Why are tasty and healthy mutually exclusive?

135

Replies

  • jesusHchris
    jesusHchris Posts: 1,405 Member
    There's no such thing as an unhealthy food.

    I think this is the part where we agree to disagree. It sounds like the word may just have different meanings for each of us, which I understand.

    You cinnamon rolls look delicious, by the way. Did you bake them?

    They're Pillsbury, and they're covered in ice cream and frosting.

    And guess what. They were healthy. Saying they are unhealthy means I did something wrong or bad for my health by eating them, and that's absolutely untrue.

    Sounds like my opinion that unhealthy foods exist has caused you some sort of personal offense. It's not meant as an attack on anyone.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    The only reason you think that is because people have beat the idea of "healthy" versus "unhealthy" foods into your head.

    The two are not mutually exclusive. There is no such thing as inherently healthy or unhealthy food. Even cinnamon rolls covered in ice cream and frosting can be perfectly healthy.

    It's your overall diet that's healthy or unhealthy. It's healthy if it contains an appropriate number of calories and nutrients.

    This is a popular opinion on MFP. I have to disagree with you. Twinkies are not healthy. When eaten in moderation with a healthy diet, you can still be a pretty healthy person in general though.

    Your last sentence is pretty much exactly what he said, but you disagree with him?

    "There is no such thing as inherently healthy or unhealthy food. "

    That's the part I disagree with. It's just my opinion, of course. What are your thoughts?

    There is nothing that is sold as "food" that will kill you if eaten as part of a well-rounded diet. :wink:
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    There's no such thing as an unhealthy food.

    I think this is the part where we agree to disagree. It sounds like the word may just have different meanings for each of us, which I understand.

    You cinnamon rolls look delicious, by the way. Did you bake them?

    They're Pillsbury, and they're covered in ice cream and frosting.

    And guess what. They were healthy. Saying they are unhealthy means I did something wrong or bad for my health by eating them, and that's absolutely untrue.

    Sounds like my opinion that unhealthy foods exist has caused you some sort of personal offense. It's not meant as an attack on anyone.

    Personal offense? No, you're just wrong. Labeling any individual food as inherently unhealthy literally means it's bad for your health to eat it.

    And that's just wrong. Eating a Twinkie or cinnamon roll is not bad for your health.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    There's no such thing as an unhealthy food.

    I think this is the part where we agree to disagree. It sounds like the word may just have different meanings for each of us, which I understand.

    You cinnamon rolls look delicious, by the way. Did you bake them?

    They're Pillsbury, and they're covered in ice cream and frosting.

    And guess what. They were healthy. Saying they are unhealthy means I did something wrong or bad for my health by eating them, and that's absolutely untrue.

    Sounds like my opinion that unhealthy foods exist has caused you some sort of personal offense. It's not meant as an attack on anyone.

    Personal offense? No, you're just wrong. Labeling any individual food as inherently unhealthy literally means it's bad for your health to eat it.

    And that's just wrong. Eating a Twinkie or cinnamon roll is not bad for your health.

    Labeling foods as "good" or "bad" can be a symptom of disordered eating as well. So the labels could be seen as "unhealthy," psychologically speaking.
  • jesusHchris
    jesusHchris Posts: 1,405 Member
    Personal offense? No, you're just wrong. Labeling any individual food as inherently unhealthy literally means it's bad for your health to eat it.

    And that's just wrong. Eating a Twinkie or cinnamon roll is not bad for your health.

    This type of logic leaves no room for polite debate. Being open minded in a nutrition forum is probably healthy. Something got you here and it wasn't knowing it all.
  • Yeller_Sensation
    Yeller_Sensation Posts: 373 Member
    I finished reading this thread while enjoying my homemade ham & beans soup + jalapeno cornbread for lunch.

    That was a damn tasty AND healthy meal.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    Personal offense? No, you're just wrong. Labeling any individual food as inherently unhealthy literally means it's bad for your health to eat it.

    And that's just wrong. Eating a Twinkie or cinnamon roll is not bad for your health.

    This type of logic leaves no room for polite debate. Being open minded in a nutrition forum is probably healthy. Something got you here and it wasn't knowing it all.

    Define "unhealthy food."
  • CapnGordo
    CapnGordo Posts: 327
    Define "unhealthy food."
    I know! I know!

    Poisoned food.

