Sweet Tooth
Sweet Tooth
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![]() Bo Bunny Press Sweet Tooth Collection Note Worthy Journaling Cards US $3.99
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Numb the Sweet Tooth in Your Brain
Are you plagued by a sweet tooth that continually works against your weight loss efforts? Would you like to get rid of it, or at least weaken it some? A couple of recent studies brain fitness shed some light on this little devil in our heads that drives us to crave all those goodies.
It’s in Your Head
There is a part of your brain, called the pontine parabrachial nucleus (we’ll just call this the PBN from here on out) that is partly responsible for these cravings. The PBN sits in your brain stem, just above your spinal cord and plays a big role in sensing the foods you taste. It also sends messages to other parts of your brain involved in pleasure and in motor activity, to decide whether or not to keep your indulgences going.
Kovacs and Hajnal reported in the December 2008 issue of the Journal of Neurophysiology, that this little part of the brain may be different in obese individuals compared to normal weight folks. Actually they used an obese strain of rat and a related strain of healthy weight, but the message likely applies to humans as well. In fact, their study is consistent with an older study in humans, which we’ll get into in a minute.
What the new research found was that obese rats actually have fewer brain cells in the PBN that sense sugar. This means that the obese rats need more sugar to get the same level of sweet sensation, reminiscent of how drug addiction works. The more you use, the more you need, to get the same feeling.
Some older human studies showed something similar. In these, the researchers weren’t able to look into the human brains, but they did look at people who had successfully lost weight and others who had not been so successful. What they found was that the successful weight loss folks required less sugar to feel that a drink was pleasurably sweet. The folks that were less successful at losing weight required more sugar to get a pleasurable sweet sensation.
Numbing the Sweet Tooth
So the question is can we do anything about it? Can we change our PBN to sense pleasurable sweetness from less sugar, which would decrease our cravings for large doses of sweets on a regular basis? Well, there are several studies that suggest we can. If we slowly cut back on sugar, like weaning ourselves off a drug, we will become more sensitive and require less to feel satisfied.
Another new study actually shed some more light on this subject, again looking at the PBN. This study found that a class of brain chemicals, called endocannabinoids (which are what marijuana mimics) turn on our need for sugar and fat. Any child of the 60s will relate to the munchies.
DiPatrizio and Simansky reported in the September 2008 edition of the Journal of Neuroscience that rats given endocannabinoids straight into their PBN, ate more fat and sugar when given the chance, but did not eat more regular rat chow. Dosing up their PBN made them specifically want fat and sugar.
Why is this important? Several other studies suggest that a high omega-6 diet can increase the amount of endocannabinoids in your brain, which in turn might make you crave more fat and sugar. This may be a premature claim, but several studies (including some of our own) are beginning to point to a high omega-6 and low omega-3 diet as something that can crank up the drive to eat.
So another way to control your sweet tooth may be to reduce the amount of omega-6s you eat (which come from processed foods full of corn and vegetable oils) and crank up the amount of omega-3s you eat (which mostly come from fish). We’ve beat the omega-3 horse in several past articles so won’t cover it again here.
So this gives you two approaches to numbing down your sweet tooth. First, wean yourself off high doses of sugar, and, second, increase the ratio of omega-3s to omega-6s in your diet.
References:
Journal of Neurophysiology 2008, 100:2145-2157
Journal of Neuroscience 2008, 28(39):9702-9709
About the Author
Dr. Simon Evans holds a PhD in molecular biology with 15 years research and teaching experience in neuroscience and a current faculty position in the Psychiatry Department at the University of Michigan. He is a member of the Society for Neuroscience, the American Society for Nutrition and the Michigan Metabolomics and Obesity Center; with expertise in neurochemistry and nutrition. He is the author of dozens of scientific publications on stress, depression and brain function as well as the acclaimed book, BrainFit for Life, published in the Spring of 2008.
Dr. Evans also holds a national coaching license from the United States Soccer Federation and over two decades coaching experience, which enables him to help people find and use their full potential. Dr. Evans has merged his interests in brain function, health, and performance coaching into public seminars and workshops designed to educate audiences about brain health and motivate them to take action to achieve it.
