On Resisting Temptation

As if men did not already have enough advantages in the world, here’s the latest.

Researchers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory were trying to figure out why some people overeat and gain weight and others don’t. So they made a bunch of study participants fast overnight, exposed them to their favorite foods and did brain scans.

Women’s brains went wild. All sorts of brainwaves dancing like it was a disco. Men's brains? Not so much.

The conclusion: Faced with their favorite foods, women are less likely to resist temptation than men. Researchers think this may expain the higher obesity rate among women.

The researchers speculated that the reason women’s brains are hardwired to overeat is linked to the traditional role of supplying nutrition to the young. Translation: Hormones. Big surprise.

I read this on the Internet with a stack of Stella D'oro cookies next to me. The small, butter cookies with the chocolate top. I devoured them in support of the study, because both the utter unfairness and the reality of it rang true.

There are certain foods that I know I can’t defeat. When willpower just doesn’t stand a chance. Pizza, for instance. I must eat four slices. Every time. No matter what size the pie. Lasagna: I won’t stop eating until it’s gone. Any form of potato – which is why I often serve rice. And any dessert with a crumbly cinnamon top.

So what do you think? Is this study just more anti-female propaganda or does it ring true? And what’s your own unconquerable temptation?

Http:/www.comcast.net/articles/news-health/20090123/SCI.Obesity.Gender/

HALLIE: Patooey. To use the technical term. Although I can see why it makes Darwinian sense for females to pack on the calories and fat in anticipation of famine... but we don't get famine any longer, we just get poverty with endless nights of beans and spaghetti for dinner.

Personally, I am so not hardwired to overeat. I'm full, I stop. And most foods are relatively easy for me to pass up. Exceptions? Any kind of shellfish. Sweet potato fries. Almonds. Aren't those the three main food groups?

HANK: I think the three main food groups are coffee, cheese, and hmmm. I agree, Hallie. Almonds.

And I think, actually, that women have MORE willpower. Couldn't those statistics just as easily be explained as women "seeing a problem and solving it?" Preventing it from happening again? Seizing the moment? Planning for the next time some weird researcher decides to starve them?

My temptations? The fragrance of those Cinnabons--about a million calories each. And yet, I've never tasted one. Take that, researchers. (Although when we were kids our favorite thing was white breed toast with butter and cinnamon sugar.) Now, I'm more tempted by crispy potato pancakes with sour cream and caviar. Street pizza, with crispy crust goooey gooey gooey stretchy cheese. French bread with sweet butter.

RO: I agree with my esteemed colleague, Dr. Ephron - Patooey. Men's bodies generally have more muscle mass and muscle burns fat. Fat doesn't burn fat. Men are just as tempted by food as women there's simply less evidence of it, which can be interpreted any number of ways.
And I've watched my husband plow through a sandbag sized bag of (can't be very tasty, Wal-Mart) peanuts while watching a football game, so I believe they too have the "eat it 'til it's gone" chip.

If anything's unfair it's that my husband will always have a lower percentage of bodyfat than I do even though he has a three course dessert every night, usually after three full meals and his customary 6:00pm glass of single malt scotch while I'm trying to pretend that water is interesting.Bitter? I'm not bitter.

Unconquerable temptation? Champagne. Unopened bottles are safe. If it's opened, it's gone. And peanut butter. PB can sit in my pantry, untouched, for years, but once that foil is pulled back, spoonful by spoonful, it will find its way to my hips. No bread or jelly needed.

RHYS: I have never been a big eater and there are only a couple of foods that I can't resist and can't stop eating once I've started: salt and vinegar potato chips qualify, as do After 8 mints, cookies called Jaffa Cakes, oh and See's Candies but all in all I'm disciplined about food. As a child

I used to make my Easter eggs last until my birthday in September, biting off just a tiny piece each day. Okay, so I'm strange. My brother would devour all ten huge eggs the first day and then want some of mine. Interestingly enough he has battled weight problems all his life, and I have remained skinny.

HALLIE: Oh, Rhys, I'm a sucker for After 8's, too, and I can make a pint of Haagen-Daaz rum raisin ice cream last weeks...just nibble or two after dinner. I buy it because it's the only flavor my husband can't abide.

JAN: Hallie, I think the reason the rum raison ice cream lasts for weeks is the same reason your husband can't abide it. The raisins -- they don't belong in ice-cream!!! But that's a whole other controversy. Let's stick to this study, and whether it's got any merit: Do you think women have more trouble resisting their favorite foods?? And what are your own demons?

Don't forget to check out Jungle Red on Wednesday when I'll be interviewing cybercrime experts Felicia Donovan and Kristyn Bernier about the dark side of the Internet.