Why in un-healthy food tasty?

In the deep dark past, food was more scare. People evolved to crave fats, sugars, and salt,but rarely could get these foods in excess. Now that we have more resources, its too easy to add lots fats, sugars, and salt to any food to make it "taste better." We're just Australopithicus brains (craving these formly rare foods) but living in a time of plenty.

hmm, i say "if it tastes good, then it is good for you" fruit and veggies taste good so they are good for you along with candy, sugar and fatty foods.

"If God didn't want us to eat cows, then why did he make them taste so good?" - unknown

Good food that tastes good is expensive. Patato chips, cookies, ice cream, etc is fairly cheap. Good tasting "junkfood" that is heathly and easy to eat is more money, like beef jerky. Its much healthier than say a bag of patato chips, but its ungodly expensive.

I am trying to do the atkins diet thing but it costs so much money compared to filling up on cheap starches (patatos, bread, pasta, etc)

I can buy a cheap 99 cent double cheeseburger at mcdonalds or i can spend 5 dollars for half as much weight in beef jerky (heathiler).

Why do you think that beef jerky is healthier for you than a cheeseburger? Read the nutritional part of the label, salt and fat are there in abundance. Additionally, because it is a partially dehydrated food, inorder to fully digest it, you either need to drink water with it or it will sap water from your body to rehydrate it. That isn't healthy.

Think about the available food supply for the evolving homosapiens as well observation of what the other primates eat. The vast majority of the diet consists of vegetable matter, then fruits, nuts, and finally small amounts of meat often in the form of insects/grubs.

If you want a healthy diet, try a well planned vegetarian one. Think it will cause a lack of strength? Observe exercise and health expert Jack Lalane, a vegetarian since age 16. Think it will negatively effect your intellect? Recall Albert Einstein. Will it reduce your ability to operate in the often competitive and changing "real world"? Think of Benjamin Franklin applied scientist, diplomat, publishing mogul and author, and US founding father. Think that none of these examples are current enough or relevant to this web site? Then how about Apple Computer co-founder and re-invigorator Steve Jobs?

I am a member of PETA (People Enjoying Tasty Animals), and I must disagree that a healthy diet is good for you. All those health Nazis have caused one of our country's most sacred instituions to desecrate itself and start serving fruit instread of french fries!! If your kid is fat and you do not want that, DO NOT TAKE THEM THERE!!! Now the lawyers have ruined it for the rest of us. If I wanted fruit, I would walk over to the grocer's. I go to Mickey D's for a reason. You never hear people say 'skinny and happy' as much as you do 'fat and happy'. A healthy diet denies you the wonderful (almost lustful) satisfaction and gratification of the 'unhealthy' diet.

We all read the rhetoric - John Lalane is indeed impressive with his stamina and his age, but he is happy because 1. he's got renewed popularity from all the health nuts, 2. he is still collecting royalties from rebroadcasts of his shows (most recently ESPN Classic), 3. he has lived to see another day, and 4. he has some braggin right in being able to say 'I told you so' to all of those people who did not listen to him 50 years ago - but look at all the REAL pleasure he has denied himself.

I vow to enjoy every single bite of the foods I love (from 15-layer lasagna to 9-layer cheescake). And when I ever look back on my life (especially if I suffer any ill consequences of my CHOICES), I will take great satisfaction in knowing that I enjoyed every last freakin' bite of my double-stack, tripple cheese, bacon covered, mayonaise lubricated, BBQ sauce drenched burger on the lightly toasted sour-dough bun soggy with the grease that is dripping off my elbows and hopelessly smeared across my chin. My grandmother ate (real) butter straight. She was known to take a stick of butter, wrap a piece of bread around it and eat it. She lived to the ripe old age of 82 and died 'fat and happy'.

But hey, that is just my humble take on things.

--DDTM

Speaking of living to old age, we have a family friend who gets up every morning has a glass of vodka and eats some doughnuts. She likes hamburgers and meats in general. She eats a balanced meal with a salad and sugar beets and doesn't go nuts on the sweets (though she makes some good peanut brittle). She is currently *103.5* years old. I say don't worry about trying to be super healthy, just live in moderation and don't pork out on the goodies.

