Hunger

Usually when we are hungry, our stomachs make funny noises like "growling" by telling us so.  When we are full, we can usually feel pretty content with the amount of food we have consumed.  In our notes, we saw a chart that showed the ratings of hunger, the desire to eat, and the amount expected to eat increased with hours of deprivation and decreased with eating.

Feeling full is somewhat of a different story.  It takes your body about 15-20 minutes until you realize that you are actually full.  So, if you consume your food at a slower pace, you will know when it is that you are feeling full and content.  Some of us love food so much, including sweets, fats and the food we "know and love," that we enjoy eating so much more and consume much more than what we really should be taking in.  

You're favorite food is placed in front of you right now.  How delicious does it smell?  Can you taste it already?  This is better known as our Cephalic responses.  These are the physiological reactions to the sight and aroma of food.  Seeing and smelling the food makes us even more hungry, maybe sometimes makes us salivate, and even gets our insulin going.  

Remember the clip of the bottomless soup?  This goes to say that the more food a person is given, the more food a person will eat.  If it is in front of us, it is natural for us to eat it....and keep eating and eating and eating.  The people who were given the bottomless soup bowls ate much more than those who had the regular bowls.  This is another reason that so many people in our country are overweight.  We are given such large portions in today's day and age, that if we are even given "smaller" portions (NORMAL SIZE PORTIONS!), we are not satisfied and only want to eat more.

There is a saying that says, "Our eyes are bigger than our stomachs."  This is another way of saying that you desire more than you can actually eat or handle.  I, like others, do this so often that it has become sort of a habit.  Many of us eat whenever it is convenient, not necessarily on some type of schedule, so when it actually comes time to eat, we feel the need to load up on so much food, when in reality- we will only eat a portion of it (Unless, however, we devour it within 5 minutes!).