Re: Why do we like junk food?
 

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"not true at all, MSG and other stuff works by stimulating the taste bud receptors, thats what I mean by "tricking". thats also why they put a bunch of it in processed foods, so they taste better.

By your logic you trick people into thinking cereal tastes good by adding sugar or strawberries to it...

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well just look it up, I mean certain chemicals trigger gluatmine receptors or something. they add these chemicals to tasteless food so they taste good in the same way that if you took cocaine while you donked off your bankroll you would really enjoy it and get a really "good" feeling from losing.

Re: Why do we like junk food?
 

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For most of the history of humankind, we have lived on the edge of starvation. This means that eating any kind of high calorie food when the opportunity presented itself was a survival enhancing move. Also, putting on a nice load of fat provides you with "famine insurance". Constantly pigging out on high-calorie, but otherwise now nutrient food isn't good for you, but that's not an opportunity most people had, until fairly recently in human history.

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I believe you're talking about a time in human history when small groups of people had to hunt for their own food everyday. Never think that the entirety of humanity was near starvation. It isn't true. Small groups of hunter/gatherers may have starved to death, but the human race has never been in danger of extinction via starvation.

Chocolate is good because it releases endorphins into the blood which makes you feel pleased. The same result occurs when you defecate and when you have sexual release. As to why sugary food/fast food tastes good, I've no idea, other than that sugar is tasty.

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You are going in circles. You are just asking the same question the OP is, but putting in a tiny bit of extra info as if you are answering it. It is entirely irrelevant whether the ENTIRE species was ever on the verge of starvation or not. The species evolved for the most part in an environment when MOST of its individuals went through periods of starvation. This is probably how most humans died. The quote you are taking issue with answers the questions you failed to answer at the end of your post.

Re: Why do we like junk food?
 

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"trick" you into thinking it tastes good



I don't think you can trick someone into thinking something tastes good. It tastes good or it doesn't.

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not true at all, MSG and other stuff works by stimulating the taste bud receptors, thats what I mean by "tricking". thats also why they put a bunch of it in processed foods, so they taste better.

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Its not really tricking, but I see your meaning. We like MSG AND the thing it is mimicking. They both taste good. One tastes good for evolutionarily (human) beneficial reasons, the other for non-beneficial reasons.

Re: Why do we like junk food?
 

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Quote:
"trick" you into thinking it tastes good



I don't think you can trick someone into thinking something tastes good. It tastes good or it doesn't.

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not true at all, MSG and other stuff works by stimulating the taste bud receptors, thats what I mean by "tricking". thats also why they put a bunch of it in processed foods, so they taste better.

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But it still tastes good. What you are talking about is something other than "taste"

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Its 'beneficiality' or something like that. MSG is piggy-backing on the usefulness of some other substance (glutamate). Still tastes good though, no trick there.

Re: Why do we like junk food?
 

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If junk food is bad for us why do we like it? Has our body simply not adapted to our new lifestyle?

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Because people like the taste of fat (oil) and sugar...

Re: Why do we like junk food?
 

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If junk food is bad for us why do we like it? Has our body simply not adapted to our new lifestyle?

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Because people like the taste of fat (oil) and sugar...

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Right, but people like salty foods too, and no one pounds saltshakers until their osmolarity gets so out of whack that they die.

Re: Why do we like junk food?
 

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Right, but people like salty foods too, and no one pounds saltshakers until their osmolarity gets so out of whack that they die.

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I've heard people talk about refined sugar and how it doesn't trigger a full feeling, unlike, say, bannanas. personally I can drink a 12 pack of coke no problem but after 2 or 3 bannanas theres just no way I can eat more so there may be somethingn to it.

Re: Why do we like junk food?
 

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Right, but people like salty foods too, and no one pounds saltshakers until their osmolarity gets so out of whack that they die.

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I've heard people talk about refined sugar and how it doesn't trigger a full feeling, unlike, say, bannanas. personally I can drink a 12 pack of coke no problem but after 2 or 3 bannanas theres just no way I can eat more so there may be somethingn to it.

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Right, because there IS no caloristat. There IS a osmolaristat, and a volumistat. IOW, there are complicated methods of reguating just about everything in your body, from salt to water to heat to potassium to calcium and so on and so on. But there just ISN'T one for body fat or calories. You just keep packing them on. So, the interesting question is, WHY isn't there one? The answer is that it would probably be a giant waste of time. Every time there is a system like this, it introduces some inefficiences. It takes some energy to maintain all these levels within narrow ranges. But there is usually a nice payoff. It takes a lot of energy to maintain body water levels, but the payoff is you don't immediately die.

So it looks like there isn't much payoff in a fat/sugar regulatory system. Why not? Well, because we always had too little. No need to regulate it if we never had an excess of it. And thats the answer to the OP.

NB: There is, of course, a regulatory system for blood sugar. But this doesn't have much to do with what the OP is talking about. Excess sugars are made into glycogen stores and eventually fat stores, but an excess of these fat stores does nothing to curb future appetite or consumption. This system is for regulation of BLOOD sugar, but not really overall sugar.

Re: Why do we like junk food?
 

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Right, because there IS no caloristat. There IS a osmolaristat, and a volumistat. IOW, there are complicated methods of reguating just about everything in your body, from salt to water to heat to potassium to calcium and so on and so on. But there just ISN'T one for body fat or calories. You just keep packing them on. So, the interesting question is, WHY isn't there one? The answer is that it would probably be a giant waste of time. Every time there is a system like this, it introduces some inefficiences. It takes some energy to maintain all these levels within narrow ranges. But there is usually a nice payoff. It takes a lot of energy to maintain body water levels, but the payoff is you don't immediately die.

So it looks like there isn't much payoff in a fat/sugar regulatory system. Why not? Well, because we always had too little. No need to regulate it if we never had an excess of it. And thats the answer to the OP.

NB: There is, of course, a regulatory system for blood sugar. But this doesn't have much to do with what the OP is talking about. Excess sugars are made into glycogen stores and eventually fat stores, but an excess of these fat stores does nothing to curb future appetite or consumption. This system is for regulation of BLOOD sugar, but not really overall sugar.

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sounds good to me. I guess a more precise way of saying empty calories wont fill you up.

Re: Why do we like junk food?
 

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Right, but people like salty foods too, and no one pounds saltshakers until their osmolarity gets so out of whack that they die.

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I've heard people talk about refined sugar and how it doesn't trigger a full feeling, unlike, say, bannanas. personally I can drink a 12 pack of coke no problem but after 2 or 3 bannanas theres just no way I can eat more so there may be somethingn to it.

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Right, because there IS no caloristat. There IS a osmolaristat, and a volumistat. IOW, there are complicated methods of reguating just about everything in your body, from salt to water to heat to potassium to calcium and so on and so on. But there just ISN'T one for body fat or calories. You just keep packing them on. So, the interesting question is, WHY isn't there one? The answer is that it would probably be a giant waste of time. Every time there is a system like this, it introduces some inefficiences. It takes some energy to maintain all these levels within narrow ranges. But there is usually a nice payoff. It takes a lot of energy to maintain body water levels, but the payoff is you don't immediately die.

So it looks like there isn't much payoff in a fat/sugar regulatory system. Why not? Well, because we always had too little. No need to regulate it if we never had an excess of it. And thats the answer to the OP.

NB: There is, of course, a regulatory system for blood sugar. But this doesn't have much to do with what the OP is talking about. Excess sugars are made into glycogen stores and eventually fat stores, but an excess of these fat stores does nothing to curb future appetite or consumption. This system is for regulation of BLOOD sugar, but not really overall sugar.

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Great post.