This is Why You Are Addicted to Cheese

My life revolves around cheese. Seriously.

I can't imagine what I would do without it. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way.

One of my best friends Dana and I have built are amazing friendship around cheese. Cheese has never let me down, it is always there when I need it. Cheese is magical on every single dish you can imagine. Cheese... I love you. I love you more than Wisconsin loves you.

One would say I'm addicted to cheese and I would have to believe that to be true. I never understood why, until now.

Your body actually does get addicted to cheese!

Here's why according to Thrillist:

1. Cheese is "dairy crack"

According to Dr. Neal Barnard, your brain reads a component of cheese as an addictive substance. Casein, a protein in dairy that gets concentrated during the cheesemaking process, is something your body has to break down. The problem is, it doesn't break down completely.

2. Cheese is like morphine

These strings of casein that are not broken down completely are called casomorphins. The casomorphines attach to the opiate receptors in your brain... just like morphine. Our brains LOVE the salt and fat.

This brings me to the next point:

3. Your brain loves cheese

Yeah, the human brain evolved to LOVE fat and salt and cheese is so awesome because of it. It also provides nutrition, so your body loves it even more. It's not your fault you are addicted to cheese.

Bottom line, you need to learn to live with cheese.

According to Thrillist:
You should care because, as with any substance (controlled or otherwise), the dose makes the poison. The USDA still recommends dairy as part of the MyPlate program, which replaced the Food Pyramid you grew up with. While it’s not like eating cheese will destroy your life on the order of hard drugs, MyPlate suggests a measly ounce and a half per day of the good stuff. So the fact that cheese has addictive qualities becomes problematic, given those high salt and fat levels; too much of either (or both) can cause health problems down the line.

It's not going to be easy for me, but I'm going to try to cut back on my cheese consumption. I will struggle, after all... I'm a cheese addict.