I will become and practice a vegen diet when i am dead and buried. Its not for me, I love eating dead animals. I have no qualms with picking out a favorite cow to be butchered.

I respect people who eat vegan for health reasons, but its not for me in the least. I do not respect ethical vegans though and their practices, sorry.

Two of my friends are vegans only because they feel better not eating meat. They still eat fish and dairy products and the one guy with kids has no qualms about buying a pepperoni pizza for his 7 year old kid.

A package of beef jerky is much better for you if you follow the atkins diet than a bag of chips according to atkins diet followers.

I used to get a lot of headaches, and had no energy.
My wife cut down on the amount of carbs in her diet (therefore in my diet too), and I've noticed a difference in the amount of energy I have. I sleep better, too.

Now, this isn't the evil "Atkins" diet or anything like that...just getting a bit more balance in the protein/carb consumption. I've also found that with cutting out a lot of the junk food stuff that's high in carbs I don't get snackish as much - which means, oddly enough, that because I've cut down on the amount of food I eat, I'm less hungry. ???

Anything in moderation. "Bad for you" is, perhaps, a term incorrectly and overly-used by the media. Port and cigars at Christmas will doubtfully have any negative effect on you. Port and cigars for breakfast every morning probably isn't a good idea.
I love red meat, in fact I had Bison burgers for dinner tonight (they're amazing, BTW). I still don't eat enough fruit.

Somthing that's also helped, is carrying around a 1.5 litre bottle of water with me to work. I usually drink the whole thing in a night (the body adjusts somehow...unlike with beer, I don't run to the can every 10 minutes. I still haven't figured out where it's all going).

Also try a good multi-vitamin for a month or so - make sure it has a balanced set of the B vitamins.

I will become and practice a vegen diet when i am dead and buried.

Me too! If God didn't want us to eat animals, he wouldn't have made them out of MEAT! YUMMY!

He also would've left out the canines in our jaws and left in the hardware/ability to digest cellulose. We've OBVIOUSLY evolved as failed omnivores, transitioning to a more carnivorous existance and becoming an agricultural society has ROYALLY screwed us up!

I respect people who eat vegan for health reasons, but its not for me in the least. I do not respect ethical vegans though and their practices, sorry.

Don't be, it takes all kinds and accpetance/respect are optional a/o earned, it's only tolerance that's been required/legislated so far. Vegetarianism is one thing, but any diet (vegan) that makes it nearly impossible for a woman to carry a baby to term without health repercussions for both mother and fetus is INSANE!

Two of my friends are vegans only because they feel better not eating meat. They still eat fish and dairy products . . .

AFAIK, that actually makes them ovo-lacto (?) vegetarians . . . I've got frieds who've done that for many years and even they think vegans are off their rockers . . . IIRC, REAL vegans would puke at the very thought of eating fish, eggs or dairy products.

If you want a healthy/cheap snack/meal on the run, buy a large white rice at a Chinese take-out joint and mix in a can of black beans, half the world lives on that combo and you're SURE to have leftovers. For variety, use a can of chili w/o beans and for spiciness mix in a can of green chiles.

jt

The only two things I have admitidly altered in my diet is 1. I cut out salt back in college when my girlfiend (now wife) said she did not like doing 'that' cause I ate too much salt and she could tell. ***I do apologize to any one who takes that to be vulgar as the intent is intended to be purely anecdotal and as politley stated as possible.*** This was motivation sufficient for me, but of course there is always an excuse why she won't now - but hey, at least I cut out the salt.

The other thing was caffine, I cut that out and I can tell. I after about three years without it, I have had to add it back in just to feel 'right'. Maybe I cut too much out, but now I enjoy my frozen coffee drinks from DQ and I am fat and happy while I do!!

--DDTM

bleh! I had somethign catchy to say, but someone already did.

Anyway. The person who posted at the start, about the whole evolution and requiring fats and sugars to survive. That's right.

I always think about how much meat I am eating at dinner. At my house, we have like two or three dishes fill with some sort of sausage or steak , and then some sort of bread. I mean, everything I eat has some sort of corpse in it.

