Dietary Habits

4 . It’s 3 o’clock and you’ve been hard at work. As you sit at your desk, a strong desire for chocolate overcomes you. You try to busy yourself to make it go away. But it doesn’t. Here is another situation. Perhaps you are not feeling well. The only thing you want to eat is a big bowl of chicken soup, like your mom used to make when you were sick as a child. Food cravings area strong desire for a specific type of food. And they are normal.

Scientists at the website How Stuff Works compare hunger and cravings this way. Hunger is a fairly simple connection between the stomach and the brain. They even call it simply “stomach hunger.” When our stomachs bur x up all of the food we have eaten, a hormone (荷尔蒙) sends a message to one part of the brain for more food, which regulates our most basic body functions such as thirst, hunger and sleep. The brain then produces a chemical to start the appetite and you eat. Hunger is a function of survival.

A craving is more complex. It activates (使活跃) brain areas related to emotion, memory and reward. These are the same areas of the brain activated during drug-craving studies. So, some scientists call food cravings “mind hunger.” People often crave foods that are high in fat and sugar. Foods that are high in fat or high in sugar produce chemicals in the brain. These chemicals give us feelings of pleasure.

In a 2017 study, researchers at Cambridge University found that “dieting or restricted eating generally increases the possibility of food craving”. So, the more you deny yourself a food that you want, the more you may crave it. However, fasting is a bit different. They found that eating no food at all for a short period of time lessened food cravings.

So, the next time you crave something very specific, know that your brain maybe more to blame than your stomach.

7 . Modern science proves that a healthy lifestyle matters much to how long you can live and how well you live.

    1    .

Keep a scientific diet. Keep in mind that sugar can be removed from our diet completely.     2    . We only need few grams of protein to keep our body in order.

Be always in good mood. There is a relationship between the mood and health. A good mood keeps you in high spirits.     3    , we can enjoy and learn much without going out. Take a look at some online shops and pick up some bargains, enjoy music and movies and chat with good friends. Just keep happy.

    4    . Two studies show the reasons why teens and adults don’t have enough sleep. With teens, a major reason is mobile phone use; with adults, it’s work. Meanwhile, a third study of young children shows that lack of sleep in early life may lead to serious problems in future. Everyone needs at least 8-hour sleep to recover from tiredness and the hurt caused by hard work in the daytime.

Proper exercise. Do exercise to keep away from fatness.     5    , you don’t have time to do exercise every day, but at least three times a week and 45 minutes each time.

8 . Salt was so valuable in ancient Rome that soldiers were sometimes paid with it. In fact, the word salary comes from the Latin word sal, for salt. When a soldier was doing an awful job, his paycheck might be cut, which is how we got the expression “not worth his salt.” Salt can still he valuable today. Amethyst Bamboo 9x salt, which rings up at &398 a pound, may be the most expensive in the world. This pricey stuff takes a lot of time to produce — it’s roasted nine times inside a bamboo pole at temperatures over 1,400 degrees F.

Historically, salt’s value came from its ability to preserve food. Venice, Italy, may be famous for its canals now, but salt imports helped its rise as an important trade power by the end of the 13th century. Salt also took on a great deal of symbolic value, like “old salt” referring to an experienced sailor. Salt is mentioned so many times in the Bible. For instance, “the salt of the earth” is used to describe a person who is dependable; “a covenant of salt” means a firm promise.

Most people know about the health risks associated with sodium (钠), but reducing your intake isn’t always easy. Even foods that don’t taste salty may contain it. If you are looking for sodium-free flavoring, try garlic, pepper, rosemary and other spices or herbs.

Still, we all need at least some salt. It promotes the transport of nutrients and oxygen, allows nerves to send messages, and helps our muscle work. The average adult’s body contains about 250 grams of sodium.

Consumption of too much salt can be deadly. For older folks especially, a heavy hand with the saltshaker may raise blood pressure, causing hypertension and hurt the head. A study of 975 people between the ages of 60 to 80 and with high blood pressure found that reducing sodium in their diets was associated with lower risk of headache.

9 . As it turns out, comfort food, instead of comforting you, may actually be linked to your mental comfort but cause you to become depressed. One of the main reasons for eating junk food is stress eating, but now new research has also suggested it’s harming your mental health too.

Junk food, fast food and so-called “healthy snack options” are all big business nowadays because they provide convenient options for people on the go. The decision when choosing a snack of going for what you want, over what you need, plays an important part in your overall mental health.

Researchers at Cardiff University believe that reaching for unhealthy snacks when the stress of time-sensitive commitments, such as work or study, limits your choices of snacks, won’t only destroy your fitness goals, but it can also negatively affect your mental health.

Scientists provided crisps (薯片), chocolate or a piece of fresh fruit to test subjects before measuring their effects on mental comfort. The results were amazing. Those snacking on crisps and chocolate showed greater symptoms (症状) of depression, anger and emotional disorders in only 10 days. The increase was an unbelievable 47% in depressive parts. The subjects that snacked on fruit experienced none of these symptoms. In fact, on the contrary, they became 32% less anxious.

While the researchers didn’t point out exactly why the fruit group felt so much happier, the answer may lie in fruit’s ability to increase the brain’s production of serotonin, which is commonly known as a feel-good neurotransmitter (神经递质) that can help to bring about a happier state of mind and reduce anxiety.

The best results you can take away from the study is that when you’re hungry you should always be well prepared with healthy snacks that will not only fill you up but will also positively affect your mental health and keep you focused all day long.

Yours sincerely,

Li Hua