Ha! So apparently “lower status monkeys” (think: wage slaves like us) “seem to have less of a desire to eat, perhaps because of the higher level of stress hormones in the brain” says the Times. Well, that is, when they were offered a diet of high-fiber, low-fat foods. But when the junk food was proffered? Hoo boy! “While the dominant monkeys dabbled in the sweet, fatty pellets just during the daytime, the subordinate monkeys kept scarfing them down after dark.” Either because the junk food blocks stress or triggers some sort of award ping in the brain.
Then there’s some blah blah science-y info on studies on women’s snacking tendencies vs. men’s. Blame diets! But to sum up:
Humans are not as lucky as monkeys in one way. “Female humans report that they eat high-calorie foods to make themselves feel better when stressed,” Dr. Zellner says, “but they actually don’t feel better after eating them. Instead, because they are restrained eaters, they feel guilt and actually feel worse. Female monkeys don’t have that cognitive baggage.”
Only the monkeys, it seems, find comfort in comfort foods.
So, er, this explains the woman in the cubicle next to you who has that bag of sundry snacks hidden in her file drawer, maybe. And why, after catching her shuffling papers with chocolate smeared on her fingers and the corners of her mouth, she’s no more satisfied that when she dipped into her “happy drawer” in the first place.
Posted by ephemerist 
Posted by ephemerist 
Posted by ephemerist 
Arts. Culture. Rantings and ravings. Generous dollops of nonsense. The doing and the being of nothing in particular.
RSS - Posts
