Posted by Erin Zimmer, May 8, 2008 at 2:00 PM
A recent study at McGill University in Montreal, Canada proved that ghrelin, a hunger-inducing hormone in our gut, enhances the image of junk food's yumminess. The stimulant is naturally activated when hungry, causing quarter pounders and greasy pizza to look overwhelmingly tasty and unavoidable, as if we're junkies looking at crack.
Coverage of this study at science fiction blog io9 was assigned the following headline: Fast Food Joints Add Hormone to Food That Makes You Want to Eat More. Despite this insinuation of food tampering, the McGill study never said that. Or aimed to prove that.
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Posted by Lia Bulaong, March 30, 2007 at 2:00 PM
Dooce's Heather Armstrong has a hilarious piece recounting how a recent day out running errands turned bad when her entire family got hungry all at the same time.
A strange thing happens when any one of us experiences this drop in blood sugar: we start behaving as if the only logical thing to do is die, as if there is no other appropriate response. I don’t like it when Jon talks to me during this time because his talking only interferes with my dying, and that is totally frustrating. And please, if you are ever in my company when I am that hungry, do not offer me choices. Do not ask me if I would like a hamburger or a taco or maybe a large turkey sandwich on rye, because the decision-making sector of my brain has shut down entirely. All those words you are speaking make no sense and instead feel like the tip of a beak that is busily pecking at my cornea.
