I really think the "unprocessed food" thing is a heuristic that has lost its power. The problem is that it is completely possible to make unprocessed food that

I really think the "unprocessed food" thing is a heuristic that has lost its power. The problem is that it is completely possible to make unprocessed food that is terribly unhealthy. And unfortunately, as with processed food, the cheapest ways to make unprocessed food tastier also make it less healthy. Keep in mind that honey, which many people would consider "unprocessed", is very nearly identical to HFCS-55 (and no, there is not good evidence that the slight differences between them significantly impact their health effects). So early on, "avoid processed food" was a good way to guess at which foods were likelier to be healthy without having to actually examine them closely. But the heuristic is highly exploitable (i.e. you can trick people into thinking unhealthy food is healthy by making it from "unprocessed" ingredients), and in a relatively free market, it was inevitable that it would be exploited. Now, if you advise people to either eat raw, unmodified ingredients, or make their own food out of raw unmodified ingredients, then that will still help them. But I think most people hear "avoid processed food" and think "Oh, I should buy these cookies that are made of whole grains and honey", and that is not helpful advice anymore.