For years scientists have struggled to explain how cravings can defy logic and nutrition, yet cause perfectly sane and healthy people to gorge themselves on junk food.

Now, however, one psychotherapist believes she may have the answer.
After years of working as a counsellor to drink and drug addicts, Dr Dorothy Virtue noticed strong similarities between their cravings for a ‘fix’ and her own out-of-control cravings for ice cream and bread.

YOUR CRAVINGS AND WHAT THEY MEAN

If you’re feeling stressed, resentful, bitter or frustrated, you’re likely to turn to foods that you crunch.

CRUNCHY
Crunching on crisps, popcorn, or crackers — even celery — can help ease tension in the body; they provide a cathartic outlet for all the tension held in the jaw and act like a delicious punching bag as we take out stress and anger in every crispy bite.

CREAMY
We crave creamy, soft foods such as ice cream or cheeses when we feel anxious, insecure, embarrassed and guilty, because they can be relaxing and comforting.

CHEWY
You are probably harbouring long-suppressed feelings of either jealousy, confusion, dread that something awful is going to happen, or self loathing.
Your urge to chew is linked to the innate belief that chewing will release the tension and help you work through your confusion. For example, are you craving toffees? You may be struggling with indecision.

SPICY
Hot cravings means you crave excitement and intensity in your life, and may not be getting enough thrills. You have strong desires for novelty and change. Several researchers have correlated ‘sensation seeking’ with cravings for spicy, crunchy or sour foods, gourmet foods and unusual, exotic foods.

NUTS
The chemicals inherent in nuts, as well as the textures associated with them, tend to soothe fun-deprived individuals, so cravings could indicate an expression of unmet needs for fun and pleasure. Cashews and peanuts contain large amounts of tyrosine, which raises blood pressure. Nuts also contain pyrazine, which triggers the pleasure centre of the brain.

CARBS
The smell, texture, taste and inherent mood-altering properties of bread, rice and pasta make them some of the foods that are most craved by people who are stressed, tense or frightened.

When we get tense, our body assumes we are in danger and may need pain medication. The brain produces the hormone cortisol to anaesthetise any pain. Cortisol, in turn, stimulates production of another brain chemical called Neuropeptide Y, which triggers cravings for carbohydrates.

CAKES AND BISCUITS
Sweet carbohydrate cravings are similar to those from bread, rice and pasta. Both are high in carbohydrates, which produce quite soothing emotions.


A craving for biscuits, cakes and pies reflects a desire for comfort and reassurance, but it can also signal a resistance to doing something (you may take solace in the sweet deliciousness to avoid something you don’t want to do).

CHOCOLATE
Chocolate is one of the most common cravings, particularly amongst women. This is because chocolate contains the same chemical — phenylethylamine — that your brain creates when we’re feeling romantic love.This is why many of us turn to chocolate when we are in need of love or feeling disappointed in a relationship.

What’s more, the high fat content also soothes feelings of emptiness, insecurity or loneliness, while the texture can be creamy if you need comfort, or crunchy if you’re angry.

Chocolate also contains a serotonin-like substance called diphenylamine, which appears to promote feelings of calm — so if serotonin and energy levels are drained by stress-filled days, too-tight schedules, unhealthy eating, and lack of exercise, we turn to chocolate to feel better.

HOW TO BEAT CRAVINGS

i-Wood is a laptop replica designed for kids. It's basically a regular chalkboard inspired by the MacBook Pro, and it's the perfect gift for any kid who's still into playing with actual toys. It's just a matter of time before these little guys want the real deal, but i-Wood should at least keep them entertained.

This bride went a tiny bit over the top with her wedding dress with a train that takes some stopping.

They say it’s a day you should never forget – and that’s certainly the case for Italian bride Elena De Angelis and the village of Casal di Princice.


She has broken the world record for the longest wedding dress by arriving to the church with a mammoth, 3km (1.86 mile) long veil.

Hundreds of schoolgirls and their mothers turned out to help the bride-to-be along the streets of her village.


The Gianni Molaro designed cream dress, which is made from 6,000 metres of silk chord, is expected to be confirmed as the world’s longest by the Guinness book of Records.

It’s apparently 28 times the length of Manchester United's Old Trafford pitch and would take Usain Bolt running at blistering world recording pace almost five minutes to run its full length.

Driven to the church in a vintage car Elena was applauded by the entire village.


The veil literally stretched for miles and had to be carefully collected by designers after Elena arrived in the church.

Perched on a pink children's chair, Bridgette Jordan's legs are left to dangle in mid-air as she stretches out her arms to go online.

Looking intently at her laptop screen, it takes her some considerable effort to manoeuvre the mouse across the matching pink table.



