response 1 of 103:

Jan 7 07:22 UTC 1997

I'm still used to thinking of myself as a fairly active young person who
doesn't really have to watch what he eats too much.  This isn't true anymore,
but I'm only slowly getting into thinking about "eating healthy".  Actually,
Valerie probably isn't talking so much about me, though I certainly don't eat
as healthily as she does or as I should.

response 3 of 103:

Jan 7 12:53 UTC 1997

"Tase equally good" is a subjective judgement. Perhaps the
healthier choices don't taste as good to them.

Taste is acquired, learned. Being an even older fogey than
Jan, I waked up a while ago to the necessity of watching what
I eat. So I've been making a conscious effort to eat healthier,
and I find that healthier stuff comes to taste better as I get
used to it. But it doesn't necessarily taste all that good in
the beginning.

response 5 of 103:

Jan 7 16:04 UTC 1997

Several years ago my wife and I decided that eating good food was
important to us even though it costs more.  Most of what we eat
these days comes from the co-op and I have found that most of their
food tastes better than the Krogers counterpart.  We make *all* of
our own bread, cookies, etc. and I can only say the food has been
nothing short of fantastic!  Most of the credit also has to go to
my wife, who has become a great cook over the years despite her
telling me she was not interested in cooking when we were married.

response 9 of 103:

Jan 7 16:56 UTC 1997

Oh please Valerie, enough with the healthier-than-thou!  Maybe the person ate
"healthy" all week, and not feels he's entitled to splurge.  No one ever said
that you can never eat something with any particular frequency that
nutritionists would consider unhealthy to eat all the time.  Your question
is the same as asking "Why do people sky dive?"

response 11 of 103:

Jan 7 20:56 UTC 1997

Many people equate 'healthy' with raw carrot sticks, steamed broccoli,
and nothing else.   That's utterly untrue, of course, but it means that
'healthy' = 'less satisfying' to many people.  

*I* know better, and yet, when I'm in a restaurant, I'll be tempted to
order junk food.  Sometimes I do.

response 13 of 103:

Jan 8 00:02 UTC 1997

  I think the premise is false that the dishes people contemplate are
"equally good."  In some restaurants, the majority of the dishes sound
good, and a bunch even sound *really* good.  The dishes may be sound
good in different ways, and in different degrees, so they're not really
*equally* good.

  I might also consider if it would go with side dishes I want,
how long it takes to make, whether it would be good as leftovers,
serving sizes, or how long it will appease my appetite.

  There are also many different factors in what's "healthy;" it's not
just about calories or fat content.  I might also think about immediate
digestive consequences (heartburn, gas, etc.), what nutrients I think I
could use that day, how it might affect things on its way back out, how
it will affect exercising, and so on.  Sometimes a cheese-dipped deep-
fried greaseball can be a good choice!

response 15 of 103:

Jan 8 02:06 UTC 1997

I've always wondered why foods that are bad for you should taste good. This
seems to me to be very piss-poor design. Foods that are healthy should
register as tasting good, and foods that are unhealthy should taste worse,
with poisons and toxins having the foulest taste.

response 17 of 103:

Jan 8 16:56 UTC 1997

If you're a hunter-gatherer, it makes more sense to eat, say, a fat wild
pig than carrot sticks. There is simply much more energy in a wild pig. 
Today's health problems simply show that sometimes too much of a good thing
is bad.

People these days do not know what is "healthy" and what is "unhealthy." 
They think healthy is carrot sticks and unhealthy is everything else. I have
lost 50 pounds over the past year or so while gaining muscle mass and I have
researched nutrition, weight-loss, and proper diet quite extensively. There
are a few important notes:

1) The most important number to look out for in food is percentage of 
   calories from fat. For example, if total calories is 300 and fat calories
   is 100, then the percentage of calories from fat is 33%. Many Americans 
   consume more than 30%, 35% or even 40% of their calories from fat. No more
   than 30% of your calories should be from fat. I try to keep it under 10%
   but almost always under 20%. Think of it this way: The less this critical
   number is, the more you can eat. I still eat like a horse but just 
   different kinds of foods.
2) Exercise. Even something "tame" like walking helps. The best fat-burning
   exercises are probably running, rowing-machines, stair-climbers and bikes.
3) Build muscle. This is something people often fail to do. Muscle requires
   much more calories to maintain than fat. The more muscle mass you have, the
   more you can eat without gaining weight (or the quicker you will lose
   weight). Women especially fail to do this because some think muscles are
   not sexy. Check out how men drool at dancers and determine if muscles are
   sexy.
4) Substitute foods. Eat *smart*. For example, the only "junk food" I eat
   now are pretzels and low-fat granola bars. Instead of steaks and beef
   now I eat very lean chicken/turkey breasts. Brown rice is also excellent
   in terms of nutrition, fiber and low-fat content. 

Keep in mind that whatever satisfaction you get from stuffing your face will
last no more than 10-15 minutes a day; You have to live with your body for
24 hours a day. Eating smart and working out allows me to still eat like
a horse, treat myself to fat foods on the weekends with my friends, all while
looking and feeling a lot better. 

The problem is education. Americans do not realize they can eat "healthy"
food which tastes great, eat as much as they did before, and look and feel
a lot better. Oh, I forgot one point which is pretty important:

5) Eat at proper times. Do not skip breakfast!!! Your body needs energy in
   the morning in order to start burning energy. It sounds stupid but it's 
   true. Do not eat after 7pm -- have dinner before 7pm or even before 6pm.
   That pizza you have at 10pm will probably all turn to fat. Guaranteed.
   Have many small, healthy meals and snacks throughout the day. Do not wait
   until you are starving to eat because then you will eat more and more fat
   foods. It took me a while to get all this down but now it's easy. Now if
   I don't eat by 6:30pm or so, I get very, very hungry and after I eat before
   7pm I never get hungry afterwards.

response 19 of 103:

Jan 8 22:56 UTC 1997

"Bunny food" is healthy but it's not the only healthy food available.

Another amazing thing is that Americans like to take healthy food and turn
it into something full of fat. Potato products are probably the best example.
Mashed potatos and baked potatos are excellent but toss the cream, butter and
gravy on and you got some pretty fat stuff. Americans also have an 
infatuation with putting cheese and/or fatty cream sauce on practically
everything. They ruin the natural flavor of the food and make healthy food
into a plate of oil, grease and blubber. Quite disgusting.

response 21 of 103:

Jan 9 08:06 UTC 1997

I find that as long as I'm getting enough excercize I can eat pretty much
whatever I want, whenever I want.  It seems, though, that with each more
interesting job that I get, I have less time than I did with the previous one.
Also, now that I'm working in Livonia and living in Ann Arbor, biking to work
is no longer an option, so I'm getting rather out of shape, and for the first
time in my life really feeling like I need to be more careful about what I
eat.  Then again, it's probably better one of these days for me to figure out
how to fit biking back into my schedule.

response 23 of 103:

Jan 9 10:28 UTC 1997

My schedule shifts around quite a bit, since I don't have any sort of set
schedule at work to force me to get up in the morning.  The last few days,
7 pm has been about lunch time.  As I type this I'm eating dinner at 5:30 AM.
It probably is a little too close to bedtime for it to be a really good time
for eating, but I find that if I go to bed hungry I tend to wake up with a
headache.