People do agree.
Almost everyone who studies this stuff professional agrees that the following are bad, and should be limited:
- High sugar, low fiber foods: soft drinks, candy, donuts, cake, ice cream, most other classic desserts.
- Oily/fatty processed foods: chips, certain crackers, shelf stable baked goods like cookies, donuts, wrapped cakes, really greasy pizza.
- Trans fats
- Alcohol
Almost everyone agrees that the following are good, and should be maximized:
- Leafy vegetables
- Colorful vegetables
- Beans, peas, chickpeas, lentils, other cooked legumes/pulses
- Fermented/pickled vegetables, especially through lactic acid fermentation
It's not universal, but it's a pretty broad consensus that the Mediterranean diet is good for you, which includes a lot of:
- Fish, especially fatty fish low on the food chain, like sardines and anchovies
- Other seafood, especially those low on the food chain
- Whole fruit
- Nuts
- Extra virgin olive oil in reasonable quantities
It's also not universal, but the broad consensus is that the following are bad for you when eaten in excess:
- Cured meats like sausage/ham
- Fried foods
- Red meat
- Low fiber white starches (white bread, white pasta, white rice)
For me personally, I eat a lot. I want to eat a lot. I could win amateur eating contests in my youth, and even today, left to my own devices, I have no trouble eating 2000 calories in a single meal, 5000 calories in a single day. So I need to manage my hunger, and I've found that for me, fiber and protein promote satiety, so I eat a lot of legumes: beans, lentils, green beans, peas, peanuts. These are basically my staple food, and I drink a lot of water, and eat a lot of watery foods (fruit, soup, etc.).
I mostly avoid processed sugar (no sugary drinks or candy or desserts). I leave fried foods, which I love, for special occasions. I have seriously reduced my consumption of red meat, almost to zero, mainly out of social responsibility, but also with an eye towards health.
I avoid bringing unhealthy foods into my house. It's a lot easier to avoid eating them when I would have to go out of my way to order it.
I'm also working out all the time. Not just to buy me a calorie budget for eating, but also because knowing I need to go to the gym later helps control my portions and choices earlier in the day. Nothing worse than trying to squat 330+ lbs (150+ kg) with a huge portion of greasy fried chicken sitting in your stomach.