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What do you do when you're stressed ? Reach for a half-pound bag of M&M's, like I do, or a couple glasses of merlot like my friends do?  Or maybe watch a Housewives Reunion where they all scream at and accuse each other of everything from copying their Jimmy Choo Belgravias to calling each other's kids spoiled? Well, the sad truth is that feeling stressed may prompt you to go to great lengths to satisfy an urge for a drink or sweets, but you're not likely to enjoy the indulgence any more than someone who is not stressed and has the same treat just for pleasure, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association, as reported by newswise.com.  "Most of us have experienced stress that increases our craving for rewarding experiences, such as eating a tasty bar of chocolate, and it can make us invest considerable effort in obtaining the object of our desire, such as running to a convenience store in the middle of the night,...

It's not much of a stretch.  Addiction is addiction, after all.  But a new study links alcoholism and eating disorders, according to newswise.com. "Part of the risk for alcohol dependence is genetic, and the same is true for eating disorders. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found it’s likely some of the same genes are involved in both," the Web site reports. But what the study uncovered, which is a little more disturbing, is that people with alcohol dependence may be more genetically susceptible to certain types of eating disorders and vice versa. I suppose it makes sense. Researchers in Australia found that common genetic factors underlie alcoholism and certain eating-disorder symptoms, "such as binge eating and purging habits that include self-induced vomiting and the abuse of laxatives," newswise.com notes. “The symptoms can cut across multiple eating disorder diagnoses,” Melissa A. Munn-Chernoff, PhD,...