You’re So Addicted To Cheese Because Your Brain Thinks It’s A Drug

Grilled cheese. Pizza. Cheese fries. QUESO. If you’re anything like me, you can — and do — say that you’re literally addicted to cheese. I commonly refer to my standard order of cheese enchiladas and queso at my go-to Tex-Mex place as “cheese wrapped in carbs, covered in cheese, with a bowl of melted cheese.” We crave it. We need it. We can’t. stop. eating. it. Now, science has finally explained why. We crave cheese because our brain literally thinks it’s a drug. Cool.

Thanks to the people who actually study in school, the University of Michigan has discovered that cheese has a high concentration of a chemical called casein. When your body digests casein, it breaks it down into smaller opiods called casomorphins that lock into your opiate receptors and interact with dopamine. Let me make it simple for you: when you eat cheese, your body acts like it’s an opiate — think those crazy drugs you were on when you got your wisdom teeth pulled — and then rewards you by making you feel how you do when you’re falling in love. Your body likes this feeling, and it tells you to do it over and over again by eating more cheese.

Now you have an excuse to keep eating all the cheese you want – if your body demands it, who are you to say no? Bring on the cheese whiz and the cheddar popcorn – who needs a man when your body is literally telling you that it’s in love with cheese? Keep on ordering those quesaritos, ladies – your body will love you for it. It’s #science..

[via Mic.com]

Image via Budget Gourmet Mom