You swallow your last bite of lunch and head back to your desk. A stack of papers awaits you, and you’re just easing into work mode when suddenly you’re ambushed by a sudden, inexplicable hankering for potato chips. Every trace of productivity vanishes from your mind, replaced by a fixation on that crisp, salty snack. But you just ate … you can’t be hungry already, right?
For decades, the popular narrative of “the wisdom of the body” held that our cravings are bodily signals meant to prod us into balancing actual nutritional deficiencies. But now the bulk of scientific evidence has largely struck down the notion — how much nutritional value is there in a double-chocolate brownie, anyway? With a few exceptions (notably sodium deficiency, which can make even seawater seem appetizing), our yearnings are governed by our brains.
