the greed gene

The last week or two has been lousy. First I was hospitalised for a bit because of that stupid fever (and am still pretty unwell, but recovering) and then my grandmother was hospitalised, which led to much musing.

The greed gene is what my grandmother claims put her in hospital the other day. She's very, very elderly--exact numbers escape us, since she doesn't have a birth certificate and no longer remembers, but the minimum possibility is 96--and her digestive system is rooted. She basically can't eat anything more than a really light meal because otherwise things go... haywire. This doesn't bother her because she doesn't get hungry very often anyway, apparently another side effect of being old. (Side note: she is so thin. All the women in my maternal family have huuuuge stomachs, asses, and thighs, something they've passed on to me, but because she simply doesn't eat very often. Possibly because she is powered by the souls of the damned and no longer requires mortal indulgences like food. As a result, she has the figure of a mummified supermodel -jealous.- I did have a point. What was my point? Umm...)

Anyway, she went over to my aunt Valerie's place for dinner the other night, and partook in an enormous roast, because Val's two surviving children, her three surviving children-in-law, and her five grandchildren were also persent and Val had to stuff all their faces too. She ate a single cut of roast beef. Usually that would be enough for her. If she was in her house, where cuts of meat are basically all she has because anything else would just rot before she ate it, that's all she would have eaten. But because there was other food there... she felt compelled to eat a second cut of meat. And then a third. And then four roast potatoes, three pieces of roast pumpkins, a roast parsnip, a metric crapton of green salad (mostly cherry tomatos and fetta cheese, apparently) and seven glasses of very strong red wine. And then she had dessert (suffice it to say, there was at least three kinds of cake, and she tried all of them at least once and a half. And a loooot of coffee.)

What I'm trying to say is, my grandmother literally ate herself into the hospital. She's out now, and fine, and insisting it was the fault of the 'greed gene'.

I'm starting to seriously believe this 'greed gene' because to date, no less than sixteen members of my maternal family (of both genders) have been diagnosed with either binge eating disorder or an EDNOS which resembled binge eating disorder very closely except they weren't overweight and therefore can't have BED, proving once and for all that some psychologists are fucking hacks and how did these people pass uni anyway? Most of these were my cousins or second cousins, but we strongly suspect my aunts, mother, and indeed grandmother have BED or an EDNOS or whatever it is--they've just never been tested for it because the youngest of them is over fifty and they can't be bothered with that fancy psychological stuff, and what are you doing wasting your life in university Emele, you could be married by now, you're going to end up as a mad spinster--sorry. The last family reunion was hell.

So--genetic links to body type? Yes, duh, every woman in my maternal family has the exact same body shape as I do from the nipples down. Genetic links to binge eating disorder? Entirely possible, except no one's ever studied it (because clearly people who eat a lot MUST be fat as hell and therefore lazy and disgusting and bad people who aren't fit to raise children and don't need treatment because it's all their own fault and besides I don't want them to come in because then they will be FAT AT ME--sorry again. Umm.) I believe it is not only possible but probable, since they've proven genetic links to things like metabolism and effectiveness of certain diets and all kinds of other foody things you can find if you know what to Google.

Further things for consideration: a couple days ago, this study was published. Basically, genetic quirks make it possible for someone to develop a classical addiction to food, same as someone can get addicted to smoking or drinking or illicit drugs. (Does this sound like basically the definition of binge-eating disorder?) Teal dear: some people have less dopamine receptors or poor dopamine reuptake in the brain, and don't get as much of a dopamine (i.e. pleasure) kick from food. They enjoy eating less than other people, and so end up eating more and more food (possibly becoming overweight, depending on their metabolic quirks) to keep their dopamine levels as standard. Dopamine levels are passed down genetically. The titular greed gene appears to be passed down genetically.

Another possibility; several members of my maternal family also have major depression, including my mother and myself, one of the potential symptoms of which is overeating (theoretically this is also for the dopamine kick, but they haven't really looked into this in chronic depression cases to the best of my knowledge.)