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Vendors offer organically grown produce at the Union Square farmers market in New York City.

Renate Raymond has encountered her fair share of organic food snobs, but a recent trip to a Seattle market left her feeling like she'd stumbled onto the set of "Portlandia."

"I stopped at a market to get a fruit platter for a movie night with friends but I couldn't find one so I asked the produce guy," says the 40-year-old arts administrator from Seattle. "And he was like, 'If you want fruit platters, go to Safeway. We're organic.' I finally bought a small cake and some strawberries and then at the check stand, the guy was like 'You didn't bring your own bag? I need to charge you if you didn't bring your own bag.' It was like a 'Portlandia skit.' They were so snotty and arrogant."

As it turns out, new research has determined that a judgmental attitude may just go hand in hand with exposure to organic foods. In fact, a new study published this week in the journal of Social Psychological and Personality Science, has found that organic food may just make people act a bit like jerks.

"There's a line of research showing that when people can pat themselves on the back for their moral behavior, they can become self-righteous," says author Kendall Eskine, assistant professor of  the department of psychological sciences at Loyola University in New Orleans. "I've noticed a lot of organic foods are marketed with moral terminology, like Honest Tea, and wondered if you exposed people to organic food, if it would make them pat themselves on the back for their moral and environmental choices. I wondered if  they would be more altruistic or not."

To find out, Eskine and his team divided 60 people into three groups. One group was shown pictures of clearly labeled organic food, like apples and spinach. Another group was shown comfort foods such as brownies and cookies. And a third group -- the controls -- were shown non-organic, non-comfort foods like rice, mustard and oatmeal. After viewing the pictures, each person was then asked to read a series of vignettes describing moral transgressions.

"One vignette was about second cousins having sex," says Eskine. "Another was about a lawyer on the prowl in an ER trying to get people to sue for their injuries. Then the groups made moral judgments on a scale from one to seven."

In another phase of the study, the three groups were asked to volunteer for a (fictitious) study, with each person writing down the amount of time -- from zero to 30 minutes -- that they would be willing to volunteer.

The results did not bode well for the organic folks.

"We found that the organic people judged much harder compared to the control or comfort food groups," says Eskine. "On a scale of 1 to 7, the organic people were like 5.5 while the controls were about a 5 and the comfort food people were like a 4.89."

When it came to helping out a needy stranger, the organic people also proved to be more selfish, volunteering only 13 minutes as compared to 19 minutes (for controls) and 24 minutes (for comfort food folks).

"There's something about being exposed to organic food that made them feel better about themselves," says Eskine. "And that made them kind of jerks a little bit, I guess."

Why does eating better make us act worse? Eskine says it probably has to do with what he calls "moral licensing."

"People may feel like they've done their good deed," he says. "That they have permission, or license, to act unethically later on. It's like when you go to the gym and run a few miles and you feel good about yourself, so you eat a candy bar."

Eskine says he was surprised by the findings ("You'd think eating organic would make you feel elevated and want to pay it forward," he says) and hopes to do additional studies that look at conditions that might prompt people to act differently.

Until then, organic eaters may want to rein in those self-righteous stink-eyes.

"At my local grocery, I sometimes catch organic eyes gazing into my grocery cart and scowling," says Sue Frause, a 61-year-old freelance writer/photographer from Whidbey Island. "So I'll often toss in really bad foods just to get them even more riled up."

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Robert Byron / Featurepics.com

Think about steak, eat broccoli. This probably doesn't work for vegetarians.

Do you still act like the kid on the school lunch line who grumbles when he's served a pile of flaccid carrots? Here's a weird trick: Staring at a picture of a T-bone beforehand may make your vegetables more enjoyable, according to a new study in PLoS ONE.

When you view a salivating picture, your orbital frontal cortex, the region of the brain responsible for coding pleasant experiences, lights up and convinces your tongue that the bland food you're eating is tastier than it actually is, explains study author Johannes Le Coutre, Ph.D, head of perception physiology at Nestle Research Center in Switzerland.

We don't expect you to carry around pictures of juicy steaks or blistered pizza, but you can make your own healthy meals look and taste more like caloric feasts. We've recruited food stylist Brian Preston-Campbell, who is also a trained chef, to give us a few tips on how to make the following five health foods more tantalizing.

