[khedoros]

So, if the new advice is to avoid "processed foods", what set of characteristics about processed foods make them bad? Is there a specific pattern? High in triglycerides? Preservatives? Artificial colors and flavors? Out of whichever things are "bad", is it individually, or just in combination? What kinds of "badness scores" would each item/combination get? What kind of individual variability is there?

[triMichael]

As someone who is obese and working on it, my suspicion is that it's mostly sugar. If you look at "processed" foods you'll see tons of sugar, which is both very bad and not very filling. One thing different from home cooked sugary treats is lots of spices and additives like salt and MSG that make you feel more hungry and thirsty which keeps you eating more of the high sugar non filling processed foods in a vicious cycle.