I just think the tone of your overall argument is too alarmist. I eat processed foods from time to time - cookies, potato chips, hot dogs, ice cream, McDonald's etc. They aren't in my regular diet but if the situation is right I'll eat it, I don't think they are unhealthy because my body can probably cope with whatever is unhealthy in them, just like I drink alcohol from time to time but I don't do it on a daily basis.
I don't think anyone is advertising cookies, potato chips or ice cream as healthy diet choices. McDonald's has some actually balanced things on their menus (from macro nutrient perspective) like their breakfast egg burger was ~25g of protein/carb/fat - but if you order 3 + 1/2 liter of cola and fries along with that then yeah it's not going to be good for you.
I don't think McDonalds & Co are such a big health-negative in other countries as it is in the US. I've never met someone who's obese from eating Maccas in Sweden, they're obese because they eat more calories than they burn.
Calling a food unhealty is quite silly to me, anything is unhealty if you consume it in unhealty amounts.
The above statements obviously exclude things like cyanide and other things designed to kill humans, I'd call them lethal.
I said they are unhealthy when eaten regularly in the quantity that restaurants use. That, and the fact that restaurants (even the good ones) sometimes serve leftovers often cause these issues. (And a healthy person won't remain healthy for long if they eat regularly eat unhealthy food from restaurants).
The custom of serving them with french fried potatoes and a milkshake or cola gives them a bit of guilt by association, but meat, some cheese, some vegetables, and a serving of bread? Don't see an issue at all.
Just about any food is potentially unhealthy if not consumed in moderation. A bag of potato chips and a Coke now and then isn't going to kill anyone. But a couple bags and half a dozen cans a day sure isn't good for you. And a porterhouse steak every day probably isn't that great for you either.
You seem to possess a dogmatised notion of "healthy food." Burgers, even the over-processed fast-food kind, stack up pretty well as these things go. It's the fries and Coke that'll destroy you. And if a salad gets you down, it may benefit with more oil or cheese. Understanding the relationships between carbs, fats, salt, and spices is most of what you need to make something taste good.
"Healthy" just means that the food is beneficial and doesn't harm you. To know with some real certainty that something is or isn't harmful you have to run your own tests: The effects of sesame oil vs. olive oil, more butter vs. more sugar, etc. Given the speed at which dietary guidelines change, the facts and hard rules should be given less weight than your own feelings and behavior post-consumption.
2. There are no unhealthy foods, only unhealthy diets. Even a bowl of ice cream isn't unhealthy if you're getting all your nutrients and not eating too many calories.
what people in the UK (and elsewhere to a lesser degree) are eating isn't unhealthy because it is "ultra processed", it is unhealthy because it consists of 80% fat&sugar.
Fries and sodas are much worse for you.
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