Related: Takeout That Delivers

1. Broccoli: Salt It
Green vegetables should always be cooked in salted boiling water because it not only seasons the produce, but enhances the color. Then shock them in ice water to halt the cooking process and lock in that emerald beauty.

2. Cauliflower: Add Color
"Steamed white cauliflower is a food stylist's death knell, only made worse when it is paired with steamed chicken breast or baked tilapia in a white butter sauce," says Preston-Campbell. One remedy? Leave some stem on the florets to help to break up the rounded tops of the cauliflower pieces and add a little contrast. Then add some color and texture to the dish with breadcrumbs, herbs, or spices. You can also mix it with colorful vegetables. (Need more great ways to spice up your food? Watch how chef Eddie Huang reinvents junk food.)

3. Yogurt: Strain It
Line a fine mesh strainer with a coffee filter or clean paper towel, and place on top of a bowl to catch the yogurt's liquid. Pour in the yogurt, and drain overnight in the refrigerator. In the morning, you'll be left with a thick, velvety yogurt that can hold a swirled texture (like a spiraling cone of soft serve).

4. Kale: Perfect Its Color
Buy the freshest, most vibrantly green bunch you can find, you want to start with a quality product. Then heavily salt the water to perk up the color and boil for only one or two minutes, just to soften these hardy leaves. Then, saute for about 5 minutes (don't let it brown) with some garlic, pine nuts, bacon or pepper flakes for added color and flavor. Avoid mixing in acids such as vinegar or lemon juice, which will make these leaves wilt in vibrancy and texture. (Start stripping off extra pounds with the newly expanded 2012 edition of Eat This, Not That!)

5. Tilapia: Keep It Moist
Tilapia doesn't look appetizing because it's flat, white, and simply not as exciting as a thick piece of bright red tuna or fresh fillet of salmon. Cooking this fish in a tomato broth will add color and keep the fish moist. Follow Preston-Campbell's recipe: Puree two cored and coarsely chopped tomatoes, the juice of half a lemon, a dash of dried oregano, and a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in a blender. Salt and pepper to taste. Strain into a saute pan and bring to a simmer. Place the tilapia fillets in the pan and poach the fish (just below a simmer on low heat, don't let it boil!) until they are cooked through, about 8 minutes.

Related: The Best and Worst Foods for Your Cholesterol
Make healthy miso-walnut dressing for a kale salad

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Want more weird health news? Find The Body Odd on Facebook.

Want more weird health news? Find The Body Odd on Facebook.

Big bites lead to big bellies, researchers say, and they might have a solution: People take smaller bites of food when it's accompanied by stronger aromas, so infusing foods with strong aromas could get people to eat less.

We take bigger bites of foods we are familiar with and smaller bites of those that require more chewing. Those small bites are a good thing, as they actually make your stomach feel fuller faster, reducing the amount of food eaten and calories taken in, the researchers note.

To see how the smell of a food changes bite size, the researchers designed an interesting eating contraption to separate smell from other factors that affect how big of a bite participants take.

Participants were fed vanilla custard through a tube while "vanilla-custard" smells were delivered directly into the backs of their noses. They controlled the amount of custard fed into their mouth by pressing a button to stop the flow. The researchers weighed the custard cup before and after each "bite" to measure its size. Participants ate about the amount of a normal-size desert. [ 10 Tips for Sticking to Healthy Portions ]

The "back of the nose" presentation mimics the aroma during real eating, said Rene de Wijk, a senior researcher at the Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands: "[these] presentations resemble the situation of normal eating whereby aromas travel from the food in the mouth," he said. "We cannot say whether smells in the room or on the plate have the same effect because we have not tested it."

The researchers found that when food was associated with strong aromas, even of the pleasant natural cream flavoring the researchers used, people took smaller bites.

"Our aroma was a pleasant smelling cream aroma presented at low levels of intensity," de Wijk said. "We have not tested other smells, but believe that effects can be expected when the aroma 'fits' the food, i.e., unusual combinations may not work."

