What does "bad food" (unhealthy food) have to taste so good?

It kept our ancestors alive! Back in the day, a handful of sweet berries or some meat that was rich with fat may have meant the difference between life and death for our distant ancestors. People who ate these things were better-nourished than people who didn't.In fact, they ate all of it they could find, because when people were hunter/gatherers, they were a lot less sedentary than people are today, and all that energy was put to good use in daily life.

Also, foods like this were relatively rare and hard to get, so eating "all you could find" took more trouble than going down to the corner store and picking up some Cool Ranch Doritos. In short, people came to have a sweet tooth (and a taste for fatty foods) through generations of evolution. Now, that taste gets us in trouble, because sugar, salt, and fat are so easy to find, and people don't exercise as much as they did even a hundred years ago.

Plus, the sugar we eat today is no longer in "whole food" form - instead of eating fruit, people eat Twinkies. It's all the bad, none of the vitamins that made sweet stuff so appealing in the first place.It's usually incredibly refined and we barely have to digest it before it frees up the energy for the body to turn it right into a sugar-spike and then fat. I've found, though, that people who get used to eating whole-grain products for a while learn to enjoy them, and when they try something refined later on, it may taste overly sweet and unappealing.

Maybe the key is getting used to the flavor of healthy items and making a break for a while to let yourself get adjusted. Backpedaling (and enjoying that cake! ) restarts the clock, so to speak.

Good luck! Sources: howtothinkthin.com/sugar-cravings.htm, also working in the natural foods industry. Laureth's Recommendations The Paleo Diet: Lose Weight and Get Healthy by Eating the Food You Were Designed to Eat Amazon List Price: $14.95 Used from: $6.75 Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 62 reviews) .

Sugar craves sugar Your question is so good. Personally I’ve always thought sugar craves sugar so it is a cycle which must be broken to break the craving. Easier said than done.

The only thing I have found that helps with this vicious cycle is phase 1 of The South Beach Diet by Arthur Agatston. Let me tell you it isn’t easy. Those first 2 weeks in phase 1 are hard but it did help me so much with my sugar addiction.

Go to your local library and check out The South Beach Diet. Read what Dr. Agatston has to say, he does a good job explaining why certain foods act as a trigger for more of the same. ~Lyn~'s Recommendations The South Beach Diet: The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan for Fast and Healthy Weight Loss Amazon List Price: $24.95 Used from: $0.35 Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 710 reviews) .

It boils down to three things... All of which SHOULD be hard to get in anything but small amounts--but the modern western diet has made them readily available and pervasive throught out most prepared foods. Sugar (especially high fructose corn syrup), Fat (especially transfats), and Salt. When you look at the packaging for most prepared foods, you see high levels of these big three, and they're killers.

The food industry knows it, too--they know that people eat more and buy more when they load their products up with these nasties--and so in the interest of high profits, they've introduced us to incredible levels of things we shouldn't eat, slipping it in where we don't expect it and can't readily identify that it's there. I remember how shocked I was when I first heard how many tablespoons of sugar were in a 12 oz can of soda--if you tried to eat that sugar out of a spoon, you'd never be able to do it. But in that can, it's disguised.

I try very hard NOT to buy the stuff that I find tempting. I won't go out to the store to get it, and if I don't bring it into the house I don't eat nearly so much of it. But it isn't easy!

You have my sympathy. I am especially weak when it comes to homemade baked goods, so while I bake all our bread, I don't make the bad stuff we really love very often. I HAVE found a bunch of recipes that have enough good stuff in them that I can make them without guilt, though--and here are a few... These satisfy my desire for sweet bakes stuff while being healthy.

Oatmeal Banana Waffles... 2 cups oatmeal 2 cups water 2 tbl maple or other syrup or honey 1 tsp vanilla 1 tsp salt 1 large banana. Whirl in blender or food processor until smooth, pour into a hot waffle iron, and bake for 10 minutes. These are terrific, and they freeze very very well and can be popped into the toaster.