    Is that the right answer?
  • Oishii
    Oishii Posts: 2,675 Member
    'Healthy' is contextual. Right now I have gestational diabetes and have a cake for breakfast every morning. This cake has loads of fat, clocks it at around 600-700kcal and is within my carb allowance, which makes it healthy for me right now. On the other hand, unless I factor it in, I can't just have a clementine whenever I fancy one (which makes me sad sometimes). I have to explain this to my 5 year old: his healthy and my healthy are not the same.

    Then 'tasty' is subjective. Just today my friends son was forced to eat a strawberry while my son munched his way through loads. However, when the chocolate chip cookies came out, the roles were reversed, except that 'I don't need one,' is an acceptable answer to the offer of a cookie, luckily for my son.

    So, if your healthy and your tasty don't match up, I'd say that's really unlucky, your labelling of 'healthy' is too strict or your culinary skills suck :laugh:
  • pluckabee
    pluckabee Posts: 346 Member
    Personal offense? No, you're just wrong. Labeling any individual food as inherently unhealthy literally means it's bad for your health to eat it.

    And that's just wrong. Eating a Twinkie or cinnamon roll is not bad for your health.

    This type of logic leaves no room for polite debate. Being open minded in a nutrition forum is probably healthy. Something got you here and it wasn't knowing it all.

    Define "unhealthy food."

    While I mostly agree with you, I do think foods with trans fats are unhealthy foods because it doesn't take a lot of trans fats to be harmful to your body.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    they aren't- I eat super delicious tasty food that's healthy.

    All my veggies are sauteed in bacon grease- fracking delicious. win win.
  • NavyKnightAh13
    NavyKnightAh13 Posts: 1,394 Member
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    I like this quote.
  • Velum_cado
    Velum_cado Posts: 1,608 Member

    Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.


    I hate this quote. Whoever came up with it has clearly never had chocolate truffles.
  • jesusHchris
    jesusHchris Posts: 1,405 Member
    [/quote]
    Define "unhealthy food."

    Food with little to no nutritional value and ingredients known to cause health issues.
  • mielikkibz
    mielikkibz Posts: 552 Member
    It's not fair I want cake and pizza to be as healthy as cauliflower

    word

    WORD WORD WORD WORD WORD LOl
  • mielikkibz
    mielikkibz Posts: 552 Member
    Not always. Cooked cauliflower tastes so good actually.

    that is such an oxymoron
  • claudialenz711
    claudialenz711 Posts: 50
    Right ... after reading all of this ... there's some 90% dark chocolate waiting for me in the fridge. Very Tasty and undoubtably healthy: full of Antioxidants and rather good for my metabolism ;)
  • Lleldiranne
    Lleldiranne Posts: 5,516 Member

    Define "unhealthy food."

    Since we're arguing semantics anyway…

    An unhealthy food would be a food that is not healthy, like a blighted potato or a tomato infested with bugs.

    What you MEAN is "unhealthful food" … a food that is good for your health is healthful. A food that isn't would be unhealthful.

    Now that I've gotten pedantic, I'm going to step out and let you guys argue about what constitutes an unhealthful food. Have fun!!! :happy:

    :drinker:


    (note: I'm being lighthearted, not trying to be mean or a grammar freak)
  • mielikkibz
    mielikkibz Posts: 552 Member

    Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.


    I hate this quote. Whoever came up with it has clearly never had chocolate truffles.

    or bacon
  • Gidzmo
    Gidzmo Posts: 905 Member
    It's not fair I want cake and pizza to be as healthy as cauliflower

    There was a pizza I saw on Pinterest that had a cauliflower crust. One of Paula Deen's, I think. Will have to find the recipe, because now I'm interested. :drinker:

    If you think about it, pizza is one of those very few foods with all the food groups: meat, fruits/veggies, dairy, and bread. How many calories depends on how much you eat and what is on it.
  • jesusHchris
    jesusHchris Posts: 1,405 Member
    What you MEAN is "unhealthful food"

    Haha, I was going to point this out but I don't think it would do much for my dwindling popularity in this thread.
  • agdyl
    agdyl Posts: 246 Member
    Tasty and healthy are definitely NOT mutually exclusive. Keep experimenting with different veggies and healthy recipes. And get your taste buds used to unsweetened foods again (or for the first time). It's amazing how it changes. If you've been eating foods engineered to basically be addictive, you've got to get used to real food again, but you can if you try, and it tastes better and better.

