Cheese cravings may point to stress

[Forest Nymph]

I came upon this little pocket of information and it made LOTS of sense to me as a vegan. People are always talking about not being able to give up cheese (and it was absolutely the hardest thing for me, though the idea of having an actual glass of cow's milk sounded like puke, I still wanted a greasy cheese pizza) ...and a lot of vegans give advice like eat more green leafy vegetables or eat more tofu or take calcium supplements...but honestly you can eat tofu until you're stuffed and still have a cheese craving the next day.

According to this article, the real reason is stress. You need to relax. Those addictive hormones in cow's milk also release chemicals in the human brain that make us feel happy, comforted, stable, relieved etc.

If you simply cannot give up cheese or are having a random cheese craving after years of being vegan, look to your lifestyle instead of your vitamin supplements for the answer. Eat vegan "comfort foods" instead and consider using a natural remedy for stress-relief, or just take some time off to do nothing.

 

[Lou]

Now I can't remember where I read it but there were some guys in a lab with an MRI or one of those brainwave thingies. and they would put people in the machine and see how they responded to different substances. They found that combinations of things had the biggest effect on the brain's activity. Fat, salt, sugar, caffeine all did different things. but the interesting thing was when you combined them. For instance, sugar, fat, and caffeine has a very similar effect to opioids. (which probably helps to explain why people will wait in line for an overpriced latte.) Fat and salt also had a very strong effect. which helps to explain cheese addiction (and french fries and potato chips).

 

[Forest Nymph]

Now I can't remember where I read it but there were some guys in a lab with an MRI or one of those brainwave thingies. and they would put people in the machine and see how they responded to different substances. They found that combinations of things had the biggest effect on the brain's activity. Fat, salt, sugar, caffeine all did different things. but the interesting thing was when you combined them. For instance, sugar, fat, and caffeine has a very similar effect to opioids. (which probably helps to explain why people will wait in line for an overpriced latte.) Fat and salt also had a very strong effect. which helps to explain cheese addiction (and french fries and potato chips).

Totally makes sense. And yet there is something about cheese that can't be replicated by french fries or potato chips if someone has a really difficult, strong craving. I definitely think people like potato chips and fries because they want fat or lots of calories at once (I once looked at the calories on the back of those kind of medium-sized grab n go packages of Lays potato chips and if you eat the entire bag it exceeds 400 calories).

I used to think this might be the case with cheese as well, but it had always posed a very unique problem for me, like why would I be disgusted by milk or not really want a pudding or a yogurt, but specifically want a pizza or quesadilla? I think milk is less tempting because it's just kind of cold and heavy and lacks the salt, while pudding might be over-sweet and yogurt too low in fat (!) ...but cheese has that fatty-salty-high calorie-hot-melty-hormone infested temptation of Satan.

It would simply make sense for a stressed out person to reach for that instead. I like the Daiya mac n cheez and the Daiya pizzas as "comfort food" or even some Field Roast or Tofurky pan fried in oil, but none of those will also combine the hormonal angle, which is where the biochemical part meets the psychological aspect. For that, I guess people really need to chill out and take care of their mental health. And there are also herbal supplements for that.

 

[Nekodaiden]

In depth discussion on the milk/cheese issue here, which includes the topics of addiction, motive, and health consequences. I found it very informative: