Contrary to the way our ancestors ate (for survival), eating for the pure sake of pleasure has become more common in today’s society. With the amount of food temptations that we are presented with everyday in our living environments it is no surprise that we have slipped into this way of eating. You might recognise this type of behaviour as: your stomach is full and satisfied, but your brain and your taste buds are still yearning for more.
Experts and scientists continue to do research in this area but one finding that is quite interesting is that it is actually the types of food we eat that cause us to over consume – namely sugar and fat. It has been labelled Hedonic Hunger and is described as: a condition where there is a significant desire for food when it is not actually needed. So how do we get to that point of Hedonic Hunger? For some it may occur every so often, but for others it is constantly there, built up over time from constant over-consuming of the wrong foods.
We know that hunger and weight control is mainly regulated by the hypothalamus (when it is for physiological necessity). But when it is not, there is a second pathway called the reward circuit that is located in a different area of the brain. This pathway is controlled by the act of eating for pleasure and is stimulated mainly by very sweet and fatty foods (in the same way that drugs and gambling do). As soon as we even see the desirable item, our reward pathway is stimulated. When we taste it, the dopamine hormone is released from the brain into our system.
When we frequently eat these highly palatable foods that send our reward circuits into overdrive, our brains get swamped with dopamine. This leads to a de-sensitivity of the brain, meaning that higher quantities of these desirable foods are required to produce just the same amount of pleasure as before. This means we can be tricked into wanting more food, and it happens just from the types of food we are eating.
Until food policy changes, it is ultimately up to us to turn this cycle around and learn how to combine the acts of eating for nutrition and eating for pleasure in a way that will benefit us the most. This means focusing on eating whole foods, foods that provide us with more nutritional benefit than deficit, rather than just eating for taste, or comfort.
References:
Weber, D. (2015). How sugar and fat trick the brain into wanting more food. Retrieved from www.panaxea.com
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