Eat to Live? Or Live to Eat?

I stumbled across this really interesting article in The Wall Street Journal today about what food does to our brain. Scientists are looking at how the lure of delicious food can overwhelm the body's built-in mechanism to regulate hunger and fullness. It turns out that for some people, just seeing or hearing about certain foods can cause us to seek out these treats.

Some interesting quotes from the article:

Some of the most intriguing imaging studies have peered into the brains of people who have lost significant weight and kept it off through diet and exercise alone—although researchers say they're hard to find.

"Post-obese people are extremely prone to regain weight," says Dr. Del Parigi. "The only way they have to counteract these strong predispositions is by having a very controlled lifestyle, with restrained food intake and exercise."

And this is why you'll see a bevvy of Lifetime members in our meetings. As they say, we're one slice of cake away from becoming that fat kid again!

Speaking of cake, be sure to take that little quiz on the side bar. In the interest of full disclosure, I scored a 4: You're frequently preoccupied with food and at risk of losing control over your eating. This is especially problematic if you are also significantly overweight.