Meat is SOOO delicious, but eating every night makes it lose it's mystique. I dont' think anyone should not eat meat, but I think meat should be a treat, like desert. Like I would come home, and my stepmom would say, "We're having ribs tonight" and I would be like "YESS! I haven't had that in a while! All I've been eating is crap for like three days!"

Also, food that's bad for you tastes good because meat, potatoes and bread can be processed so much that you can't tell that it was made from a two headed cow, or a rotten potatoe. It's all covered up with salt and grease. When I eat vegtetables, I'm always like "GAh! this is gross! these green beans are all soft and smooshy!" or "This apple has fungus in it!" That never happens with french fries and burgers.

Am I right or what

well........... it is tasty because they add so much fat!!!!!!!!!!!! trust me, if the things we ate such as hambergur's didn't have fat in them, they would taste like crap! there is your answer

How does this happen? How is this thread resurrected out of the ether? Were you doing a Google search for some phrase which happened to be in the content here somewhere, and you were inspired so you joined up to throw in your two cents? But which was it: realizing or not realizing that this thread is three and a half years old? And what was the phrase you were Googling?

But since this was B.H.C. (pre-me), and I've never seen this thread before, so haven't had the chance to chime in myself, and on the subject of healthy food and resurrections, I'll just throw in this little scene from Woody Allen's Sci-fi comedy "Sleeper" (about a man from the 20th Century--Woody--a health food restaurant owner who gets thawed-out of cryonics sometime in the distant future). This scene always gives me great hope for the future:

"WELL, HE'S FULLY RECOVERED, EXCEPT FOR A FEW MINOR KINKS."

"HAS HE ASKED FOR ANYTHING SPECIAL?"

"YES, THIS MORNING FOR BREAKFAST. HE REQUESTED SOMETHING
CALLED WHEAT GERM, ORGANIC HONEY, AND TIGER'S MILK."

[ Laughs ]
"OH, YES. THOSE WERE THE CHARMED SUBSTANCES...THAT SOME YEARS AGO
WERE FELT TO CONTAIN LIFE-PRESERVING PROPERTIES."

"YOU MEAN THERE WAS NO DEEP FAT? NO STEAK OR CREAM PIES OR HOT FUDGE?"

"THOSE WERE THOUGHT TO BE UNHEALTHY, PRECISELY THE OPPOSITE
OF WHAT WE NOW KNOW TO BE TRUE."

[ Look of disbelief ]
"INCREDIBLE!"

Ngrawwwww!

It's.... ALIVE!

(edit by eeun: Nhhh....Double Post...must be problem with...brains...)

Zombie thread, but I should reply with an update for the old lady I mentioned. She passed away a while ago at the age of 105. Not too shabby to have seen the opening of two centuries, both World Wars and 18 Presidents or so...

I actually like to see these "Remember Outdoors" threads from time to time. To go with the theme here, the completely non-Apple threads are kinda like dessert. Sure, I've seen some go tragically wrong, but mostly they're fun and you get insights into Fritterers that shop talk might not bring out.

Glad to see this zombie thread reanimated, if only for a short time.

Jon, that is awesome that your friend made it 105. I only hope I can manage that eating meat and drinking the occasional Coke.

mike

edit... man this is a zombie thread... it popped up active, and now I can't even figure out how... eeun, get the chainsaw!!

For some reason, this thread is a magnet for spammers, and that's why it jumps up as active now and then, even though the spam posts get cleaned out.

Up until about six months ago I would have said nothing bad about unhealthy foods, but I was then diagnosed with Type II Diabetes along with high cholesterol. I've started eating less fatty foods and more vegies. I still enjoy a good steak a couple of times a week, but the rest of the time I'm a salad guy.
I've stopped eating candy, ice cream, cookies, cakes, and anything else that has sugar in it. I have one slice of bread per day.

I hate every minute of it! lol I enjoy a good Baconator with extra bacon, extra cheese, and mayo...Lots of mayo, but I can't have it.

In the process I've lost almost 40 pounds, my gut and *ss have disappeared and I have to buy all new clothes.

My grandpa used to tell me "Boy... Everything good in life is either illegal, immoral, or fattening. Get used to it."