow]

Every time processed foods come up online someone makes this argument. I will assume you're being genuine but a lot of times it's done in an annoying "gotcha" way and it drives me crazy. Regardless, the NOVA classification system is helpful for talking about this topic: https://regulatory.mxns.com/en/ultra-processed-foods-nova-cl...

When people use the term "processed foods" colloquially they are generally referring to NOVA group 4, ultra-processed foods. It seems that that group is implicated in worse health outcomes and it is also that group that has proliferated the most significantly over the past 40 years in tandem with rising rates of obesity and poor health outcomes.

[cogman10]

Wasn't really trying to gotcha. Just trying to get a good understanding on what's actually meant when someone says "processed foods are bad".

The term is quiet loose.

And I'd agree, that category does generally seem to be an issue. Though, I have to wonder if it's more a problem that that category typically has foods with an absurd amount of calories that are easy to consume.

[kerryritter]

The easiest way to understand unprocessed food is "nothing bad added, nothing good taken away".

For instance, pure peanut butter is unprocessed. While it runs through a mechanism to change it from peanuts to peanut butter, there is no oil added, nor are any of the healthful nutrients of peanut butter extracted. Opposite to this is peanut butter like JIF which is processed - the mix is diluted with sugar and vegetable oil to make the same amount of food for cheaper.

Same with tofu - it starts as soybeans and is ran through a mechanism to turn it into the blocks of tofu we see in stores, but we do not add sugar or oils to change the contents of that block, nor do we remove nutrients from the soybean (this may not be 100% accurate, but generally speaking, nutrients are not removed in this). However, many vegan meat products put a lot of unhealthy additions into the mix, thus making it processed.

[AstralStorm]

Generally we put a curdling agent into tofu, so it usually has more of either calcium or magnesium than unprocessed soybeans.

[type-r]

the easiest way to understand processed is has it been changed at all since being harvested? peanut butter and tofu are both processed. raw peanuts and legumes are not. cooked legumes are also technically processed. does not mean that it's always bad per se but that is the definition.

[badcppdev]

Is low-fat milk processed or unprocessed?

[Scalestein]

I think they go hand in hand to a degree. There aren't many "non-processed" (picked off a tree, animal products, etc.) foods which are as calorie dense as processed foods. Having access to something like twinkies or a powerbar makes it way easier to consume lots of calories.

[CadmiumYellow]

Exactly. Ultra-processed foods are a supernormal stimulus that drives an exaggerated response in humans, e.g. overeating.

[DanBC]

For "processed red meat" people mean red meat that has been preserved by smoking, salting, curing, or by adding preservatives.

[bluGill]

While you might mean the NOVA classification, the vast majority of people have never heard of that, much less read it. As such the original question still stands because most people have no idea that any definition exists, and in any case if what they mean happens to fit that, well that is just coincidence.