.......all in the guilty mind.........'Death by chocolate'

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Death by chocolate, it's all in the guilty mind
By DAVID DERBYSHIRE in London

Indulging in life's pleasures is good for you - but feeling guilty afterwards can put your health at risk, a British study has found.

People who feel bad about activities such as eating chocolate, going shopping or lazing in front of the television are more likely to have a weaker immune system, putting them at greater danger of disease. Those who live a guilt-free existence are better able to fight off infection, according to the study.

Thirty students, aged from 18 to 30, were asked to list enjoyable activities such as eating, smoking and drinking, and to rate each for the amount of pleasure and guilt it gave.

The figures were used to draw up a pleasure-guilt ratio for each student. This was combined with the students' assessments of how much pleasure and guilt they experienced in life overall.

The results were then compared with how much secretory immunoglobulin A - or sigA - each had in their saliva. This is an index of the body's first line of defence against infection.

Those who felt most guilt and least pleasure had the lowest levels of sigA, according to the study by University of Hull.

Dr Geoff Lowe, who led the research, told the British Psychological Society conference in Winchester last week: "It suggests that people who report high pleasure and low guilt have enhanced immune system function. Such observations provide empirical support for the increasingly-held notion that pleasures are good and guilt is bad for health."

The students rated sex 8.9 out of 10 for pleasure and just 1.6 for guilt; eating scored 9 for pleasure and 6 for guilt; drinking and watching television both scored 7 for pleasure and 5 for guilt.

Guilt and anxiety trigger the release of stress hormones that can lead to ill health at high levels.

The Telegraph, London

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No Comment - I'm Presbyterian with a well-oiled guilt complex.

Regards-n-blushing stress

-- Pieter (zaadz@icisp.net.au), April 17, 2000

Answers

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-- (zaadz@icisp.net.au), April 17, 2000.

TimTam"s mmmmmm

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), April 17, 2000.

My local paper this day said the daily use of chocolate will provide 10% of your daily need for the mineral..copper!

Do you have good powers of rationalization?

-- fauna (x@z.-.ed), April 17, 2000.


Pieter:

Reminds me of the one that they had here not long ago. More than half of the students identified Connecticut as a country in Africa. You and I know that they got together and said; this will be fun. Even students from Connecticut identified it as a country in Africa.

Best wishes,,,,

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), April 17, 2000.


Witnessed Field Help, in the 60's. They showed up, they worked. Got a coke break in the a.m. Once Lunch/dinner time arrived, a spread was lain , home cooking from the women of the kitchen. Sweat from their brow, to cook anyone a biscuit with butter. The Mad Masters did not drive anyone to do, what they would not do. They needed help, as do we all. Think being a Slave was bad? try being a Share Cropper, it was bigger than life, and twice as ugly. Kindness upon another Human. Should we seek us, all.

-- Fer Gods Sake (Sleeping ain't @sin.com), April 17, 2000.


"The students rated sex 8.9 out of 10 for pleasure and just 1.6 for guilt; eating scored 9 for pleasure and 6 for guilt; drinking and watching television both scored 7 for pleasure and 5 for guilt."

Why would ANYONE feel ANY guilt for doing ANY of these things?

This "study" reminds me of a vocational test that I took shortly upon entering University. One of the questions went something like this:

Which would be your preferred method of killing your grandmother? a) plunging a knife through her bosom, b) throwing her out a window, c) poison, d) another method. I made up the answers to a, c, and d, but I remember DISTINCTLY throwing her out a window being on that vocational test. Since the results of that test suggested that I would make an excellent gym teacher, I wonder now if my answer WAS to throw her out the window. In retrospect, I wonder how many serial killers could have been identified if the test had included a guilt factor for each response. Would you feel LESS guilty, or MORE guilty if you chose the knife over the window toss? [respond on a scale of 1-10]

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), April 18, 2000.


Since we're on the subject of chocolate, perhaps some of more knowledgeable people can help me here. This is sorta personal, but, well...

My wife is a choc-a-holic. She admits that she enjoys it for recreational purposes, but will not admit that it is a serious problem. She refuses to seek help, and it is beginning to affect our relationship. She claims that is better than...well, you know...

To put it delicately, she has found, and has begun to raid, our Y2K prep stash. Having been an avowed Doomer-Zombie, I hid away considerable quantities of said confection. This was done in the hopes of avoiding future shortages, and the resulting increased risk of my own demise, especially during certain times of the month. Eh hem...

In the past, I have attempted to, uh, ration it in what I considered appropriate doses. But now that my dear wife has discovered the true scale of my stockpile, I fear that more than my marriage is in danger. The question I put to you, dear readers, is: have I been an enabler? Are there any support services for this kind of family dysfunction?

Time is of the essence.

-- Spindoc' (spindoc_99_2000@yahoo.com), April 18, 2000.


Spin-doc:

You obviously bought the "vibrating" chocolate. My advise would be to donate it quickly to a junk-food kitchen or a Sexaholics-Anonymous clinic.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), April 18, 2000.


Link

FLAVONOIDS Found in red wine, tea, apple juice, and chocolate, flavonoids (along with phenols) are antioxidants that many experts believe can inhibit the oxidation of LDL cholesterol into an artery-clogging form. One research team at the University of California at Davis recently found that the phenols in a glass of apple juice inhibit LDL oxidation by 30 percent.

-- (flavonoid@fac.toid), April 18, 2000.


Spindoc,
Congratz! That is without doubt the most droll dissertation post for the month. I am in awe and wish I had written as fine a sorrow. May you be blessed with a successful resolve of said serious issue, doubtless one beyond compare and worthy of scientific investigation with laboratory testings et al. I tip me lid, Sir! HeHeHeHeHeh... Sadly I am unable to offer any advise due to it being another salve to my guilty conscience!

-- Pieter (zaadz@icisp.net.au), April 18, 2000.


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