A common recommendation for people who are trying to lose weight is to take more time while eating -- put your fork down in between each bite, chew slowly, and really taste and enjoy your food. It looks like that recommendation was spot on.

Recent research has found that many overweight people find fatty or sugary food less enjoyable than thin people do. Subsequently, those overweight people may eat more of those less-than-healthy foods in order to satisfy themselves. Women who had fewer dopamine receptors in the "pleasure center" of their brain seemed to eat more in order to trigger a pleasurable response, whereas women with more dopamine receptors could experience the pleasure with less food.

Food is meant to be enjoyed, but not to the point that it goes beyond your body's needs for energy and sustenance. Take your time with your food. Relish each bite and enjoy it. When you give your body more time to experience the taste, you'll find you eat less overall.

[via FitSugar]

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Need a healthy snack you won't find addicting? Then peanuts should be your pick. Why? Because they don't cause a direct release of the pleasure neurotransmitter dopamine, like some foods do -- foods like sugary cereals, which release dopamine, make you feel great, and then cause you to crash and reach for more of the item that made you feel so good. Not the case with peanuts.

Peanuts satisfy without a roller-coaster effect. They're also good for your heart, full of healthy fats, and powered with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory goods. Just an ounce of peanuts per day will do you good, minus the major cravings.

More articles on the merits of nuts here.

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When it comes down to it, we all share a common craving: to feel good. University of Oxford neuroscientist Morton Kringelbach knows this. It's why he's writing his new book The Pleasure Center and why he shared with Reader's Digest (August, 2008) some of his revolutionary research. Check this out.

Asked RD: What do people find most pleasurable in their lives? Sex, says Kringelbach. Second is being with friends. Most everything we find pleasurable -- like eating and drinking -- is so much better when shared with someone else.

Another question: Can you help us cure addictions such as overeating? It hasn't been tested yet, reports the scientist, but deep-brain electrodes may help restore the balance of selective satiety mechanisms in the brain -- these are the signals that tell us enough is enough. Obese people may not have the selective satiation that thin people do.

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Do you purchase things based on how much pleasure they can bring you? I'll bet that most of the overeating in this country is due to that fact -- the chemicals and enhancements used in so much of ours foods provide a pleasurable feeling along with a type of "addiction" -- hence, we consume (or eat) more. Most of us, anyway.

But what about the financial aspects that stretch beyond the biological aspects? Your body has a struggle about the pleasure of buying something with an expectation (which is almost always good) versus the pain of spending money. Deep down, you know, most of us want to...err...save money. Maybe.

A new study challenges an economic theory that purchasing decisions are a trade-off between current pleasure (buying something now) and future pleasure (buying something else later). Which is it in your opinion?

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