answer:I try to avoid as many processed foods as I can, but once in awhile (on every shopping trip) I will break down and get an old favorite or try a new guilty pleasure. When I do I mainly look for sodium and sugar. If the sodium content is higher than I feel it should be (a wholly subjective measure, but generally if it’s more than, say, 10% of the RDA per serving), then I’ll pass it up. Likewise if “sugar” (in any of its various forms) or “salt” is one of the primary ingredients, then I just pass it up. I figure that if I only liked (or would like) the taste because of sugar or salt then I can give it up. Except chocolate. I’ll put up with all kinds of ‘bad’ to enjoy chocolate. And ice cream. Other than those two, I don’t really worry much about other additives. It’s sugar and salt that are more likely to do real damage to me over the long term, I think. I have concerns about some other additives and adulterants, such as mercury in fish, for example, but I don’t ‘worry’ about that, and I figure that most otherwise healthy foods have health benefits that outweigh the minor risk.