The researchers think this is a feedback loop: when a strong smell is presented in the nose, the participants pared their eating to reduce the amount of flavor they experienced.

The researchers suggest that infusing foods with stronger smells could be used to control portion size: manipulating the odor of food so that it was more fragrant could result in a 5- to 10-percent decrease in food intake per bite. Combining aroma control with portion control could fool the body into thinking it was full with a smaller amount of food, aiding weight loss.

"Aromas added at relatively low levels to the foods may already have the effect," de Wijk said, though they didn't study directly if the individuals actually ate less of the custard in the end.

The study was published Wednesday in the journal Flavour.

More from The Body Odd:

• Can you get addicted to ice cream? Maybe, study shows
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Velvet Ice Cream

Sure, Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream tastes so good it’s addictive, but is it, you know, addictive? Could Ben and Jerry, Häagen Dazs, or Blue Bell really be pushers of a substance akin to nicotine? 

Baskin-Robbins-as-crack-house might seem ridiculous, and the idea that any food can be addictive in the scientific sense is still controversial. But, broadly speaking, as far as the brain’s circuitry is concerned, pleasure is pleasure. Activation patterns often look about the same.  

Now new research shows that ice cream and drugs may share something else in common.

With drugs, over time, addicts feel less and less pleasure, though they crave more and more. This effect has been linked to a lowered density of specific versions of cellular receptors for the brain chemical dopamine. It’s as if constant stimulation has blunted the ability to enjoy.

When researchers Kyle S. Burger and Eric Stice, of the Oregon Research Institute, fed kids real chocolate milkshakes (made with Häagen Dazs) while the kids’ brains were being scanned, they found a similar effect.

In a study published online last week by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Burger and Stice first surveyed the 151 adolescents, all of them of healthy weight, about their recent eating habits and how much they craved certain foods. Then they scanned them in an fMRI machine while showing them a cartoon of a milkshake, to measure craving, followed by the real shake.  

All the kids wanted the shake, but those who ate the most ice cream over the previous few weeks enjoyed it less, as reflected in lowered activity in reward centers.

It’s as if the brains of big ice cream eaters had been changed, Burger said. "Over consumption of these foods down regulates reward processes," he explained. "That may, in turn, make you eat more," in an effort to feel the same pleasure you once did. "You could be continually tying to match the earlier experience," he said, taking bigger and bigger portions, and gaining more and more weight.

Importantly, these kids weren’t fat. That means that the brain changes Burger believes are at work happen before obesity sets in.

"Hyper-rewarding foods cause changes in the brain akin to what we see with tobacco and alcohol. ... That is food addiction,"insisted Ashley Gearhardt, a Yale psychology PhD candidate who has also conducted research using milkshakes. (Solid ice cream can’t be fed to a subject in an fMRI.) She admitted the case for food addiction "is not open and shut," but, she said, "our food environment preys on people" by manufacturing food "designed to amp up reward" and vulnerable people can become addicts.

Burger isn’t so sure. "I personally do not say food is addictive. I say energy-dense food, high sugar food, can elicit neural responses during consumption that parallel those seen in drug addiction. So it has addictive-like properties."

That may seem a difference without a purpose, but true addiction is more complicated than diminished reward in the face of high craving. Until more is learned, enjoy -- a little -- of that Super Fudge Chunk.

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Feeling fuzzy? Reach for a glass of water instead of a cup of coffee.

By Leah Zerbe
Rodale.com 

Severe dehydration can do some pretty crazy things to your mental status, invoking extreme confusion and delirious thoughts. But what happens to your brain when you're just mildly dehydrated—a state that many of us are in every day? To figure this out, researchers conducted a small study of 25 young women, comparing groups that were hydrated to ones that were in need of water.

In the three-day study, women were dehydrated through three 40-minute treadmill workouts and in a separate treadmill workout after taking a diuretic. In the final test, they worked out on a treadmill but were allowed to properly hydrate during the exercise. During and after each bout of exercise, the women took a series of cognitive tests.

The researchers combined the results from the exercise-only and exercise-plus-diuretic sessions and compared those results to results from the adequate-hydration session. The average degree of dehydration was a 1.36% decrease in body mass. When the women were dehydrated, they reported less vigor, more fatigue, more mood disturbances, reduced ability to concentrate, increased perception of task difficulty, and greater severity of any headaches both when they were at rest and while exercising.

