Eating is more than just the intake of nutrients, as the saying goes, “Eating and drinking keeps body and soul together.” The psyche also wants to benefit from the pleasure of eating, and it is not uncommon for food intake to serve as a balm for our souls. Read about how food affects our souls here.
This is how the body controls hunger and satiety
Food intake is guided by many different factors in our bodies. There are finely controlled mechanisms that regulate hunger and satiety.
The control center for the feeling of hunger and satiety is located in our diencephalon, the so-called hypothalamus. This is where signals are received and messages processed, for example about the degree of filling of the stomach and about the energy reserves in the body. Numerous messenger substances are involved in this regulation.
This complex regulatory system controls food intake so that we consume as much as our body needs. Satiety mechanisms lead to the completion of a meal and usually protect us from eating too much.
Full and satisfied
The feeling of satiety after a meal fills us with satisfaction at the same time. If we listen to our body’s signals, we usually have a balance between energy intake and consumption and do not need to worry about our body weight.
However, if we constantly overhear our hunger and satiety signals, a disorder of regulation may occur. People who frequently diet usually try to overcome the hunger signals and lose the natural perception of hunger over it.
Seduced by appetite
In addition to information sent by the body, external stimuli are also processed in the hypothalamus. Visual impressions, such as the sight and smell of food, are mediated to where appetite regulation takes place. Regulation of appetite plays an important role in controlling body weight. This can also lead to problems:
- We often cannot distinguish whether we are hungry or just feel appetite.
- If we are too often seduced by appetite, the energy intake can quickly exceed consumption and the waistline fat increases.
From the pleasures of the senses
Food and drink stimulate the senses. Through our sensory perceptions, food becomes something pleasurable – in particular, of course, through the sense of taste. The pleasurable melting of delicately melting chocolate on the tongue is just one example.
The perception of taste takes place primarily on the tongue. Approximately 7,000 taste buds differentiate into the taste qualities sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami (= tasty, the taste of glutamate).
Some taste preferences are innate
Some taste preferences and dislikes are innate in us. For example, a preference for sweet foods and an aversion to salty and bitter foods are innate.
Taste training probably begins in the womb. Through the mother’s diet, the fetus receives preliminary taste experiences that shape its later preferences. As a result, we eat some foods with particular pleasure, while rejecting others.
In childhood, we also learn a certain eating behavior. This is significantly influenced by the family, but of course also by the food culture of a country. Whether we later nibble a fresh lettuce leaf with relish or prefer to eat French fries dripping with fat seems to be anchored at an early age.
