find food more pleasurable than water?

we need both

I guess we need food more than we need water, you know, for nutrients

but we can go longer without food than we can without water

so we need water more than we need food?

I mean, food can contain water, but water can't contain food

so

thoughts?

11/1/2007 10:20:00 AM

http://harvest.cals.ncsu.edu/index.cfm?showpage=579

11/1/2007 10:22:43 AM

More variety of tastes and textures in food

11/1/2007 10:26:05 AM

food releases more chemicals in your brain that make you feel good.

we've been conditioned, mentally, to view food as more appealing and therefore more pleasurable than water.

11/1/2007 10:28:30 AM

have you ever been REALLY thirsty? water is the most pleasurable thing to consume in those instances.

in our culture, we are very rarely lacking in water. water is pretty straightforward... if you get thirsty, you find something wet and drink it.

food on the other hand is very complex, and we have developed taste and the pleasure of eating certain foods to make sure we are eating the things our body needs.

11/1/2007 10:31:12 AM

have you ever been to a bar or convenience store? there's like 10,000 manipulations of water which we enjoy.

11/1/2007 10:53:40 AM

only in the past 5-10 years

unless you mean all drinks

[Edited on November 1, 2007 at 11:54 AM. Reason : ]

11/1/2007 11:54:20 AM

Because food already has water in it.

11/1/2007 11:55:40 AM

Quote :

"have you ever been REALLY thirsty?"

11/1/2007 12:25:29 PM

but eating is still tasty when you're not hungry

when you're not thirsty at all try and make yourself drink a glass of water, it can be a challenge

11/1/2007 12:28:32 PM

Because you can overhydrate, but overeating only leads to fat storage and a stomach ache--may make you fat, but won't kill you as quickly.

11/1/2007 12:31:51 PM

unless you qualify food as something simple as "white rice, just noodles, or raw meat" your question does not make sense.

If you are going to say all food than you should compare the desire for food to that of all drinks. In this case I am sure you can find people that find "drinks" more pleasurable than food. Especially those of the alcoholic nature.

11/1/2007 1:46:40 PM

Maybe the reason we can't taste it because 70% of our bodies are made of water.

11/1/2007 1:54:47 PM

Quote :

"but eating is still tasty when you're not hungry when you're not thirsty at all try and make yourself drink a glass of water, it can be a challenge"

haven't you ever eaten a huge meal and then not wanted to even look at food for a few hours?


seriously, you crave what your body needs most at the moment for the most part. Usually us americans are already plenty hydrated, so we don't crave water so much. any other form of liquid would be considered a "food" i guess since we enhance the flavor.

11/1/2007 1:56:20 PM

^ yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head the first time.

11/1/2007 2:04:18 PM

Quote :

"Because food already has water in it."

this was my first thought

11/1/2007 2:06:49 PM

If you're comparing all food to all drinks then I find both equally pleasuarble, depending on when you ask me.

An ice cold beer can be the best thing in the world at the right time...so can a gatorade or glass of lemonade.

Same with a steak, etc.

As stated previously, you're comparing food that is cooked, seasoned, etc. versus plain water.

11/1/2007 2:12:26 PM

drinking too much water will kill you. Eating too much food will cause you to fatten up and be better prepared to survive in times when food is scarce.

[Edited on November 1, 2007 at 2:18 PM. Reason : ^gatorade and beer can both be viewed as foods due to the calories in them.]

11/1/2007 2:15:47 PM

as our pleasure centers evolved and developed thousands of years ago

food wasn't always cooked or seasoned,

and there were few "drinks" besides fresh juice, tea or milk, (if you were lucky)

modern food, as pointed out, presents a different scenario

but food seems to more pleasurable than water in both scenarios



as for alcohol, (as well as coffee and some teas)

I would put that in the food category (empty calories) as it is a diuretic

one couldn't live very long on powerbars and vodka alone.....

11/1/2007 2:24:46 PM

Quote :

"one couldn't live very long on powerbars and vodka alone....."

i think he's offering a challenge people

11/1/2007 2:45:37 PM

Quote :

"I would put that in the food category (empty calories) as it is a diuretic "

Alcohol, coffee, tea, soda, etc. are all diuretics, but I'm pretty sure your body has a net gain on water from just about any form of them that you might actually take in. You'd only lose more water than you gain if your body isn't absorbing water properly for some reason. In other words, a 20 oz soda isn't going to make you piss out 25 oz of water.

