system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: What exactly is "processed" food?

And why is it bad for people?
gpt
"Processed" food means the food has undergone some mechanical or chemical manipulation or "processing" to reach that state it was that would/could not occur naturally. For example, Reddiwhip/Coolwhip are oil based whipped cream products that undergo processing to reach a state where they have the texture of whipped cream.

The reason they may be bad for people is that a lot of the processing involves adding chemicals which are not necessarily optimal for human consumption as opposed to eating naturally occurring food items.