Craving food simply because you are hungry may now be considered old-fashioned thinking.
New research suggests that we crave food because of our emotions more so than a bodily need for food.
The Wall Street Journal reports that social, cultural, psychological and environmental factors affect our food habits and that food cravings are like an addiction to alcohol or drugs.
People around us and familiar situations – like popcorn at the cinema – cause us to crave and indulging a craving is an emotional experience, not a purely physical one.
Feeding these cravings releases the hormone dopamine which is the same reaction that occurs when feeding a substance addiction.
But giving in too often de-sensitises dopamine receptors in the brain and more food is needed each time to satisfy cravings.
All of the women surveyed by The Wall Street Journal and 75 % of the men said they craved food in the last year.
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