Re: why doesn't healthy food taste good, since it is good for us?
None of this stuff is fattening, it is calories in vs. calories burnt when it comes to "fattening".
Going to have to disagree here. Without processing you don't get the Fructose/Glucose concentration that you get in table sugar, or HFCS. As to the calories in/calories out, you are not considering what each of these substances do to your body chemistry. Glucose is used directly in the cells and can be metabolized anywhere in the body. It is regulated by your insulin response mechanism. Fructose is a different animal. If your body can't immediately use fructose (which is usually the case when you use HFCS or excess table sugar, since your body has an affinity for glucose), it is processed in the liver instead (Incidentally, since fructose is not regulated by your insulin response mechanism, it is considered "safe" for diabetics, but it still can do significant damage to your body). In very simplistic terms, the Fructose is metabolized by the liver to become the backbone of a triglyceride, which in turn either exists as serum triglyceride (stuff measured by your doctor and must be kept at a low level), or combines to become VLDL Cholesterol (which is really, really bad for your blood chemistry but is typically not measured separately from your LDL Cholesterol. VLDL is why LDL is considered to be the "bad" cholesterol). The result of excess trigs or VLDL in your body is Fatty Liver disease and/or arterial plaques which lead to arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).
Sorry for the long-winded response, but I just want to make the point that it is not all about calories in/calories out. You have to consider what food does to our bodies overall before you use any of it for nutrition. I tend to keep to a fairly high protein diet, but only because I lift weights and feel that a high proportion of protein is necessary for my fitness goals. If I were a distance runner or some other kind of endurance athlete, I would probably favor carbohydrates for sustainable energy. I still feel that if we consume food in the appropriate quantities in the form which nature provides, we are doing what is best for ourselves.
Note that nature provides beef, chicken, pork, and fish along with vegetables, fruits, nuts, and grains. Its all good for us, and we should be eating some of everything as the omnivores that we are.
Rgds