But it's just the way of life for the 22-year-old dwarf - who is also an all-singing, all-dancing cheerleader with her friends at Kaskaskia College.

And she now has even more to shout about - after she was crowned the world's shortest woman, as chronicled in the new Guinness World Records' Book that appears to overshadow her as it sits by her side.

Ms Jordan, from Sandoval, Illinois, stands at 2ft 3in - and also holds the record for being part of the shortest living siblings, alongside her 20-year-old brother Brad.



Combined, the pair only reach 5ft 5in.

Asked how she felt about her title, which she scooped from Turkey's Elif Kocaman, who stands at 2ft 4.58in, she said: 'It feels awesome.

'It's great to be small. I believe that everyone should be confident in themselves.'

Mr Jordan, who stands at a comparatively giant 3ft 2in and enjoys playing basketball and learning karate, added: 'Hopefully this will go a little way to helping people realise it's OK to be different.'

Osaka Station City, Japan, has a computerized fountain that spells out the time, announcements, and pictures in falling water. If you spend too much time waiting for the clock to display, you’ll realize what time it really is …time to find a restroom!

Principles of Organic and Biochemistry? Yawn! English Literature 101? An outdated snooze-fest! Differential Equations? That one is just begging to be skipped! Now that college students have the option to take classes on everything from zombies to garbage, gone are the days of choosing between Art History 1 and Art History 2 to round out a schedule.

Underwater Basket Weaving
Once the fictional name given to college classes that required minimal participation in exchange for credits, Underwater Basket Weaving is now an actual class offered at University of California, San Diego, as well as at Rutgers. It stands to reason that this recreational class, in which students submerge grasses or wicker in water and then braid it together into baskets, is meant to get students to relax after they’ve spent a long week actually going to college.

Philosophy and Star Trek
“Star Trek is very philosophical.” This is the matter-of-fact statement that leads the course description of PHIL-180, Philosophy and Star Trek, at Georgetown University. The undergraduate course is advertised as an introduction to basic philosophical tenets surrounding metaphysics and epistemology, and Star Trek is the context for grappling with the existential imponderables that arise. In other words, without Star Trek, you’re never going to get a bunch of hungover freshmen to show up and care about Kierkegaard.

The Joy of Garbage
It might serve our society well if this course, offered at Santa Clara University, was required around the country rather than simply being a whimsically named elective at one California school. Instructor Virginia Matzek does not let her students shy away from what she calls “the yuck factor,” taking them to sewage treatment centers and landfills and any other place that deals with the business end of what we throw away. In this age of countless environmental controversies and problems, the more people who know about the way our waste is processed, the better off we all might be.

Daytime Serials: Family & Social Roles
This course is offered in the Women’s Studies program at the University of Wisconsin. It compares daytime programming with prime-time dramas in order to examine the way themes of gender are portrayed and how those portrayals affect women and men in our culture. It’s fair to suspect that despite the subject, this class has more than Soap Opera Digest on the syllabus. If you think soap operas are just about amnesia, twisted love affairs between long-lost fraternal twins, and made-up medical procedures that frequently resurrect “dead” characters, think again. Daytime television actually serves as insight into gender roles.

Zombies in Popular Media
Zombies are the new vampires, you know. Columbia College in Chicago is capitalizing on the zombie’s rising star power with this course that examines the undead’s history and importance in fantasy and horror texts. But don’t think you’re getting off easy with this one. The course description advertises an “intense schedule” of critical theory and source media. For the record, “source media” includes movies and comic books.

Myth & Science Fiction: Star Wars, The Matrix, and Lord of the Rings
Almost everyone knows that these wildly popular epic trilogies are all based on mythologies that have been around since the dawn of time. At Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, instructor Lee Patterson leads a workshop that explores classic epic storytelling using these contemporary examples instead of restricting himself to Virgil or Homer like some professors might. This is all a long way of saying, “Dorks of the world, come on out of your mom’s basement—it’s the college class you’ve been waiting for!”

Maple Syrup: The Real Thing
This educational gem is offered as part of the honors program at Alfred University in New York, the same institution that brought you such courses as Purity and Porn in America, Hannibal Lecter’s Book Club, and Tightwaddery: Living the Good Life on a Dollar a Day, among other highly entertaining class options. The course description is pithily introduced as a job listing: “Wanted: Someone with a background in meteorology, chemistry, botany, forestry, art, and cookery who is also a nature lover with lots of patience. Must enjoy long hours of hard work in the snow, cold, and mud.” It then goes on to invite students to experience the joys of learning the process of syrup-making and its storied history. Interesting? Perhaps. Honors program worthy? That’s debatable.