eli5: Why is it that unhealthy foods taste so good(chocolate, soda, candy, fried foods etc.) despite it being bad for us while healthier foods (veggies, whole grain etc.) taste much worse in comparison?

Question

Wouldn’t our bodies recognize which foods that are most beneficial and demand to have more of that?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Our bodies evolved for about 2 million years to crave the most energy efficient food – because when you run into something energy dense like sugar, it can mean a difference between life and death for a hunter/gatherer who hasn’t eaten in 3 days while stalking a herd of prey animals. So sugar cravings are hardwired in our physiology. Because sugar was rare, and hard to obtain. Same story with fat – when most of things you eat are nutrient poor, like grass, berries, roots, random meat you had to run down on the savannah, an occasional bite of fat could power you for days. But again, finding that fat was rare and hard work. Now, fat is easily available….