Interestingly, the women could not themselves distinguish between being dehydrated and adequately hydrated. While there's not a one-size-fits-all recommendation for how much water to drink daily because different factors like humidity, physical activity levels, altitude, and water content in food play a role, a 2007 Mayo Clinic report found that women who are adequately hydrated take in the equivalent of about 9 cups' worth of beverages a day.

More from Rodale.com:

• 19 Foods That Will Quench Your Thirst
• 10 Strategies for a More Productive Brain
• 5 Mind Tricks to Supercharge Your Memory

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Mom's lasagna. Homemade chocolate chip cookies straight from the oven. Steak sizzling on the grill. Roasted turkey and stuffing. Flame-broiled hamburgers. Good-quality dark chocolate.

Is your mouth watering at the very thought of some of these foods? Sorry to break it to you, but a recent study found that humans are not able to salivate at the thought of food.

"We are not like dogs -- in particular, we're not like Pavlov's dogs -- and don't have conditioned salivary reflexes," says lead author Guy Carpenter.

In the small study, published in the Journal of Texture Studies, British researchers tried to determine if a mouthwatering sensation exists in humans at the suggestion of food. They rounded up 5 healthy people and first showed them pictures of different foods -- from pizza and Thai curry to grilled chicken and baked pasta.

Using cotton pads inside the cheeks and suction devices under the tongue, scientists collected saliva samples from participants as they viewed this visual feast.

Looking at photographs, which simulates thinking about food in real life, didn't increase the amount of saliva flowing from any of the major salivary glands, before or after eating a meal. In other words, a "mouthwatering sensation" wasn't seen in the participants whether they were hungry or not. 

Although food advertisers may want consumers to believe that pictures of food can have a mouthwatering influence, this study found it wasn't the case.

In another experiment, researchers observed how much moisture the mouth produced when volunteers could see and smell a bowl of hot noodles. And a third test, gathered saliva samples before, during, and after participants ate their lunch.

Smelling food's aromas increased saliva secretions more so than holding food or looking at pictures of it. But the largest quantities of spit flowed when participants actually tasted and chewed food.

"This study reinforces the idea that merely thinking of food doesn't cause a faster rate of saliva into the mouth," says Carpenter, a senior lecturer in oral and mucosal biology at King's College London Dental Institute.

Mouthwatering, he says, is not a true salivary reflex, meaning a stimuli that can increase saliva secretion for prolonged periods. Instead Carpenter proposes the mouthwatering sensation "is due to small squirts of saliva entering the mouth when facial muscles squeeze on dilated salivary ducts."

Carpenter says "to increase the anticipation and mouthwatering aspect" of a meal, "increase the smells." 

Readers, tell us what are the food smells that always make your mouth water?

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Getty Images stock

Can you actually eat yourself to death?

"I ate so much I'm about to burst!"

Someone at your Thanksgiving table will likely say some version of this tomorrow, after you've all stuffed your faces with turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and the rest. But how much would you have to eat in order for your stomach to actually burst? Is that even possible?

"Interestingly enough, you can rupture your stomach if you eat too much," says Dr. Rachel Vreeman, co-author of "Don't Cross Your Eyes ... They'll Get Stuck That Way!" and assistant professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine. "It is possible, but it's very, very rare."

A handful of reports over the years document the tales of people who literally ate themselves to death, or at least came dangerously close: Japanese doctors wrote in a 2003 case report that they believed it was a 49-year-old man's "excessive over-eating" that caused his stomach to rupture, killing him. And this 1991 case report describes a similar "spontaneous rupture" in an adult's stomach "after overindulgence in food and drink." 

Normally, your stomach can hold about one or one-and-a-half liters, Vreeman says -- this is the point you may reach if you overdo it tomorrow, when you feel full to the point of nausea. Pathologists' reports seem to suggest the stomach is able to do OK handling up to about three liters, but most cases of rupture seem to occur when a person has attempted to stuff their stomach with about five liters of food or fluid. (One of the reports Vreeman came across described the sad case of a woman whose stomach contained 12 liters of stuff.)

