The modern food pyramid

Take the question of whole versus processed foods, presumably one of the simpler distinctions between modern industrial foods and older kinds. Gyorgy Scrinis, who coined the term “nutritionism,” suggests that the most important fact about any food is not its nutrient content but its degree of processing.

He writes that “whole foods and industrial foods are the only two food groups I’d consider including in any useful food ‘pyramid.’” In other words, instead of worrying about nutrients, we should simply avoid any food that has been processed to such an extent that it is more the product of industry than of nature.

Michael Pollan, “In Defense of Food”

That reminds me of the immortal words of Scooby (not the dog):

Good nutrition means eating unprocessed or minimally processed foods. Easy supermarket test: If there are more than 4 ingredients, it’s not healthy.

Source

And this isn’t (just) the tired “all those ingredients you can’t pronounce are bad” rhetoric. It’s more that having a crappy diet is hard if you’re only (or even mostly) eating unprocessed foods.