why doesn't healthy food taste good, since it is good for us?

[bowman316]

our bodys usually tell us what is good for us thru our senses. usually if your body is craving something, that means it is good for you.
but how come the food that is good for you tastes bad, and the junk food tastes good?

you would think that our taste buds would change to make health food taste good.

 

[robert graham]

Re: why doesn't healthy food taste good, since it is good for us?

It goes back to our Caveman/Neanderthal days when the foods with the most fat content had the most nourishment value. If I'm going on a Mammoth hunt today, what am I going to eat that will fuel my body all day, a big chunk of fat meat or a handful of raw carrots? We still love and crave pork barbecue and french fried potatoes/onion rings. Fat's still where it's at!

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: why doesn't healthy food taste good, since it is good for us?

Well...... "healthy food" needs to be defined and looked at.

Many "fat free" foods have mega calories and really are portioned wrong. My wife and I call it eating like an adult........We read the labels....... look at the carbs, the fat and the protein ........ Many healthy foods can make you fat!

When the burger places went "healthy" to no trans fat..... fries went down the tubes!!

 

[JRJ]

Re: why doesn't healthy food taste good, since it is good for us?

Add a can of RO*TEL to a can of Black Eyed Peas.....tasty and gotta be good for you

 

[JustJason]

Re: why doesn't healthy food taste good, since it is good for us?

I think lots of healthy food tastes great. But it takes effort and time to put together a quality, healthy meal, and as americans we don't have it.

8 hour work day
2 hours commute time (hour each way)
1 hour to ship, shower and shave
8 hours of sleeping
-------
Thats 19 hours out of 24.
In that other 5 hours, you have to do the wash, play on iboats, worry about your 401K, plan your retirement, kiss the wife, slap the kids, kick the dog, watch tv, drink beer, get sober, try to have a little fun and enjoy something,...... Who has time to put together a healthy meal these days.

 

[metalwizard]

Re: why doesn't healthy food taste good, since it is good for us?

maybe your just doing it wrong... try the Twinky diet. it's proven to work..

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html?hpt=T2


Ok maybe not good for you but...

 

[bowman316]

Re: why doesn't healthy food taste good, since it is good for us?

that twinkie diet was a cool concept. it is simple math, burn more calories than you eat, and you lose weight, even if the calories were twinkies.

you ever feed table scraps to the dog or cat? if your eating say a steak, with carrots on the side; the dog smells the steak and starts begging. see what he does when you give him the carrot. he might eat it, but then spit it back out once he realizes it was not what he smelled.
they pretty much only want meat.

 

[oddjob]

Re: why doesn't healthy food taste good, since it is good for us?

I've been forced to revamp my diet the last few years and I've found it mostly is a case of what you are used to. We use real butter bought from a local farmer. We have had lots of friends and family for meals and when they taste it they say it doesn't taste like "real" butter. What they really mean is it doesn't taste like margarine because that is what they are used to.

The second thing that plays into it is that most people have forgotten or were never taught how to cook healthy meals from scratch. My wife bakes almost all of our own bread and she does it from scratch. No preservatives, no salt, no fillers, etc. That's not something many people can take the time to do properly.

Healthy food can and does taste good, but it has to be prepared properly and that takes more time and effort than popping something in the microwave.

Its not all that hard to eat healthier. Once you learn to make something with a healthier recipe you dont forget it. And I only buy real butter too...margerine is one molecule away from that of polymer ( plastic). And I still enjoy fast food....just not the super size and never more that once a day. I buy happy meals all the time ....less sugar from the coke and I enjoy playing with the toy as well as the dog. Totals around 600-700 calories.

 

[bowman316]

Re: why doesn't healthy food taste good, since it is good for us?

i always thought margerine was healthier than butter. the nutritional facts look better on the margerine.

 

[JRJ]

Re: why doesn't healthy food taste good, since it is good for us?

Been using real butter here for quite a few years since a study said real was better for you than imitation. Tastes better too.

 

[eavega]

Re: why doesn't healthy food taste good, since it is good for us?

As a previous poster said, Healthy food does taste good. In fact, it tastes better than unhealthy food. Of course, its all about how you define "Healthy". Have yourself a hamburger or a steak that comes from grass-fed beef. Cattle are supposed to eat grass, not grain the way they are raised now on industrial farms. Cattle that eat what they are supposed to eat produce a meat that is more flavorful and much, much better for you than grain-fed beef. That is just one example of healthy food tasting better. My "healthy" way of eating has been to eliminate as much processed food as possible from my daily diet. If you eliminate preservatives, fillers, artificial sweeteners, etc from food and learn to cook in such a way as to bring the natural flavors out, you would be surprised at how good food tastes, and how good it is for you.

-E

 

[trendsetter240]

Re: why doesn't healthy food taste good, since it is good for us?

A lot of people would say healthy food tastes good. Perhaps a better question would be why do foods that are bad for you taste so good?

The answer is Fat, Salt and Sugar. All three are required for your body to be healthy it's when people eat excess amounts of them that you run into health problems.

All things in moderation. Personally I love a t-bone steak but a garden salad on the side makes it even better.

 

[aspeck]

Re: why doesn't healthy food taste good, since it is good for us?

Late spring I said, "Enough is enough." I determined to eat healthier and lose the excess weight that I had gained because I sit behind a desk most of the day and eat fast or fatty foods.

