From douche bags to chocolate cake: Why do we always crave what's bad for us?

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Cason-Point: Last weekend I was craving McDonald's ... and an ex-quasi-boyfriend I hadn't seen nor talked to in months. Both are equally bad for me. And both things I don’t think about unless I’ve hit my head, been trapped in a building with a gas leak, or been drinking while PMS'ing. One of those must have occurred because not only did I think about it, I thought it a good idea to walk through the drive-thru at McDonald's to get bad food, and then call bad boy.

He answered, disappointed I'm sure, that I was calling out of the blue at 2 a.m. just to say "hey" and see how he was doing, not booty-calling. Apparently he had moved while I was moving on.

“Want to come over and see my new place?” he asked me … which is code for “Want to come over and see my penis?"

For Lent, we’re supposed to give up a vice of some sort. I gave up vegetables and douche bags. I tricked myself into forbidding vegetables, so I’d actually want to eat them. Because not being able to have something makes you want it even more. But why? Why do we crave what’s bad for us, especially when we know we can’t have it?

Men are like chocolate cake. At least the ones that we know are bad for us, but want and crave anyway.

When it’s in front of us, we want to eat it. When it’s not, we don’t even think about it, let alone crave it. Unless we’re pregnant or on the verge of menstrating.

Speaking of cake …

piece of cake

Last week I was only able to manage to squeeze in about 20 hours of sleep in between working on various projects from this blog to my book to Brad Paisley’s new music video. I can’t believe I use to complain about 8 a.m. classes in college — they seem like a cake walk now. Especially because that’s all I did in college … walk around and look for cake. I still do that. As you can see, I made sure to find some on set at the video shoot. And my model friend couldn’t even take a break from cake-eating to pose for a picture. We have our priorities.

Overall, I was good for Lent … but I think some celery and broccoli did sneak into my diet. And that cheeseburger from McDonald’s had mushrooms on it.

Now that Easter’s passed and the delicious Easter candy such as peanut butter eggs and chocolate-covered Peeps will no longer be available, why not stick to the no vice policy. Isn’t self-improvement motivation enough? No? … OK, well pretend it’s still Lent.

I wish it were easier to give up things that are bad for us, and that we didn’t instinctively crave them — like Eve craved that damn forbidden apple that is the alleged source of my monthly cramps and weird cravings.

It’s not a piece of cake to deprive ourselves of our naughty cravings… no pun intended. When I start craving spinach the way I do chocolate cake, I’ll let you know how to stop craving what’s bad for us. Until then, just don’t order dessert.