Noon is coming and we’re starting to get hungry. Minutes pass and this feeling becomes more and more voracious We have to eat now!But we’re too busy and we can’t. Time passes, we realize that it is already 4 in the afternoon and, as a result, we are no longer hungry. How many times have we heard phrases like “I’ve lost my hunger?Undoubtedly, hunger theories present different answers to the initial question: “Why do we eat?”
The answer may seem simple: because we’re hungry, is that really it?Partly yes, but why do we often lose hunger?Why do we eat more than we really need when we prepare our favorite dish?”I’m not hungry anymore, but it looks great,” beyond the bill.
- Throughout this article we will comment on the most representative theories of hunger.
- Are the ones that most accurately explain our food behavior and offer answers to previous questions.
- Let’s go further.
The theory of the points of the rule attributes hunger to the lack of energy, so when we eat we restore our optimal energy level, which is known as the energy adjustment point.
According to this theory, a person eats until he or she is satisfied, at which point he stops eating, because he has restored his deposit point and the food has fulfilled his function, so the person would not repeat this action until his body spends enough energy. fall below the set point again.
Deposit systems consist of three mechanisms
All deposit point systems (Wenning, 1999) are negative feedback systems, i. e. feedback changes in a given direction produce compensatory effects in the opposite direction, these systems are usually found in mammals and their purpose is to maintain homeostasis.
If this theory were 100% correct, once we reached our set point, we should stop eating, however, that doesn’t always happen, right?Let’s keep delving into other theories of the mind.
In the middle of the last century, many researchers thought that food intake had the effect of maintaining the blood glucose checkpoint, called glucostic theory. In other words, we eat when our blood sugar levels drop and stop eating when we regain normal levels.
Another theories that arose at the same time is the theory of lipostatics, according to her each person has a point of adjustment of body fat, so dietary behavior would be motivated by the return to this deposit point.
The first limitation these theories face is that they do not take into account the influence of the taste of food, learning and social factors, here come into play our favorite dish and social gatherings.
Let’s imagine for a moment that we have our favorite dish in front of us and another that does not attract us so much. What usually happens? We will probably eat little of the dish that we do not like so much, while we will eat beyond the point of satiety of the dish that we love, that is, we can eat without hunger. In this way, food intake is not so controlled by a deviation of the deposit points.
On the other hand, Lowe (1993) claims that more than 50% of the U. S. population has a significant excess of fatty deposits when it starts eating, yet it still eats. Therefore, this aspect also shows that deposit point theories are incomplete.
Moreover, if these theories were indisputable, human beings would not have survived to this day. Pinel, Assanand and Lehman (2000) state that “theories of guidelines on hunger and food intake are not consistent with the basic evolutionary pressures associated with this intake as far as we know. “
The authors explain that our ancestors needed to eat large amounts of food when they could not find them, so they would store calories in the form of body fat, if the instructional point theory were rigid, they would have stopped eating once the restored gaps had been removed, because when they had nothing to eat, they would have no caloric reserves in the body.
According to the theory of positive incitement, “what normally pushes humans and other animals to eat is not the lack of internal energy, but the fact that they are encouraged to eat for the expected pleasure of eating” (Toates, 1981). This is called a positive incentive value.
“An empty stomach is a bad counselor”. ? Albert Einstein?
This theory says that the consequence of the different pressures we have experienced throughout history in relation to lack of food has led us to desire food, so what causes hunger, far beyond lack of energy, is the presence of an appetizing food or the perspective of it.
The level of hunger we feel will depend on the interaction of different factors:
With this summary of the main theories of hunger it has been observed that the answer to the reason why we eat is not as simple, something as everyday and common as the habit of eating is not so easy to explain, because do not eat only when you are hungry. We can also eat because we like certain foods.
On the other hand, Jaime Silva (2007) notes that emotions and moods also influence food intake. According to Silva, “On the one hand, emotional and mood states can influence dietary behavior; on the other hand, can food change emotions and mood?. Thus, we observe how the above theories do not include all explanations of food intake.
“In your hunger, you are in charge. ” ? José Luis Sampedro?
Silva also states that “the influence of emotion on food includes disinhibition or dietary restriction, while food has a modulating effect on moods. “
How often do we eat too much to calm anxiety?There is no doubt that much research is still needed to increase scientific literature on hunger theories.