Is it true that foods that tastes great are actually bad for you?

Taste is subjective. If you are used to things that are high in fat and sugar, and are processed, you probably will not like adjusting to the much subtler flavors of “healthy’ food. There’s a lot of really yummy good-for-you food out there if you can weather the change. One of my favorite things is steamed broccoli tossed with fresh tomatoes and some toasted sesame oil. Ew for some, mouth watering for me. Want something sweet? How about some whole grain organic baklava? I could go on…

Nope. There are plenty of foods out there that are good for you and taste great. The main problems are fat content and overall caloric intake.

As for fat, we evolved to love the stuff because it is quick energy and in a hunter/gatherer society is in relatively short supply. However, now that we have learned to farm and ranch fat is abundant. Further, since we have evolved to love the stuff we tend to over consume it.

As for caloric intake, the bottom line is that in order to loose weight you must take in less calories than you burn and to maintain a healthy weight your intake must not exceed what you burn. The harsh reality is that over eating is more of a habit than anything else. I think this is linked to our survival instinct as well. We tend to overeat in times of plenty in order to save up for the lean times. However, for many in the civilized world true lean times are almost non-existent.

No There are a lot of things that are good for you and taste great but taste is relative to the taster. What tastes good to one might not taste good to another. Healthy food is great tasting and doesn’t have as much starch, processed foods, bad fats and high sugars. You can have really good food that meet the healthy requirement.

Neh, that’s just something someone came up with because many fatty unhealthy foods that really aren’t good for you usually taste so good (deep fried chips for example).
Many fresh fruits are delicious and also really good for you. Many unhealthy foods also don’t taste good at all.
I also think it’s subjective for the most part, and what you’ve been growing up with. Unhealthy foods with lots of added salts sugars and other unnatural flavourants are unhealthy, but also usually quite tasty because of the added flavours – as a contrast, many veggies are a little bland when compared to some of the junk foods on the market (by junk foods i’ve included anything with refined flours in it too). But we only think they taste bland because of the added flavours some foods have been given.

Yes and no. Bad foods generally taste really good because they are overstuffed with things that our body craves, and little else. Things like salt and sugar are tastes that we crave because they are both (1) essential to our body’s functions and (2) rare in nature. We’re programed to recognize them and then gorge on them (put simply). Because it’s beneficial for us to crave this and recognize it quickly, it has a lot of addictive potential. And because we can now artificially reproduce these flavors, and our brains aren’t evolved to tell the difference or really turn off the craving, we eat more of these foods that contain things that we think we need, or do need, in amounts that make it unhealthy…and do it repeatedly and in unhealthy amounts.

Of course not, fruit is good for you, and it tastes great. It can be true in some examples, but taste is not a factor in determining the healthiness of a food.

And remember @john65pennington , you can always secretly supplement your new healthy diet with a secret stash of these.

No.I just had a salad and the best peach ever! Good stuff.
:)

No. Some of the best things for you taste delicious.

Roast chicken for example.

Salmon on a bed of fresh spinach sauteed with onions and with a spoonful of sour cream stirred in.

…or you can learn to cook.

Peaches, fresh pineapple and bananas are good not that I’ve had a decent peach since right off a tree in 1984 but for really good I like chips or chocolate! lol

Don’t blame your wife. YOU should learn about nutrition and cooking. To eat healthy you need to have the correct balance of fats, carbohydrates and protein. Eating healthy has nothing to do with whether food tastes good or not. Like a lot of the fluthers have said, taste is subjective. But you can also learn to love new foods or foods that you thought you didn’t like. It usually takes from 5 to 10 attempts at tasting new foods to acquire a taste for them. Although, no one will ever like every food.

In the U.S. (in the last 40 years or so) we have come to rely on foods that are cheaper to make, and thus, usually are full of way too much fat, salt and sugar. That is probably what you are used to eating. The fast food and meat and potato diet is not very healthy. You need to make sure to get lots of fruits and vegetables (fiber) and the right balance of fat, protein and carbohydrates (in the form of whole grains). You need to limit your sugar and sodium intake and replace those flavors with other things like spices and herbs.

There are tons of cookbooks and websites available that will teach you how to eat and prepare healthy, delicious meals. It would be nice if you and your wife would learn together.

Check out this long list of options at Amazon.com here and then check out Prevention Magazine’s website healthy recipe finder here And check out Cooking Light here And Vegetarian Times here

Good luck and Bon Apetite!

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Let me make you a sandwich… as soon as you get off your high horse.

@bob_ I’d much rather you help me with finances.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir I’m all about helping. Wait, you don’t mean that you need a loan, do you? ‘Cause I’m kind of short of pesos.

@bob_ Ha, no.

Taste is WAAAAY too subjective for this question. My 5 year old son thinks broccoli and Brussel sprouts are a treat and begs for fresh fruit at the grocery store (it’s really expensive here, but I try to keep it in the budget). He’s never been to a ‘fast food’ franchise restaurant like McD’s or BK, and when told of a birthday party at BK, started crying and saying he’d never eat ‘that food’..... He didn’t go to that party, as it turned out.

I think it’s all a matter of what you become accustomed to. To me… I just crave things that are going to make me feel good and satisfied and not feel stodgy or sick. but I also have a gall stone problem, so I avoid fatty foods like the plague after a really really bad stone passing about a month ago, that was preceded by passing 3 other stones that were less painful… .. but were still VERY painful.

@john65pennington I love to eat too, and I know what you mean. And my answer is YES John, everything what tastes good is bad for you, and I hate this unfair fact too. Just a few example for those who doubt it: hamburger, french fries, spare ribs, dressings, Jack Daniel’s sauce, Coca-Cola and Pepsi products, chips, coffee, cigarette, sugar (cakes, candies, etc), pizza… It’s endless! But we have to find some balance between exercises and calories, because in this game only we, people can loose… and not weight :)

When my husband’s wife doesn’t cook for him, he cooks for himself and sometimes for her too.

There are plenty of ways to prepare tasty, healthy foods. Perhaps a cooking class would be a good idea.

@YARNLADY You just made my day.

The secret is moderation. You can have any food. Just not the whole pie. Kapeesh.

everything in moderation and all will be fine. When the time comes for me to check out I’m not going to regret not eating more “Kashi”

This might have been true at one point, but then highly processed foods saturated in industrial chemicals were produced.

Steak from a free range, grass-fed cow with onions and peppers? Awesome! Meat-product with sodum nitrite? Cancer!

Ha, I read the question wrong. No, it’s not true. We adapted to enjoy the stuff we’re supposed to eat.

@incendiary_dan But then, does that mean that we tend to eat too much of it?

Yes and no. Certain foods threw us a curveball, like grains (they tend to form addictive compounds, and don’t have much nutritional contribution comparatively). And like I said, processed foods. We definitely eat too much of those. But as for the things we’re adapted for, namely fruits, vegetables, nuts, and meat, the people in this society don’t eat enough of the first two, and the latter two we tend to do wrong (too much/wrong kind of salt, animals fed GM grain and soy instead of their natural foods, etc.).

What’s not good is the abundance of food in the Western World nowadays. Our early ancestors had to wolf down everything with sugar, fat and/or protein that they managed to get their grubby fingers on, in order to store fat for times of scarcity. Since we have inherited their ravenous appetite, we need to learn how to be moderate.