It takes a certain amount of misguided determination to manage to override your natural gag reflex and continue to eat (and eat and eat), which is why, not surprisingly, reports of ruptured stomachs caused by overeating are most common in people with some sort of disordered eating, or limited mental capacity, Vreeman says. 

"They have unusual eating habits to an extent that their bodies’ reflexes no longer respond as they normally do," Vreeman explains. "Their bodies’ reflexes have been ignored or abused for so long that they no longer vomit at the appropriate time. And then once the stomach gets to this extremely distended point, the stomach muscles are too stretched out to be strong enough to vomit the food out."

Speaking of strong stomachs, you'd best have one in order to read this next paragraph. If vomiting isn't happening, all that food and fluid still has to go somewhere. The increasing volume of stuff in the gut puts pressure on the stomach's walls, so much so that the tissue weakens and tears, sending the stomach contents into the body and causing infection and pain, Vreeman says. Surgical intervention is necessary to repair a ruptured stomach and save the patient's life. 

In particular, she says, anorexics or bulimics may be at risk. In fact, Cedars-Sinai, the non-profit hospital in Los Angeles, actually lists this as a "symptom" of bulimia: "In rare cases, a person may eat so much during a binge that the stomach bursts or the esophagus tears. This can be life-threatening."

Other reported cases of spontaneous stomach rupture happen in individuals with Prader-Willi syndrome, a congenital disease that is characterized by, among other things, a kind of disordered eating: an "intense craving for food," resulting in "uncontrollable weight gain and morbid obesity." according to the National Institutes of Health. In a 2007 study examining the deaths of 152 individuals with the condition, 3 percent of those deaths were the result of gastric rupture and necrosis. 

The takeaway here: This really happens, sometimes! Also: This is probably not going to happen to you. 

"Even if you're starting to feel a bit sick or tired and overwhelmed from eating so much at Thanksgiving, you're still far, far away from the scenario where you're going to make your stomach actually explode," Vreeman assures. 

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• Are 'competitive eating' contests a terrible idea?
• The strange eating habits of Steve Jobs
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Is a competitive eating contest a freak show of gluttony or a weirdly fascinating sport worthy of ESPN coverage? Do participants have stomachs of steel? High-speed digestive systems? Super-sized stomach capacities? Or a screw loose?

Nowadays, this bizarre "sport" has a league of its own, known as "Major League Eating," an international ranking of its top competitors, and it appears to have inspired the reality TV show, "Man Versus Food."

In the annual Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest, this year's men's winner polished off a jaw-dropping 62 franks and buns during the 10-minute gorgefest, capturing $10,000 in prize money. A first-ever women's champion wolfed down 40 weiners.

But recently, Taiwan has gotten fed up with these offbeat speed-eating competitions. A government watchdog group has called for curbs on these popular contests.   

"The frequent 'big-stomach' contests not only endanger health but violate the principle of fairness as the contestants who get sick are using the national health insurance resources," said the group, in a statement. 

They issued a report urging government agencies not to sponsor or host eating contests and have recommended that contest organizers pay any medical bills from illnesses caused by participating in them -- instead of Taiwan's national health insurance. In 2008, a graduate student in the country choked to death during a steamed-bun eating contest.

So, what are the health consequences of participating in these food face-offs, which may feature anything from chilies and oysters to pies and chicken wings?

There's been only one small study attempting to find this out. Using various imaging tests, researchers compared the stomach of a top-ranked competitive eater to a male who was not a "gustatory athlete" but had a hearty appetite.

They analyzed both men before and after a 12-minute hot dog eating contest.

The tests revealed that "the stomach [of the competitive eater] adapted by becoming an increasingly compliant sac that could expand to enormous sizes to accommodate the large volume of ingested food," says Marc Levine, MD, a professor of radiology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Presumably, this increased capacity is what allows speed eaters to consume so much food in such a short period of time, he explains.

Although the guy with the hearty appetite called it quits after seven hot dogs, saying he'd be sick if he continued, the competitive eater put away 36 franks in 10 minutes. Researchers made him stop as they observed his massively bulging belly and were afraid it might rupture.