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Sweet Tooth Cupcakes Ivory $8.98 From the Robert Kaufman ''Sweet Tooth'' collection these delicious cupcakes are brightly colored on an ivory background. |
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The Sweet Tooth (Hardcover) $27.77 A sneering, talking, fist-waving sweet tooth beleaguers little Stewart from inside the boy`s own mouth, continuously barking orders for more sweets: "Blah. Blah. Blah. Enough with the yakkin`. I NEED A CANDY BAR. NOW-OW!" Satisfying the tooth`s relentless cravings constantly embarrasses Stewart, who finds himself repeatedly explaining the problem to surrounding adults with the constant refrain, "It was The Tooth." ("Those chocolate bunnies never had a chance. It was The Tooth.") Stewart decides to stand up to the truculent tooth, and when he announces that he`s opting for healthier fare in the future, the illustrations` color palette literally takes on a rosier hue. Stewart extracts the tooth with a carrot--"Kid! No! Not the carrot!"--and the tooth becomes the Tooth Fairy`s problem. Mixed-media cartoon watercolor illustrations accompany the text. |
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Silverlicious Sweet Tooth Game $14.98 Help! Pinkalicious' sweet tooth is gone and you must help her get it back! All players work together to help Pinkalicious, Peter, and her Teddy Bear reach the end of the game path. Performing special tasks, completing fun challenges, and simply rewarding yourself for being sweet will propel you forward on your quest. You must also collect special Sweet Tooth Coins before you reach your final destination. As Pinkalicious knows, you won't get ahead if you're not cooperative. So, with a few good friends, a dash of sweetness and a ton of fun, you'll be on your way to finding Pinkalicious' sweet tooth where you may just discover your own too! Type: Board Games Gender: Unisex Age: Child,Teen,Adult |
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Sweet Tooth in Captivity $14.66 Following on the heels of THE NOBODY, his Vertigo graphic novel debut, writer/artist Jeff Lemire pens his very first ongoing series SWEET TOOTH. A cross between Bambi and Cormac McCarthy's The Road, SWEET TOOTH tells the story of Gus, a rare new breed of human/animal hybrid children, has been raised in isolation following an inexplicable pandemic that struck a decade earlier. Now, with the death of his father he's left to fend for himself . . . until he meets a hulking drifter named Jepperd who promises to help him. Jepperd and Gus set out on a post-apocalyptic journey into the devastated American landscape to find 'The Preserve' a refuge for hybrids. In this second volume, Lemire explores the heartbreaking story of Jeppard and how he went from a devoted husband to the ruthless mercenary he is now. Meanwhile, Gus is captured in a camp with other hybrid creatures where he meets Dr. Singh, a scientist studying the plague that's wiped out so much of the world. By traveling more into Gus' past, Singh will learn more about the plague, as well as clues at how some of it might relate to Gus and his father. |
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Sweet Tooth (Hardcover) $26.13 A cultural history of candy?how it evolved from medicine and a luxury to today`s Kit Kat bars and M&M`sTold through the Kate Hopkins` travels in Europe and the U.S., Sweet Tooth is a first-hand account of her obsession with candy and a detailed look at its history and development. The sugary treats we enjoy today have a prominent past entertaining kings, curing the ill, and later developing into a billion-dollar industry. The dark side of this history is that the confectionery industry has helped create an environment of unhealthy overindulgence, has quelled any small business competition that was deemed to be a risk to any large company`s bottom line, and was largely responsible for the slave trade that evolved during the era of colonization.Candy`s history is vast and complex and plays a distinct part in the growth of the Western world. Thanks to the ubiquity of these treats which allows us to take them for granted, that history has been hidden or forgotten. Until now. Filled with Hopkins` trademark humor and accompanied by her Candy Grab Bag tasting notes, Sweet Tooth is a must-read for everybody who considers themselves a candy freak. |
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Tooth $4.99 Tooth |
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Sweet Tooth 2 By Lemire, Jeff $19.29 Gus is captured and placed in a containment camp for animal/human hybrids where he is a studied by a doctor who hopes to find a cure for the mysterious plague that has ravaged the world. Author: Lemire, Jeff/ Lemire, Jeff (ILT) Series Title: Sweet Tooth Subtitle: In Captivity Publication Date: 2010/12/14 Number of Pages: 144 Binding Type: Paperback Language: English Depth: 0.25 Width: 6.50 Height: 10.25 |
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Murder Has a Sweet Tooth $6.99 Annie Capshaw has found that the way to a man's heart is through his cooking class. But just as she and her best friend, Eve, are planning Annie's big day with Jim, her former cooking instructor turned boss, murder takes the cake. Make that the wedding cake... |
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The Andersuns: Jarrell's Sweet Tooth $17.9 Can you ever have too much of a good thing? Jarrell Andersun can answer that question. Because of his love for sweets, find out how Jarrell learned, "be careful what you wish for...you just might get it " |
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Killer Sweet Tooth (Paperback) $23.72 Cake decorator Daphne Martin finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation--and an Elvis impersonator convention--with a bullseye on her back. |
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Neal Miner - Sweet Tooth $42.84 Disc 0:No track list available |


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