    I can't think of a dessert that I honestly prefer to fresh berries at this point.
  • agdyl
    agdyl Posts: 246 Member
    Right ... after reading all of this ... there's some 90% dark chocolate waiting for me in the fridge. Very Tasty and undoubtably healthy: full of Antioxidants and rather good for my metabolism ;)

    Exactly. If you're used to milk chocolate, really dark chocolate won't taste good at first. But if you get used to everything not being jam packed with sugar, and learn to appreciate the actual chocolate - it's amazingly good!!
  • daftthoughts
    daftthoughts Posts: 88
    A moment on the lips, forever on the hips.

    Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.

    Eat to live not live to eat.

    This is the dumbest quote I know of.

    I don't want to be skinny. I want to be healthy.

    I also want to live, and living means that I get to enjoy my life, not having to stare longingly from the sidelines at a piece of cake I really want, but have forbidden myself from having over some dumb fear that one slice in moderation is going straight to my (actually quite fabulous) hips.

    It takes an excess of 3,500 calories to gain one pound of fat. If I eat at maintenance and sometimes below, a slice of 350 calorie cake as a treat isn't going to magically put weight onto me. Heck, I can even work it into my daily budget.

    This journey is about living healthier. If you're doing this purely to be skinny and have an actual fear of being fat that consumes you so much you can't even allow yourself a tasty treat once in a while, you need counseling to reevaluate your own body image.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    Define "unhealthy food."

    Food with little to no nutritional value and ingredients known to cause health issues.

    Pretty much any ingredient in anything is known to cause health issues in high quantities.

    Also, calories are nutritional by definition. They come from macronutrients, after all.

    So..... an unhealthy food would be one with no calories that causes health problems. Twinkies don't fit that description.
  • skylark94
    skylark94 Posts: 2,036 Member
    I eat cake and pizza. I've lost 43 pounds eating cake and pizza. Portion control will take you far.

    Losing weight while eating something doesn't really make it a healthy food.

    My point is that you can eat the bad and the good. You don't have to forgo foods you love for the sake of weight loss.
  • jesusHchris
    jesusHchris Posts: 1,405 Member
    Also, calories are nutritional by definition. They come from macronutrients, after all.

    So..... an unhealthy food would be one with no calories that causes health problems. Twinkies don't fit that description.

    I see you are very set on this. if you define healthy as "able to sustain human life" then, yes - Twinkies are healthy. We can agree on that.

    Let me try a different approach.

    We take two human beings in identical physical condition. Person #1 eats a diet entirely of Hostess products and processed whey supplements. They combine with multivitamins from GNC. Person #2 eats entirely items from a local farmer's market - fresh veggies, fruits, grains, fish, etc. They both have the same calorie and macro-nutrient goals and meet them consistently. This goes on for 5 years.

    Do you feel they would both have the same level of health at the end of the experiment? Would either of them be MORE healthy if they had eaten from the other's plate? Would either of them have developed serious health issues? Why?
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    Ah so we're back to quantity. If eating one food exclusively makes you have I'll health, what would that say of a diet exclusively of tomatoes?

    So twinkies equal tomatoes, because either one will leave you highly malnourished.

    My point is that any definition you givve of unhealthy either includes lots of foods you'd consider healthy or doesn't include twinkies at all. There is no such thing as an unhealthy food.
  • jesusHchris
    jesusHchris Posts: 1,405 Member
    Ah so we're back to quantity. If eating one food exclusively makes you have I'll health, what would that say of a diet exclusively of tomatoes?

    So twinkies equal tomatoes, because either one will leave you highly malnourished.

    My point is that any definition you givve of unhealthy either includes lots of foods you'd consider healthy or doesn't include twinkies at all. There is no such thing as an unhealthy food.

    No, not a single food item. All of your macros as I said. Let's say someone did all of their shopping in the middle of the grocery store. All processed food. And one on the outside - all unprocessed. They are both eating an "exclusive" diet. If all food is healthy, they should both be fine, right?
  • jesusHchris
    jesusHchris Posts: 1,405 Member
    I sort of feel like I am in the Twilight Zone. I've been beaned to a dimension where the claim that Twinkies are unhealthy even requires a conversation.

    I'm out, good luck to you!

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