Humans are an intelligent species, yet why do most humans continue to eat unhealthily despite this superior intelligence? Nutritionists have done such a splendid job of preaching to all the healthy benefits of vegetables yet people still continue to gorge on fries and drinks overloaded with sugars.
Humans Prioritize Convenience Over Healthiness
Actually, an article on Thrillist by Monica Beyer said it more truthfully - that "humans are a pretty lazy bunch." Beyer explains that since it takes more time and hassle to chop and steam a head of broccoli than going to a drive-thru to get that cholesterol-laden burger with fries and the mandatory sugary drinks, people usually choose the latter. Convenience is just a fact of daily modern existence.
Beyer did speculate that if the ubiquitous vending machines contain healthier options like fresh fruits and veggies instead of the unhealthy ones, people would probably choose healthier options more often.
Irresistible Ultra-Processed Foods
For years, a lot of people have pointed the major role ultra-processed foods have in the rise of diabetes, obesity and heart-related problems. For instance, Dr Mercola wrote that ultra-processed foods provide almost no nutrient aside from empty calories and has been linked to the rapid rise of obesity, with its related health issues such as diabetes and heart disease. In fact, a recent study announced that the current American diet gets more than half of its calories from ultra-processed foods, highlighting how prevalent these foods are to the average American diet.
If everyone knows about the health dangers of ultra-processed food, why is everyone still eating them? It seems convenience is also to be partly blamed for this unhealthy preference. Given the high availability of ultra-processed foods compared to healthy options, it is not surprising that people buy more ultra-processed food items. But the problem could be in the food itself. According to Dr. Mercola, ultra-processed foods are highly addictive. Manufacturers often resort to using synthetic ingredients to heighten the foods' palatability making people eat more, crave more and keep coming back for more.
Evolution is Working but It's Quite Slow to Pick Up Modern Factors
The last explanation offered by Beyers article is about evolution. She questions that if evolutionary process is in place to ensure a species' long-term survival, why does a broccoli tastes inferior to a French fries? To put it another way, evolution should have found a way to make a broccoli taste better since it is better for a person's overall health. Unfortunately, people still find fries taste better, for now.
Beyers explains that evolution is a bit too slow to catch up with modern food processing methods. Currently, it seems the brain is wired to derive pleasure from dense energy sources like fat and sugar, which explains why people still like sweets and fatty foods. And these unhealthy preferences have been exploited by food companies and now "entire Western populations are eating themselves to death."
A more modern human may evolve from this mess, one who are not so affected with the desire for fat and sugar. But for Beyers, it will be probably eons before the newly evolved human may emerge.
