Why are the filling, delicious foods bad for us?

It has to do with the way our human brain was "wired" long ago, before there were supermarkets, grocery stores, and restaurants.

Back when humans hunted and gathered foods - much like bears or raccoons do today - our brain helped us identify and seek out foods that were very "high value". For example, fatty meat provided protein and oils needed to survive a long winter. Honey or sweet berries provided a boost of caloric energy.

These days, we're still genetically wired to seek out sweet and fatty foods. Problem is, we're surrounded by them! Early humans weren't hunting and gathering at all-you-can-eat buffets or 24 hour doughnut shops! These days, we're faced with "too much of a good thing" - instead of happening across the occasional sweet or fatty feast, we encounter those foods several times a day. In the US and some other countries, some people are literally eating themselves to death - consuming more sugar, salt, calories, and fat than their bodies can process.

The trick is to limit the junky stuff to once in awhile. That way, you don't overload on sugar and fat. For the rest of the days of the year, there ARE healthy recipes that are filling and satisfying. Learn to cook with spices and seasonings to add flavor. Tonight we had a smoky grilled salmon on a bed of garlicky quinoa and brown rice, roasted asparagus with a hint of lemon, and a green salad with a lovely homemade dressing. Filling, satisfying, and healthy. It can be done!

Protein is filling, and it is good for us.

We like fat, sugars and starches. And starches ARE filling .. temporarily.

What we like the TASTE of is mostly what we are USED to eating. This is an evolutionary advantage, keeping us from readily trying out new substances that might be poisonous.

But if you just persist in eating healthy foods, you will eventually start to LIKE them.

And if you don't find a certain type of food to be filling, once you get used to it, often it becomes filling for you.

It is all about what we TRAIN ourselves to like.

there are a lot of healthy thing that are also filling. Aim for things with high protein content and healthy fats. These are more difficult for the body to break down, meaning they stay in your stomach for a good amount of time before you can digest them, leaving you feel fuller longer.

In the old caveman days, when food was scarce, something high in calories and fat was most desirable to keep you from becoming frail.

Now that we have junk food options at our whim, it became a problem.