Note that I am not telling people to stop doing anything. These are purely health tips. If someone wants to drink Mountain Dew and eat Taco Bell, all I'm saying to them is that they may want to reevaluate whether some of those things are actually food. If they keep consuming them for other reasons, that's their business. As you say, "There's gotta be a range of different reasons they make this choice."

Starving is not the only concern when it comes to health. In fact, considering our obesity rates, it's not really a concern at all. There are many prevalent nutrient deficiencies, as well as chronic health conditions that are at least associated with junk food.

I'm not making a particularly stringent delineation. If you think something is bad for you, I'm suggesting it shouldn't be perceived as food.

At my poorest, I was an undergrad math major. That combination led me to create a nutrition optimization program. I put in all of the local food prices and generated the cheapest diet that met nutrient requirements. It is not something you want to do, unless you have to.

I've always meant to do more with that program, though. Maybe I'll try to vibe code an app that makes use of it.