this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2026
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

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Since the brain is made up of fat, lard is probably the closest possible thing to literal brain food (lemmy.world)
submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) by insanemantis@lemmy.world to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
34 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Sidenote, if that's what zombies eat then maybe we can just keep giving them lard to snack on

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[–] daannii@lemmy.world 21 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (3 children)

Fun fact. I had to take a neuroanatomy course where we dissected real human brains.

A human brain smells very very similar to raw chicken fat.

Like. I couldn't eat chicken for months after taking that class and a few classmates told me it also turned them off chicken.

Also they are bigger than I thought and weigh quite a bit.

I don't like body horror though so generally my curiosity was satiated within 15 min and I remained grossed out the rest of the semester.

I think I actually became increasingly repelled by the brains. They smelled worse over time we kept them in some preservation fluid. The more we cut them up the more mushy they got.

Also. Holding a brain upside down ,.. Yeah so because it's symmetrical and all the little extra bits are symmetrical, it can cause pareidolia. It looks like , idk. Things start to look weird. Really weird.

Circle of willis on their own look like a little alien creature on your brain base. It's weird and creepy.

Other structures make it look like weird faces or something.

I didn't like the class much.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 8 points 5 days ago

Circle of willis

[–] ChunderBustickles@piefed.nz 8 points 5 days ago (1 children)

That sounds equally awful and fascinating! I've helped out in radiology (Healthcare IT) a lot over the years and the physiology is endlessly fascinating - until it makes me nauseous...

[–] daannii@lemmy.world 7 points 5 days ago

I thought my curiosity would win out over the disgust. But it did not.

[–] Malica@lemmy.zip 3 points 5 days ago

Sounds like fun to me, but I'm weird 🤷

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 23 points 6 days ago

It's not just random fat, though. IIRC, things like EPA acids and DHA acids found in fish oil supplements are high-quantity in the brain.

Though, I'm sure we've all met lard-heads in life...

[–] spankysalmon@fedinsfw.app 15 points 6 days ago (4 children)

Your brain runs mostly on glucose, not fat. It's made of a lot of certain fats, but does not run on them.

EG: Your car does not run on metal.

[–] gilgameth@lemmy.world 14 points 6 days ago

Maybe your car doesn't \m/

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

It actually can run mostly on fat, it's just that most people are eating massive constant streams of glucose all the time

At birth, and during breastfeeding, human brains are running on fat

[–] spankysalmon@fedinsfw.app 0 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

No it cannot run on fat.

Fat can be broken down into glucose, though. It still takes a conversion or several to get to glucose from fat.

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 6 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

No it cannot run on fat.

Strong statement. The brain can run on ketones just fine, it's constantly titrating energy consumption from different sources. You might say the brain uses glucose first as a priority, but that is also true for alcohol.

Fat can be broken down into glucose, though

Not really a complete statement, gluconeogenesis requires more inputs then just fat, so of the glucose produced only 15% of the energy is coming from fat.

There is a 1972 paper that demonstrates normal functioning after prolonged fat adaptation, it's a great read, but this specifically speaks to brain glucose utilization - https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI107095

[–] spankysalmon@fedinsfw.app 0 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Note how I said it can be converted to glucose. Note how all you did was describe how it can be converted to glucose. Nowhere did I say that process took nothing. Nowhere did I say it needs only glucose.

Just like your car doesn't only need gas to function, and can technically 'run' on other things like pure alcohol.

[–] jet@hackertalks.com -1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Nowhere did I say it needs only glucose.

No it cannot run on fat.

can technically ‘run’ on other things

There is a 1972 paper that demonstrates normal functioning after prolonged fat adaptation, it’s a great read, but this specifically speaks to brain glucose utilization - https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI107095

[–] spankysalmon@fedinsfw.app 0 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

It cannot run directly on fat. FFS, even you described how fat has to be changed first...

Genuinely, your pedantry is pathetic.

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 1 points 4 days ago

All of your statements have implied everything has to become glucose to be used by the brain and that's not true.

[–] psud@aussie.zone 1 points 5 days ago

Brains run on ketones when ketones are present even when glucose is also present. Brains run on ethanol in preference to glucose.

People find their brains work better on ketogenic diets

[–] xep@discuss.online 0 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Your brain is not a car.

[–] spankysalmon@fedinsfw.app 3 points 5 days ago

It's called an analogy.

[–] CapuccinoCoretto@lemmy.world 11 points 6 days ago

Brains as food is the closest equivalent to brain food.

[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 10 points 6 days ago (1 children)

You could just literally eat brain, some cultures absolutely still do that....

[–] CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 6 days ago (3 children)
[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

No one said it was a good idea, just that it could be done.

[–] MaggiWuerze@feddit.org 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Is that like "Everyone mushroom is edible at least once?"

[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago

More like "If you want tacos de sesos that badly, you better trust the rancher."

[–] psud@aussie.zone 3 points 5 days ago

Sheep prion disease doesn't affect humans

Beef prion disease came from feeding beef beef waste including beef brain. It isn't much of a risk

Human prion disease happens in populations where people eat people's brains

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

French still eat sheep brain. Almost pure cholesterol.

[–] crazycraw@crazypeople.online 7 points 6 days ago

thought it'd just be other brains, but I over think things which means mine would not be good eating. it would be very chewy.

but hey its full of weed. so 50/50 depending on your mood.

In this essay, I wi-

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

not the best fat health wise but great for long term shelflife.

[–] psud@aussie.zone 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

It's a pretty good fat health wise, lamb brains have been a very popular weaning food. I remember eating brain as a small child

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

you don't need to eat brains to get lard like the OP stated. Im not even sure if would be the best source. Im not sure I would want to eat brains given prions.

[–] psud@aussie.zone 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Lard is rendered pig fat. It would be strange if that cake and pastry ingredient was what brains are made of.

Brains are an excellent emergency baby food, they're good food regardless with plenty of high energy fat and loads of nutrients

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I really don't know but again given prions I would not feed it to a baby. I mean if I was in the wild and took down game for some reason I would also not touch the brain. I only mention lard because it was the OP and what my first commnet was refering to.

[–] psud@aussie.zone 2 points 5 days ago

Prions very rarely affect other species, vCJD was unusual in that it was a cow cannibalism illness (mad cow disease) that also caused fatal mental illnesses in humans.

Sheep prions mess up sheep but not us, you're incredibly unlikely to get a prion disease from a random wild animal, and you're very safe if you only take healthy animals

The only populations that still live off the land that suffer prion disease are those that practice cannibalism. All of them eat brains. Humans probably evolved taking brains from lion kills; bashing the skulls open with rocks the same way chimps bash open nuts

[–] Alsjemenou@lemy.nl 1 points 5 days ago

water.