Why is it that the mind knows but the heart won’t listen? Why is it that our knowledge never interferes with our action? Why is it that ‘I know’ does not automatically mean ‘I do’? Even in simple things – say not having that piece of cake – why does the knowledge ‘it won’t agree with me’ prevent us from just tasting it a little? Why is knowing ‘exercise is good for health’ still not translate into ‘I will workout everyday’ – even for the most disciplined? Why do we over indulge knowing very well the craving doesn’t cease… ever! Why do we get addicted knowing fully well nothing good can ever come out of such an addiction? I wondered if Science knew the answer…
Science: I think you simply got some cross wires God! It makes no sense… She knows she is diabetic, yet she craves that piece of sweet. He knows he ought to quit smoking, yet he justifies that he is addicted and unable to. I have taught them the science! I have shown them it is harmful to them. They are intelligent people. They know what it can do to them and their loved ones… but still they indulge. I am tired Father! I think knowing is of no use if you are unwilling to implement that piece of knowledge in your very own life!
God: I agree!!! But don’t give up just yet, my dear! Let me understand what you do know…
Science: About what? Human stupidity? I think its a pre-existing condition that defies logic!
God: Now you seem totally annoyed!!! Come on! Lets just see what you know… begin with something simple… like food cravings and addictions, ok?
Science: Hunger is a signal from the stomach to the brain asking for food. This is needed for survival. But craving is when the mind takes over instead of the stomach to send signals to the brain for that piece of cheesecake or Gulab Jamun.
God: (with a puzzled frown) But I thought I did create a context for the body to know exactly what it wants in terms of micronutrients, didn’t I?
Science: Oh yes you did Father! We conducted an experiment and found that dogs that were injected with insulin went directly to a bowl of sugar water skipping the plain and salty water in two other bowls. ‘Taste’ was your messenger to say your body needs a certain micronutrient. But that was eons ago when every thing man ate came directly from your kitchen – Nature! But today… today man’s taste buds have become so immune… Body craving for sugar when the blood glucose is low is very very different from man craving for that Double Chocolate Mousse from that particular baker, at that specific temperature with those special toppings! This is no message from the body you gave! It is an incompetence developed by the mind!
God: I can still sense your annoyance in your tone my dear! You got to drop that!
Science: Well I wish I could Father! But this is more ‘passion’ than ‘aggression’! I mean it is not hunger but emotion that is driving them to this craving! They have made food an industry. Before fast food chains grew in every nook and corner, feeding oneself on a whim wasn’t always an option. The human body you created was to ‘crave’ for food when it was available and then ‘store’ it for use during periods when food wasn’t available. Today, just because food comes in a frozen packet and one doesn’t need too much skill at hunting – just enough skill to open a packet, man has begun to feed himself every time he has the urge. In fact, there seems to be a very fine thin line dividing hunger and boredom in men.
God: But how does this craving even manifest?
Science: Foods that are sugary and ‘pleasurable’ elicit pronounced responses in distinct areas of the brain involved in reward. The main reward and pleasure centre, the nucleus accumbens, lights up more intensely for a slice of chocolate cake than for blander foods like vegetables. This activation of the pleasure centre tends to be greater in the brains of obese people than in those who are lean. Obese adults who binge on dense carbohydrates but are neither alcoholic nor drug addicted, have the same D2 dopamine gene marker that distinguishes alcoholism and other drug addictions. The pleasure and reward that we derive from the food we crave are simply milder versions of those that drug addicts experience when they get high.
God: If it all comes from the brain, why are you so upset with humans my dear?
Science: Because the main cause for this reward response from the brain are sensory memories. Studies on mood have found that our emotional state normally has a greater impact on cravings than hunger. Diet influences the levels of the feel good hormone serotonin. Our sensory memories of these foods, which elicit that chemical satisfaction, reinforce the cravings.We acquire food cravings right at the womb and as hints of the mother’s diet also seeps into her breast milk, develops the child’s palate. You can only crave for the food you have tasted before. How can you long for a dish you have never tasted before? Food cravings are physiological ways to seek familiar pleasures. Studies have shown that it’s much easier to gain fat cells in adolescence. Therefore if a child has a chubby stage, it can lead to a battle they will face for the rest of their lives. As the child ages, it is all about the sensory memories created in relationship to food.
God: No wonder, even if humanity spends a few thousand dollars to find the Master Chef, the child would swear by the mother’s cooking! But I have a question. If food craving is really only related to ‘pleasure’ how come almost one-third of the human population also craves spicy food? Chillies burn your tongues, make your eyes water, makes you sweat… and yet you enjoy these spicy foods. Ever wondered why?
Science: In fact we did! At a symposium on gastro-psychology Paul Rozin of the University of Pennsylvania pointed out that humans are the only species that specifically seek out what would otherwise be considered negative events. While some food items that are not tasty (like coffee and tobacco) have addictive qualities that make them desirable with use, chillies do not have any kind of addictive qualities. Yet it is consumed almost universally. So we figured that we eat chillies not because we like the pain it creates, but merely to desensitise ourself making sure with every use that what was really painful, now becomes just little painful.
God: So you have foods like the refined carbohydrates that cause food cravings as they activate the ‘pleasure’ centre in the brain; you have not so pleasurable foods like tobacco and coffee that nevertheless become ‘addictive’ with continuing usage; and finally you have neither pleasurable nor addictive foods like chillies that is consumed to desensitise the pain. And in all this you think it begins in the mind. How do you say that?
Science: Let me answer that with actual examples. Chocolate is considered the most widely craved food. Consuming chocolate releases, through a rather long chemical pathway, endorphins which makes you feel good. But so does exercise! In fact most cravings that aspire to make one ‘feel good’ can be resolved with a healthy dose of exercise! Salt, which most people associate with potato chips or French fries, is another commonly craved food, which is probably for the Sodium content. But very often the desire for salt may simply be the body’s way of saying it is getting dehydrated. When some people crave foods that are high in fat, they may actually be craving essential fatty acids. Essential fatty acids are healthy fats that contain vitamins A, D and E. With the Sun shining everyday for free, the number of persons with Vitamin D deficiency is alarming! Of all the cravings, desire for refined carbohydrates – sweets in particular are the most scary! Having carbs without protein tampers with their sugar cycle! Simply adding a source of protein along with the carb, can help resolve the situation. It is simple Father – they have to make the conscious effort to re-program their reward centre in the brain if they want to survive as a species. And it is best to start them young.
God: Did you realise that the same answer will work for all cravings and addictions – even those not related to food? You crave attention because you think that attention completes you. You are addicted to watching television, because it revives the sensory memory of routine. It just takes a little effort and consistency to re-wire those. But the most crucial program to re-write is the one on desensitising humanity. Like eating chillies to make the pain more palatable, humanity has begun to willingly experience the negative to desensitise itself from the responsibility to effect change. That is a very dangerous route to take, my dear. Pain is simply a message that things are not right – not just in the physical realm but also in the emotional realm as hurt and intellectual realm as non-acceptance. To desensitise yourself of those is almost like challenging the will to survive. Lets begin with the body shall we? Let us prove that it does matter what satiates your craving and how you avoid the addiction. But slowly and surely let us also clean up the emotional cravings for acceptance and addiction to drama and the intellectual cravings to always prove the other wrong and the addiction to having the last word. Slowly and surely ‘I know’ will automatically become ‘I do’.
Written by Gita Krishna Raj | Published in infinithoughts in April 2014
When Science met God… | Segment Four: The dance of a trillion cells
Chapter Eleven: Why do we eat Chillies?
