This infographic is well done.

10 companies create pretty much all the processed food in America:

http://pandawhale.com/post/17075/10-companies-own-almost-everything-in-an-american-grocery-store

I eat very little of that except boozes and canned goods -- tomatoes, anchovies, beans, stock -- that become ingredients in real dishes. The real issue is why people think they can't live without crackers, cereal, packaged bread, and Flamin' Hot Cheetos despite growing evidence that processed food is the new cigarettes.

Are we a LAZY species?

Hahaha, not at all! Lazy species don't spend SO MUCH ENERGY doing stuff that is maladapted for them! A truly lazy species -- like (oh, just off the top of my head) the GIANT PANDA -- is so optimized for one thing that if they ever stopped munching bamboo 20 hours a day they would quickly die off, as individuals and as a species.

Our problem is the opposite! We are so delightfully adapted for an omnivorous, novelty-seeking, hedonistic existence -- like gigantic raccoons. Our brains tell us that Flamin' Hot Cheetos are new, fun, exciting, tasty! And our bodies are able process them in much the same way that we process food... except faster and more "efficiently" in terms of turning sugars into fat very rapidly. All of this made us SO AWESOME when our ancestors were crossing the Bering land bridge and trying out new foods -- hey guys, this weird CORN thing tastes good! and it's nutritious! -- but as every rose has its thorn, every good thing about our bizarrely complicated body and mind can be hijacked by Big Ag.

Ah.  Got it.

Hahaha, exactamundo!