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Friday, March 29, 2013

Theory of Fat #42

A couple of weeks ago I was listening to some music, some tunes I was familiar with and liked, and I started noticing things that I had not noticed before. Patterns of notes, complex melodies, things that I usually don't notice. It wasn't entirely pleasant, matter of fact it kind of soured the experience for me. I think what was going on was more of my brain was being used to listen to the music, which might explain why some people like operas and symphonies and other people like folk music or really loud rock and roll. There might be sounds in some sorts of music that some people's brains pick up on, and others don't. It might be influenced by brain power or upbringing or exposure, or it might just be an innate facet of personality. I don't think there is anything you can do about it. In any case whatever it was went away and I seem to be back to normal. Normal for me, anyway.
    This led me to think the same thing may be going on with gourmets (or foodies as they are called now). A larger part of their brain is engaged in smelling and tasting, so they are going to be more interested in, and more discriminating about food. I enjoy a good meal occasionally, but mostly I'm not too picky. A fast-food cheeseburger will do me fine nine times out of ten.
    Then there was that bit about how the Victorians were healthier than we are because they had better foods to eat. It occurs to me that people have some sort of innate ability to determine what kinds of food they need (pregnant women's cravings are a prime example). It might be that if you are not getting enough of certain kinds of micro-nutrients, your body might be telling you to eat more of a particular food in order to get more. Eating more might get you more micro-nutrients, but it can also cause you to gain weight.
    I'm not sure if I buy that or not. I suspect psychological forces play a bigger role than any stinking micro-nutrients, but hey, cheeseburgers are the perfect food, aren't they?

3 comments:

Ole Phat Stu said...

NO! They are NOT the perfect food.

BACON cheeseburgers, however, are :-)

Chuck Pergiel said...

Maybe that's what my problem is - not enough bacon!

Kathryn said...

You can find a fat load of information/research on the idea that if you're craving a certain type of food, it indicates what nutrients your body is actually missing/needing...