Started eating smaller portions and filling up on fiber rich foods. Learned that I could eat most anything as long as moderation was the key, and that I did not use the junk to fill up on. My taste buds have changed over the past 6 months and I am enjoying the lifestyle change (I refused to go on a diet ... I needed a permanent change in my eating habits). To date I have dropped over 50 pounds and would like to lose about 14 more before the end of the year and a total of 55 more by next October.

Most of my meat is organic - wild deer, elk, rabbit, squirrel, duck, goose, turkey, pheasant, grouse, etc. Add lots of salad and colorful veggies to the mix and you have a feast fit for a king that is satisfying and good for you. (Add some real butter on a piece of whole grain bread for a little treat as well). Whole grain pastas instead of refined flour pastas. Brown rice instead of potatoes or white rice. Yum! It is all good!

Eating healthy can be fun, and enjoyable. You just have to convince yourself to eat to live instead of living to eat.

 

[aspeck]

Re: why doesn't healthy food taste good, since it is good for us?

http://www.fullplatediet.org/recipes/

Here are some tasty recipes that are healthy at the same time ... enjoy!

 

[DJ]

Re: why doesn't healthy food taste good, since it is good for us?

It's a matter of taste.

My generation has taste buds directed and accustomed to: let's say it-FAT.

Mrs. DJ does not suffer from that. At 51 she looks better today than she did 30 years ago when I married her!

We whip up a concoction, in a juicer, every morning consisting of: beets, Kale, cranberries, apples, celery, carrots, greens (usually) dark leaf lettuce-plus some "other" stuff.

It tastes like dirt BUT-you know what? I Feel GREAT and haven't been sick in four years. Dang the flu shots and all that. Don't need em'.

I am in contact with a lot of people, everyday. Many of which are suffering from malodies of various types. I don't catch it.

I am convinced that "juicing" gives me what I need to fight off the junk.

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: why doesn't healthy food taste good, since it is good for us?

Disagree with 2 small items.

My wife bakes almost all of our own bread and she does it from scratch. No preservatives, no salt, no fillers, etc. That's not something many people can take the time to do properly.

Doing it from scratch does not mean no salt....no fillers etc... (preservatives?...no argument...)
I make my own bread and with no salt bread is bland and might as well be store bought and the salt also keeps the yeast from getting out of control; and I use fillers frequently....oatmeal, bran, etc.
Typical recipe for bread has 1 teaspoon of salt in a loaf....nothing wrong with that amount unless you are eating the whole loaf.......that is a different issue.

If your wife really uses no salt in her bread, and it really is great home-made bread, please send me the recipe and I'll post the appropriate retraction and apology....and I'll start using the recipe myself

Healthy food can and does taste good, but it has to be prepared properly and that takes more time and effort than popping something in the microwave.

Same with the microwave...I do all the cooking in our house, and use the MW for at least 2/3 of food prep. Just because it comes out of the MW does not mean it is not good food if you are starting with real ingredients....more like a case of "garbage in will give garbage out".
Fish is probably best when prepared in the MW.

Your other posts are bang on.

 

[DJ]

Re: why doesn't healthy food taste good, since it is good for us?

I am NOT a kook/conspiracy thoerist.

However, I know my history.

Look at films from 1900 to 1970. Most, if not all, people were thin.

What changed?

1. We have NO reason to go outside. Computers fixed that. I visit this site when I want to. I'm not addicted to it. It's a great resource. I will admit that I was, addicted to it, for a time.

2. Our foods are 100% "processed". We don't buy fruits and vegetibles-daily. Not to mention "fresh" meats-not frozen or processed. As much as I despise European "attitudes" against us. Guess what, they're not FAT. They shop daily.

3. Frozen foods are fine. It all depends on what "frozen" you eat. Pizzas don't count as a healthy alternatives to eatng healthy.

4. STOP eating in front of the TV. The TV is mindless and so are you when you are stuffing your face. Try eating, as family.

#4 is probably the most helpful. If you eat, in front of other people, you tend to eat less.

#5. Don't eat after 6:00 PM. You don't need it and you're just feeding a "want to".

 

[bowman316]

Re: why doesn't healthy food taste good, since it is good for us?

as far as grass fed cattle tasing better; i don't know about that. I know deer meat is heathier than beef, but does not taste quite as good. i would imagine a natural cow would taste more like deer, and less like beef. more gamey.
they said colonists in the 1600's and 1700's all ate fresh beef daily. it was the most abundant food. they just let cattle roam around and repriduce on their own. then just kill one when they neeed more meat. there was virtually no cost to maintaining the heard.

 

[aspeck]

Re: why doesn't healthy food taste good, since it is good for us?

I know deer meat is heathier than beef, but does not taste quite as good.

My daughter would argue with that statement ... we had some nice, expensive cuts of beef recently (New York Strip and T-Bone) and everyone was raving about how good it was, but my 9 year old daughter said, "What is this? It sure isn't as good as venison - deer or elk!" So there you have it, a 9 year old enjoys the taste of venison over beef. Taste is all in the tongue of the taster!

 

[cribber]

Re: why doesn't healthy food taste good, since it is good for us?

Got to agree beef ain't the only red meat that's tasty. When I'd go to Italy I always enjoyed carne di cavallo and other types of red meat.

Really it's all about portion control and burning at least what you take in during the day. The downside of trying to eat healthy is it truly costs more. Fatty fast foods cost way less than fresh produce because these are the most subsidized food group grown in the US.