• Question: Why do we hate some foods that are very beneficial for our body?

    Asked by ogoldfinch09 to Asif, Laura, Lena, Sean, Viv on 16 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Lena Ciric

      Lena Ciric answered on 16 Mar 2012:

      Isn’t it always the way? You can’t get enough chips but you hate spinach… 🙂

      We tend to love the foods that are high in sugar and fat because they give us energy. In the past it wasn’t so easy to get hold of these so we had to gorge on them when we could. Now they’re easily available, but we still have the urge to eat them.

      Here are the top superfoods: apples, bananas, beans, blueberries, brazilnuts, broccoli, oranges, pumpkin, salmon, soy, spinach, tea, tomatoes, walnuts, yoghurt. There must be something among those you like…

    • Photo: Sean Murphy

      Sean Murphy answered on 19 Mar 2012:

      it’s a taste factor. Foods that are sweet and/or salty are more enticing because those taste buds are more sensitive and cover more surface area of the tongue. Healthy foods tend to be less sweet and salty.

Comments

  • Photo: ogoldfinch09

    ogoldfinch09 commented on :

    Makes sense. Do you think that our taste buds will change to suit our new lifestyles as what used to be necessary is now problematic,for instance: if people are becoming obese because fat is too enticing then it would be beneficial for us to like it less.

    • Photo: Sean

      Sean commented on :

      Yes that may be possible. At the rate at which we changed from hunter gatherers, to farmers, to mass consumers, our bodies still have to catch up. With obese people suffering more diseases, perhaps those of us without a “sweet tooth” will have an evolutionary advantage.