You're kidding right? There's a ton wrong with processed foods. We humans love to outsmart ourselves. Ooh, let's make our own food, screw mother nature and home-grown veggies, fruits, and animals! And then wonder why cancer and obesity rates are increasing.
And hunting and gathering? Screw that! We're gonna create higher abstract levels of work where u stare at a computer screen for 8 hours a day! Woohoo! Why expend so much energy running and walking for food when you can sit all day?!.. Then we wonder again why obesity rates keep going up.
I don't get what your point is. This sounds like a ton of hand-waving with out any kind of science. Your argument is essentially "since it's not natural, it's not good". Google "naturalistic fallacy".
I am not claiming processed foods are good, they're just not bad. Someone who eats nothing but coke and snickers all day will be unhealthy, but that's more because of what he wasn't eating than what he was eating. It's not like eating processed food somehow destroys nutrients in your body.
Obesity is an issue because of overconsumption of food, period. Granted, a lot of the food we overconsume is processed foods. They're cheap and available everywhere. Corn is heavily subsidized which makes HFCS incredibly cheap.
What about someone who has the ability to eat coke and snickers all day, AND veggies, fruits, and everything you need nutritionally? You're saying that's ok?
And no, this is not a fallacy. Most things natural ARE good because our bodies simply have evolved in those conditions. It's not a fallacy, cult, or religion... Hence why we have the Primal/Paleo diet.
Would this person lose weight? Sure, if they consumed less calories than they burned.
Would I recommend it? No, because snickers and coke are not satiating yet are very calorie dense. That person would probably end up consuming a lot more calories due to increased hunger, which would lead to weight gain.
Is it optimal? No, because whole foods are better at keeping you full, generally have less calories, and are richer in micronutrients.
So what approach would I recommend? That the majority (~3/4 or more) of your day's calories come from whole foods, and the rest can come from whatever you want. 100% of your food should fit into your goals, however. Junk food is not "free". If you're trying to lose weight, set your appropriate calorie goal for the day and make sure 100% of your food fits within this.
If you're interested, check out [this article](http://www.wannabebig.com/diet-and-nutrition/the-dirt-on-cle...). It has a weightlifting slant, but it's a well sourced article that goes into detail about how 10-20% of your calories can come from processed foods with no ill effects.
The paleo/primal diets are fine, but that line of reasoning behind them is not scientifically valid. If you can provide some peer-reviewed studies that prove otherwise, I'd like to see them.
It's not just a matter of gaining weight. It's also a matter of consuming things our bodies have NOT evolved to digest/use properly. I dunno about you, but I rather not consume those types of food often because they can lead to disease. There's plenty of evidence already out there that proves grains are not meant to be digested by most people.
You're kidding right? There's a ton wrong with processed foods. We humans love to outsmart ourselves. Ooh, let's make our own food, screw mother nature and home-grown veggies, fruits, and animals! And then wonder why cancer and obesity rates are increasing.
And hunting and gathering? Screw that! We're gonna create higher abstract levels of work where u stare at a computer screen for 8 hours a day! Woohoo! Why expend so much energy running and walking for food when you can sit all day?!.. Then we wonder again why obesity rates keep going up.