Freezing Toes, Eating Woes

I thought I was crazy. Or at least completely lacking in self-control. But today I found a scientific explanation for my behavior of late. And that was comforting.

You see, until December, I’d been doing so well eating right. At first I blamed my lapse on my chef daughter being home from school. And that was part of it. But she’s been gone a few weeks now and I’m still struggling. The most frustrating part was that I could do fine for several days—even weeks. Then I wanted to (and did) eat everything in sight. I literally couldn’t help myself. But then I noticed something: my binges came as the temperature dropped.

I’m very cold natured as it is. And we’ve had an unusually cold winter this year. The result? I eat. Not just food, but carbs and sweets. So today I looked up cold weather and appetite and found an interesting article on WebMD. It said that when the temperature drops outside, our body temperatures drop. (Boy does mine drop!) One way the body knows to raise that temperature is to increase the appetite. Food helps the body increase its temperature again. Especially carbs and sugar.

Now, being the biology boycotter that I am (I took Life Science in 7^th grade, but no Biology beyond that.), I had no idea my body worked like that. I only knew I couldn’t quit eating this winter. I still need to have a bit more self-control in what I consume. And I need to find a way to get warm enough to exercise, which wouldn’t be a problem except that I’m too cheap to turn up the heat in the house! But at least now I know I’m not crazy.