Everyday Systems

Why don't we crave the good stuff as much as the bad stuff?? Hmmm??

Two days without chocolate and I feel like someone going through rehab. Take veggies or fruit away for....oh..let's say...a MONTH, and I couldn't care less.

Ugh.

You don't see people getting the shakes when they miss a day or two of the Jack Lalane Juicer do you?

LOL -- actually, I feel awful if I go a couple of days without many fruits or vegetables. I DO crave them if they go away! Everything seems too dry and stale and salty if there's no produce mixed in.

I'm a veggie addict. Take away fresh produce, and I fall apart.

I need to eat fresh veggies regularly. I can tell the difference if I go too many days w/o.

That said, I can't really call it a craving.

from wholehealthsource.blogspot.com

a report on how rats become obese when they're given chocolate Ensure, the "meal replacement drink" has this interesting tidbit:

...neither [obesity-prone] nor [obesity-resistant] rats will overeat on either vanilla- or strawberry-flavored Ensure.
The only meaningful difference between chocolate, vanilla and strawberry Ensure is the flavor, yet rats eating the chocolate variety overate, rapidly gained fat and became metabolically ill, while rats eating the other flavors didn't (1). Furthermore, the study suggested that the food's flavor determined, in part, what amount of fatness the rats' bodies "defended."

Interesting, isn't it? And I don't think these are just PMS female rats

TexArk wrote:...neither [obesity-prone] nor [obesity-resistant] rats will overeat on either vanilla- or strawberry-flavored Ensure.
The only meaningful difference between chocolate, vanilla and strawberry Ensure is the flavor, yet rats eating the chocolate variety overate, rapidly gained fat and became metabolically ill, while rats eating the other flavors didn't (1). Furthermore, the study suggested that the food's flavor determined, in part, what amount of fatness the rats' bodies "defended."

Omigosh, that is funny and sad at the same time. Even rats can't resist the chocolate. I swear they put something in chocolate to get you hooked....it's like a drug wrapped in a pretty shiny wrapper....

Now I'm not an expert or anything but I'm sure I read somewhere that it's an evolutionary thing. Fats, sugars and salt was rare in our early diet so finding something that combines 2 or more than these is an instant 'WOOHOO!' to our evolutionary brain. So we crave MORE! I don't think our brains have caught up with the fact that these combinations are available in every corner shop in the developed world

I'm not so sure. When I was cought up in the Adkins craze i would have done just about anything for some grapes and watermelon.

Cause you KNOW that watermelon makes you fat, and bacon doesn't!

LOL, exactly! Evil, evil watermelon.

We have become so freaking insane about food as a society. I think there is literally NOTHING that everyone agrees is OK to eat in moderation. All animal products = right out. Unless they are the main thing you should be eating, according to the contrarians. Grains = bad. Fat = bad. Soy = bad. Fruit = bad. Starchy vegetables = bad. And some of the paleo diet people claim that green vegetables are bad for you.

No wonder people end up eating energy bars! No identifiable food means no bad dangerous food!

Thalia, you crack me up! (Anyway, aren't "energy bars" the same thing as "badly made brownies?")