Even Goby fish do it.
Dieting, that is.
Why, you may ask? You’d think that dieting would be a death sentence for a tiny osteichthyes, no bigger than a bloated paper clip. But some goby fish see slimming down as survival.
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Is chocolate addicting? Common wisdom would say, yes. There are countless, self-professed “chocoholics” who swear the savory sensation of a square of Godiva, melting on their tongue, undeniably engenders an uncontrollable craving for more.
But is this craving an addiction? And, by the way, what’s the difference between craving and addiction anyway?
Last week, the Boston Globe ran an article about diabulimia, a practice in which individuals with diabetes skip or underdose their insulin in a misguided attempt to stay thin.
The article cited in the work of psychologist Ann Goebel-Fabbri, at the Joslin Diabetes center in Boston. She published a shocking study last year showing that diabulimia tripled the risk of death from diabetes or its complications. Those who restricted their insulin died on average 13 years younger -- at 45, compared to 58.
They skip it because they want to lose weight. Breakfast, that is.
In a study published this month in Pediatrics, Dianne Neumark-Sztainer’s group at the University of Minnesota reported that adolescents who regularly skip breakfast end up heavier than their counterparts, who spoon their cereal and nibble their toast regularly. Because the skippers tended to be trying to --or thinking about trying to -- lose weight, the authors concluded that breakfast-skipping may be a misguided attempt at weight loss.
There’s long been a consensus that what you eat influences how you sleep. But can how you sleep dictate how you eat?
The answer is yes. At least at the extreme.