It's just that the definition combines things that feel very different to folks under the ultra processed umbrella, grouping together things like pasta with "junk food" things like candy bars and deep fried anything. I don't know if your example of "boiling noodles" is supposed to be "obviously ultraprocessed" or "obviously not ultraprocessed" -- maybe that's accidentally the perfect example of the question the parent is mocking.
The problem is that there's no definition of ultra-processed. It's generally a "I know it when I see it" type of thing but of course that means it's unevenly applied in a world without nuance.
To use your example, surely hand made noodles aren't ultra processed. But are Bertolli noodles ultra processed? The only difference in ingredients is what emulsifier is used.
Food, biology, etc. is complicated and reducing it to TikTok sound bites often results in squabbles.
I routinely make noodles by grinding durum wheat in a home flour mill and making the dough by hand. Probably the lowest level of processing possible I guess.
