We crave fat. When we eat it, our bodies produce something called endocannabinoids, which resemble the active ingredient in marijuana. And that makes you want to eat more fat.
We were born to be hunter-gatherers, as my student/assistant Noah reminded me the other day. (He's taking pre-med classes, and is also a varsity football player, so he knows his stuff.) The closer we keep to the Original Human Diet – complex carbohydrates, proteins – the more naturally our body responds to them. (Noah claims he eats nothing but oatmeal and brown rice and chicken. I have seen him eat chocolate, however. Hmm.) With unlimited access to fat and sugar . . . well, unpleasant things happen, like obesity, and diabetes, and fatty liver. We were not intended to have quite this much sucrose in a given day. As for fat – well, it was pretty scarce back on the savanna when our ancestors were chasing gazelles. Grandma and Grandpa Australopithecus gobbled it all up as soon as they found it, and their bodies taught them to crave more.
And we, their descendents, still crave it.
My Polish grandmother used to eat lard on bread. “Lard is rich people's food,” my mother said.
Yikes.
I've never gone quite that far, but I recall buying a dozen Dunkin' Donuts in one of those big pink-and-orange boxes, and eating all twelve while on the phone. (This was back in my plump-and-pleasant days, naturally.)
Nowadays I'm skinny and agile, and if any gazelles come past, I will lope after them and run them down.
Anyway: eat less fat. And sugar. They'll kill you.
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