Anyone know otherwise?

11/1/2007 3:00:59 PM

i'd still put it in the food category. i know plenty of people who crave different types of beverages, just as they would crave food, because of the flavorings.

11/1/2007 3:06:17 PM

Quote :

"one couldn't live very long on powerbars and vodka alone."

their is a difference between drinking straight up vodka and drinking a cocktail with a bunch of juice and shit. Back in the colonial days colonists actually relied on wine and sometimes beer in order to stay hydrated. The reason being wine/beer is not as easily contaminated by germs as water. Beer also helped provide some much needed calories.

11/1/2007 3:37:29 PM

is there anything beer can't do?

11/1/2007 4:03:06 PM

food has tastes to let us know its ok to eat. we are conditioned to think most things that are bad for us to eat also taste bad.

almost all water sources, especially in prehistory, are drinkable, therefore we don't need a method to tell the difference b/w good and bad.

Quote :

"An ice cold beer can be the best thing in the world at the right time...so can a gatorade or glass of lemonade. Same with a steak, etc. As stated previously, you're comparing food that is cooked, seasoned, etc. versus plain water."

what about fruits and vegetables? also, alot of meat is not safe to be eaten until cooked. i can cook a steak almost rare with no seasoning and have it be deliciious. fish is frequently served raw. non animal food sources have been eaten raw forever and most taste good that way.

as for drinks, any drink w/ flavor has some animal or plant derived fat, sugar or carb so it brings the flavor qualities of those things into the drink.

[Edited on November 1, 2007 at 9:03 PM. Reason : a]

11/1/2007 9:00:38 PM

whatever, water has SALTS which are none of the above, and are naturally occuring.

that is why there is a demand for artesian spring water from across the world, it tastes different.

11/1/2007 9:09:00 PM

i love water

11/1/2007 9:43:52 PM

Quote :

"Because you can overhydrate, but overeating only leads to fat storage and a stomach ache--may make you fat, but won't kill you as quickly."

It is really hard to "overhydrate". So called water intoxication or hyponatremia is actually caused by your sodium levels getting too diluted, this normally happens for extreme exercise like running a marathon (which causes you to lose your sodium through sweating) and not replenishing electrolytes with a sports drink or food and instead just drinking water. As long as you're eating normally, it would be difficult to overhydrate. You are more likely to get sick and throw up before you reach that level.

11/1/2007 9:53:00 PM

Quote :

"that is why there is a demand for artesian spring water from across the world, it tastes different."

I would have implicated fads/trends/etc. for the demand. You know, in a "Look at me... my water comes from across the world, so you know it's better than yours" kind of way.

11/2/2007 6:32:59 AM

yeah, that's all marketing.

11/2/2007 8:13:41 AM

have you ever woken up after a hard night of drinking, to see a full bottle of semi cold water next to you

oh that is heaven

11/2/2007 8:26:20 AM

I see what you mean. b/c water is needed...we should have evolved a sense of pleasure to drinking water so that we would want to drink it?

11/2/2007 4:20:06 PM

Smath has this thread covered

11/2/2007 6:07:39 PM

^^ Well people are saying that we like "food" as if we were eating it in it's naturally occurring, basic form which we almost never do. No one just goes out and eats the basic requirements for living, they dress it up with variety, spices, etc. Same thing with water.

Do you enjoy eating plain oats? Or plain vegetables, no salt or butter? Plain chicken with no spices, or breading, etc? Sometimes sure. But if it was the same thing all the time you would get sick of it and say if we need protein to live, why didn't we evolve a liking for plain, unseasoned meat? We've found ways to complement water (tea, beer, etc.) to get our required water but still enjoy.

Hell one of the things that made fermenting water in the form of beer so popular in a long time ago was that there wasn't reliably potable water to drink, and they didn't know why, but you could drink beer without getting sick when plain water would make you sick.

11/2/2007 9:33:04 PM

a lot of the foods we eat also contain a good amount of water in them

11/2/2007 9:55:22 PM

we already said that, prego

11/2/2007 10:42:23 PM

I'd say we like food more than water because of genetics. Genetics make the tastebuds tasty. Genetics dictates how your body thirsts.

But, this is a silly thread, as it has been said already this is not a universal or even well-defined claim. I'd rather have a bottle of that Green Tea from Sobe on a hot day then most any food.

11/2/2007 10:52:26 PM