Food and Love: The Strange Connection in Your Brain.
The brain's reward circuitry, governed by the limbic system, is responsible for our wants and desires, especially when it comes to love and food. Pleasurable stimuli, such as food and sex, unleash a flood of dopamine, the brain's pleasure enforcer, which is responsible for flipping the switch on the brain's reward circuitry. The bigger the brain, the bigger the craving, and the constant release of dopamine due to overstimulation can cause the brain to become desensitized to dopamine's effects. However, exercising control by eating a balanced diet and refraining from bingeing can make cravings easier to handle and recondition the brain to become more receptive to stimuli.