Why is it that food that is so bad for us, taste so good? I mean, what is the whole point of living longer?

Question

I mean, I agree we should watch this and that, but who wants to live to be 80 or 90? You will only end up being kicked around in a nursing home or taken advantage of? Maybe people that eat well and all are afraid of dying? I mean, no matter how good they eat and all they will eventually be dead. I don't think there is much life after 70 from what I have seen of people over 70.

Answer 1

i'd rather live a short life full of whatever food i want than live a long life without the delicacies of unhealthy food.

Answer 2

Almost everything we come to like and love is the result of an acquired taste.  Our social environment influences our behaviors in ways that makes us develop a preference for those that we perceive as giving us a social edge. For example in Roman times people greatly enjoyed watching gladiators slaughter each other. Not long ago many people really enjoyed smoking. Evolving social norms are changing our attitude towards these things. I believe the same applies with food.  Sweet foods were relatively rare until the beginning of the 20th century, and were part of the privileges enjoyed by the elite, which made them desirable to the masses.  A lot of what we thing "tastes good" today are really foods we have been taught to view as desirable. In other cultures, the same foods may be considered as bad tasting (peanut butter, jelly, french toast, hamburgers, yogurt, etc). Therefore I believe that increased knowledge and education about the foods that are really good for us will increase their socially desirable status (e.g. the rich living healthier lifes than the rest of us) and carry society as a whole towards a better direction.