Money Diet, week 18: Bad food may be hard-wired into us

I have a new theory about food, one I developed after watching some ducks in my neighborhood. We have these two ducks that seem to live on our street, which is your typical suburban street that's more or less in the Ohio countryside. There's a nondescript lake about a 10-minute walk away, where I presume these two ducks spend most of their time.

Frequently, though, they're on our street, waddling along in the sewer and eating bugs on the lawns. But they rarely, if ever, come to my yard, which appears to be the one lawn in the neighborhood that isn't treated with chemicals. Which makes me wonder: Are chemically-laden lawns, to a duck, like a Twinkie is to a human being? Maybe our lawn is healthier for a duck to nibble bugs from, but the bugs in our grass taste like broccoli whereas the critters in the lawns that are sprayed every few weeks with weedkiller offer something that's more like a cheeseburger with onion rings.

Not being an expert on ducks or lawn chemicals, this is just a tentative theory. But it would help explain why it's so hard to lose weight and be healthy. Maybe all animals, human and otherwise, are hard-wired to enjoy food that isn't good for us.