I make quadruple batches for the freezer. Scottish Oat Scones Ingredients: 1 1/2 c raw old-fashioned oats 1 1/2 c flour 1/2 c raisins or currants 2 T sugar 1 T baking powder 1 t cream of tartar 1 stick margarine, melted 1/3 c milk 1 egg, beaten Instructions: Mix together all dry ingredients. Mix together wet ingredients then add to the dry.

Mix with a fork just until moistened (do not overmix). Form into a ball & then flatten on a greased cookie sheet into a circle about 8" across. Cut into 8 or 12 wedges.

Bake 12-15 minutes at 425F. Cool on a rack. These freeze well in a plastic bag & can be reheated in the microwave.

Wrap each one in a paper towel & zap for about 30 seconds. Sources: Personal experience and a whole lot of reading on food and eating. NancyE's Recommendations In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto Amazon List Price: $21.95 Used from: $12.50 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 71 reviews) The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural story of Four Meals Amazon List Price: $16.00 Used from: $8.74 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 370 reviews) The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World Amazon List Price: $15.00 Used from: $6.64 Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 155 reviews) These are wonderful reading--and a very interesting and insightful look at the "western diet" that is doing so many people so much damage..

Dense sources of energy Our bodies crave energy. For most animals, obtaining food is all they think about. A nice, dense source of energy is always tasty.

Mice love sugar. Birds pick ripe, sugary fruits. Fatty parts of the animal are always among the first things carnivores eat.

Humans are unusual in being able to digest both fatty and sugary things, but every animal craves them as long as they can digest them. Animals eat more than they need to, given the opportunity, and save it up in the form of body fat. That way, they'd have energy even when the food runs out for a while.It's only very, very recently in human history that it was even possible to eat so many calories that they became a health problem.

We do have mechanisms that tell us we've had enough, but they aren't adapted for the idea that you can have cookies and cheese-stuffed burritos every single day of your life. Knowing that doesn't make it any less enjoyable to chow down on the cookies and cheese-stuffed burritos. The trick is to go ahead and indulge in them, but in small portions.

That can be hard, because your body has an inherent urge to eat them until they're gone. Restaurants give you very large portions, and we buy cookies in boxes.So you'll have to portion things out yourself. Go to the pantry, take out three cookies, and put the box away.

Then go eat them. You can even go back and have more cookies if you want, but you have to go get them. Sitting there eating directly out of the box allows you to consume far, far more calories than you think you're eating.

Out of sight really can be out of mind. There's nothing wrong with any of those foods. It's just that we tend to eat huge portions of them, when small portions will make us just as happy.

PamPerdue's Recommendations Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think Amazon List Price: $12.00 Used from: $4.30 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 26 reviews) It's not a diet book, but you don't need one, since you already eat well. You just need to learn how to eat smaller portions of the "junk" food, and this book has some good analysis and suggestions.

It is one we are all fighting... We are fighting the effects of our parents denial of such sinfully delicious foods when we were youngsters, remember when you wanted that chocolate bar and the parents said, "NO"! All the foods that were or are considered junk food, the small trace amounts that we were able to taste before it being banned for life. The great bad food that was always out of reach because we had no money and parents were unwilling to pay up!

Then the lecture it's bad for your teeth, we can't afford your dental bill because you want junk food! There was always Grand Parents, " thank God " we had unrestricted embellishments of any junk food we wanted. This only made it worse, now we really wanted more and the parents were upset with their for encouraging our sweet tooth!

So as kids we vowed I will make enough money to eat what I want when I want, I will fill the freezer, shelf and kitchen cabinet with all the good tasting junk food denied by the parents! All the above plus the addicting caffeine, sugar, salts, chocolate you name it. The combination mixtures of food that enhance flavors!

Now that I have my own money I deny my temptation in no way and go for it! I buy today all the sweet cereals even at 51 I wish to eat, the fridge is stocked with my favorite sodas, candy bars, chips. Sure we eat healthy but it's that junk food that tastes better while watching the movie or while traveling!

Sources: Personal Opinion .

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