"I did not expect the speed eater's stomach to be able to distend to such a remarkable degree, filling most of his abdomen," admits Levine, the study's lead author.

And yet, the speed eater insisted he didn't feel stuffed, bloated, or uncomfortable.

Although only one competitive eater was studied, Levine worries that because participants learn to overcome their "satiety reflex," they can essentially eat as much food as they want without experiencing a sense of fullness. As they get older and possibly lose their willpower, he says, this could result in binge eating and obesity.

"There's no real documentation of the risks and dangers associated with this sport," says Levine.

Readers, have you ever competed in an eating contest? Do you find the "sport" disgusting or entertaining?

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Joe Raedle / Getty Images

No matter your opinion on the legacy of Steve Jobs, we can likely all agree on this: Dude had some unconventional health habits. The new biography by Walter Isaacson details some of the weirder ones, from extremely restrictive diets to questionable personal hygiene. (A personal favorite: One of his go-to stress relievers during Apple's early days was soaking his bare feet in the company toilets.)

We asked some nutrition experts to weigh in on some of the stranger, stricter eating habits of the legendary tech tycoon.

Apples-and-carrots only diet
The book details his occasional tendency to eat only one or two foods, like carrots or apples, for weeks at a time. Besides developing a sunset-like hue -- which those who worked with him are quoted as remembering -- there are other health issues that can come from adhering to such a limited diet, says Elisa Zied, registered dietitian and msnbc.com contributor. 

"Although apples and carrots are healthful and provide carbohydrates, they have very little protein -- unlike fat and carbohydrates, protein can’t be stored in the body, so it’s important to consume enough protein rich foods each day," explains Zied, who's the author of the book, "Nutrition at Your Fingertips."

Protein provides the body with energy and structural support -- it also helps preserve lean muscle tissue that keeps your metabolism raring to go, and it supports muscle function. But if you don't take in enough protein, your body will miss out on essential amino acids, Zied says. "These essential amino acids are used to make body proteins ... that support growth and maintenance of body tissues."

Another drawback of a carrots- or apples-only diet: You aren't getting enough fat. 

"Without enough dietary fat, your body’s fat stores can become depleted," Zied explains. "Your skin may suffer, you may feel more cold more often, and your organs and body tissues may be more vulnerable against injury -- especially risky for those with chronic illness."

Flirting with fruitarianism
Jobs also spent some time as a fruitarian, a subset of veganism that means eating only fruits, nuts, seeds, vegetables and grains -- absolutely no animal products. "Basically, the reproductive parts of plants that can be consumed without doing any harm to the plant itself," TODAY nutritionist Joy Bauer explains. This kind of diet does contain some very healthy foods, and many vegans manage to keep extremely healthful diets. But experts caution that without a careful eating plan, essential nutrients may be missing. 

"This type of diet is extremely restrictive as it eliminates dairy foods ...  and probably doesn’t contain enough dietary fat unless you’re eating lots of nuts and seeds," Zied explains. "And because the foods you can eat (or beverages you can drink) are so limited, you only get the nutrients provided in the specific foods."

Plus, it's an expensive diet to adhere to for a long period of time, Bauer points out. 

Veganism and the tyranny of the daily shower
Jobs also believed that his commitment to vegan diets meant his body was flushed of mucus -- and that it meant he was free from body odor, so he didn't need to wear deodorant or shower regularly. Unsurprisingly, the book quotes former coworkers saying that he was very, very wrong. 

Actually, the lack of complete proteins in vegan-style diets might impede the body's detoxification process, which "could make him smell even more," says JJ Virgin, nutrition expert and co-star of TLC's "Freaky Eaters." As for mucus -- Jobs may have had a point there. Dietary changes can help reduce the goo, especially for those who produce excessive mucus because of illness.

The agony and the ecstasy of fasting
Jobs would sometimes turn to fasting to create feelings of euphoria and ecstasy. What he was most likely experiencing was something called ketosis, which develops after a period of fasting and can lead to mild euphoria. When you're eating normally, glucose is the body's primary energy source, Zied explains. But when you're fasting, your body creates small chemicals called ketones that act as a substitute for glucose, and can be used for energy by most body cells. 

