Brain Vs. Food

Between finding out lard isn't this bad, and my caveman diet, this is some more interesting info. I have only had a craving for a McDonald's Chesseburger Happy Meal the other day, which luckily, I didn't partake of.

So maybe it shows my current diet is just right since I haven't been having any overwhelming cravings for stuff.

Is Your Brain Sabotaging Your Diet?

'Crash dieting can turn your brain into your worst enemy. The brain's response to extreme, low-calorie diets or all-protein or all-carbohydrate diets is to increase the brain's natural chemicals that cause hunger, according to psychologist Mary Boggiano of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

You diet. Your brain says, "No! Eat!" It's hard to resist that command.

"Two kinds of appetite exist: metabolic and hedonic," Boggiano said. "Metabolic appetite is a need for energy or calories.

If we restrict calories too severely, the brain's hunger mechanism kicks in, and it's hard to stick with a diet when you are hungry.

Hedonic appetite occurs if we restrict ourselves to only certain kinds of foods, or bland foods, or foods we don't like--like a lot of people do when they're dieting.

Our brain's reward system kicks in and causes us to crave yummy tasting foods," Boggiano explained. "It involves changes in dopamine and endorphins in the brain, the two kinds of chemicals also involved in drug addiction. These changes can cause cravings for very tasty foods, especially when we are stressed."'