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No such thing as a sweet tooth

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Chocolate cake

Our love for chocolate, cakes and ice-cream is apparently nothing to do with how sweet treats taste, making the excuse of having a sweet tooth totally defunct.

According to scientists, our penchant for sugary food may not be connected to our taste buds at all. A U.S study has revealed it is actually the human brain that 'senses' such foods are high in calories and 'rewards' people by releasing hormones to make them feel happier.

Scientists say that the new study could help in combating obesity in the UK, affecting one in four people.

If experts are able to understand why food high in calories triggers this response in the brain, they may unlock the secret to 'turning off' the satisfied feeling we get from scoffing chocolate.

Lead researched, Ivan E De Araugo explained they had identified a 'calorie-sensing' system in the brain which could be 'extremely important' to understanding human obesity.

Thursday 27 March 2008

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Perhaps this explains why when eating normally or slightly undereating I cry far too frequently, feel low and empty, can't sleep (I take about 7 or 8 hours to sleep when eating about 1500 healthy calories and 4 or 5 hours if I eat 2000 healthy calories), am far far far far worse with phobias and OCD etc?

I know overeating is not healthy for me physically, but mentally, it definitely makes me feel better, sorry but that's just a fact in my case - don't judge people who overeat unless you have their sort of brain chemistry/neurology. Hands up I binge eat to get to sleep, feel normal, think straight etc, but I honestly don't enjoy 90% - 95% of it as you can get so sick of food - I merely want to feel normal and sleep, and deaden the upset of my phobias and OCD, I guess I use food as a drug for my various conditions. Thank god I have a high metabolism, despite my inactivity (chronic fatigue and again I feel even worse when I undereat, you apparently need 4000 calories a day to combat ME) and am only a size 8, 8 stone. I know there are people out there who just like food but we are not all the same, there are different reasons for overeating just as some anorexics are just hell bent on being a size zero and feeling smug to everyone else and some suffer depression/anxiety or have been sexually abused etc.
Comment by Cate on March 28 17:00

I think alot of the time scientific research encourages people to look outside of themselves for whats wrong and blame external factors for their situation when really being responsible for themselves I think is the key issue. They take on a victim role, that is a "poor me I have no control over this situation because some scientist says so", "girls" I say "take back that control". Though I can say this but as a tired working mother of two kids I scoff chocolate and I haven't quite taken that control. Maybe the scientists could research that.
Comment by Steph on March 30 21:55