Americans are obese and unhealthy not because of artificial processed ingredients in junk food, but because 1. junk food/fast food is significantly cheaper than fresh whole foods, produce, whole grains, etc.; 2. so few of our cities and towns are walkable and instead require automobile transportation anywhere you want to go; 3. Most of America is rural, and most of rural America is a food desert.
I spent 10 days in Italy earlier this year and gorged myself on pasta, wine, and every possible sweet, pastry, and gelato known to Italian mankind every single meal, and not only did I not gain weight, I lost a little bit- because we were walking 15-20,000+ steps daily. The ingredients in our foods are not the problem. It is our sedentary lifestyles, our automobile reliant lifestyles, our desire to buy the cheapest food possible, and also our desire to deport the people who actually harvest our healthiest foods, thus making them even more expensive when there is nobody to pick them and they are withering on the vine or in the field.