"If your body makes more ketones than it needs to create energy, a dangerous condition called ketosis develops," Zied says. "This increases the loss of sodium and water from the body and can contribute to nausea, weakness, fatigue."

What do think of some of Jobs' more unusual eating habits? (And, hey -- keep it civil.) What's the weirdest diet you've ever tried?

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You know how sometimes everyone is terrible and everything is the worst and nothing ever, ever, goes your way?

Chill out. You’re probably just hungry. Or, rather, hangry.

“Hanger” -- that’s with the hard /g/ sound -- or "food swings" are silly terms used to describe the treacherous intersection where hunger and anger collide. Ever stagger through a terrible morning, only to find yourself in much better spirits after lunch? Then you, my friend, have been hangry.

The cause of your “mad”-ness? Low blood sugar.

Marjorie Nolan is a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. She explains that “hanger” isn’t just a ploy by crabby people to excuse their moods (and snag some snacks); it has a scientific explanation.

 “When [blood sugar] is low,” says Nolan, “the hypothalamus is triggered and levels of several hormones such as growth hormone, leptin and ghrelin are affected.  This imbalance then causes a shift in neurotransmitters and suppresses serotonin receptors.”

Serotonin is a hormone that helps regulate mood and appetite. Cut off your body’s ability to process it, and prepare for some mood swings. Anger and extreme frustration, Nolan says, are common responses.

This is not to say everyone who skips lunch will turn into The Hulk before dinner. Blood sugar has to drop pretty low (from a normal range of 70 to 100 milligrams per deciliter to a level below 55 mg/dL) before hanger-causing moderate hypoglycemia sets in. That takes several hours of not eating.

And, says Nolan, there are other factors that may make some people more susceptible to “hanger” than others.

“For individuals more prone to having low [blood sugar], symptoms tend to be more severe,” she explains. “‘Anger’ as a result of hunger is in part, personality based.  If you are someone who is more prone to feeling frustrated or ‘moody’ to other life situations you are more likely to have this reaction when hungry.” 

Outside stressors --like work or family issues-- can worsen the problem.

 “If you are already feeling on edge,” she adds, “chances are extreme hunger is going to personify this.”

In order to keep your blood sugar stable and ward off hanger, Nolan suggests eating a combination of protein and complex carbs every 3 hours. (Cheese and wheat crackers or hummus on pita will get the job done.) 

And remember, next time you feel inexplicably angry, treat yourself to a snack before blowing up. Your brain and your coworkers might thank you.

Want more weird health news? Find The Body Odd on Facebook.

featurepics.com

You sweet thing, you.

Finally, there's some good news for people with a sweet tooth, and it comes in time for that sweet-gathering holiday, Halloween. People who prefer sweeter tastes seem to have sweeter dispositions, a new study suggests. So grab your favorite candy and read on.

Psychology researchers wondered whether there was any link between our taste preferences and personality traits. They reasoned that people tend to use "taste-related metaphors" in daily life, particularly sweet ones, like calling a romantic interest "sweetie," "honey" or "sugar."

We also use the term "sweet" to refer to someone who is kind, friendly and caring, and does nice things for others. Would individuals with a sweet spot for sugar truly show these sweet behaviors and characteristics?

Apparently, yes.

In one study, 55 college students rated their liking of 50 different foods from the five major taste types: sweet, sour, bitter, salty and spicy. They also answered questions about their agreeableness.

A liking of sweets was linked with a higher level of agreeableness, meaning a tendency to be friendly, cooperative, and compassionate.

In another experiment of 55 different undergraduates, students were randomly given a sweet food (milk chocolate), an unsweetened food (a bland cracker), or no food. Then they were asked to volunteer their time to help a professor.

Students given something sweet to eat were more willing to help another person compared to the other two groups. Perhaps a sweet tooth reveals more about your personality than you realize. 

Researchers have yet to investigate whether this applies to other taste-related metaphors, such as whether sourpusses have more hankerings for tart tastes or bitter "hostile" people crave bitter coffee.

The research appears in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 

Readers, have you noticed any links between your taste preferences and your temperament? 

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