The following has happened to all of us: we are in front of our favorite dish, enjoying it incomparably and suddenly we notice that the quantity does not decrease due to the generosity of the dish, and despite the fact that we know that perhaps we are abusing it, we simply cannot stop and continue eating . In the process, we ignore all the signs of satiety and only think about the pleasure that our favorite food brings us.
Studies show that it is not healthy to stop eating when our stomach hurts from so much food, because that indicates that we should have done it much earlier. Just as it is not recommended to wait for the feeling of thirst to drink water (because that feeling already indicates a certain degree of mild dehydration), it is also not recommended to feel your stomach full of food and bursting. The question is: what exactly are the signals in our body that tell us when we are full?
As food passes from the mouth through the esophagus into the stomach, the feeling of satiety begins to build. There is a network of nerves that surrounds the stomach and, when it widens due to the food that enters it, it begins to send impulses to the hypothalamus that it will interpret as the objective of feeding the body is being fulfilled. However, there are other types of chemical signals that the brain interprets, since it is not the same to fill the stomach with water as it is with food, and it is due to the hormones that the endocrine cells produce in the digestive system, indicating that what is received, in effect, are nutrients. This same causes us to feel dissatisfied and, in fact, quite uncomfortable, when what fills our stomachs are only sugars or junk food.
There are approximately 20 different types of hormones that control appetite in the human body. One of them, cholecystokinin, causes the stomach to expand more when the necessary amount of nutrients has already been covered and this causes the feeling of satiety. However, when we eat too fast, we don’t give this hormone time to recognize itself and the amount of food that enters the body is much greater and can wreak havoc; For this reason, the healthiest thing is always to eat slowly so that cholecystokinin does its job and the amount of food consumed is exclusively what is necessary.
More studies reveal that certain foods produce a feeling of satiety much faster than others, even in the same amounts. These foods are high in water, protein, and fiber, such as potatoes, meat, eggs, and cereals. If we consume these nutritious foods instead of fats, carbohydrates and sugars, we will reach satiety in a healthy and effective way, avoiding the nutritional deficiencies that junk food causes. We are what we eat, and when we eat healthy, the reflection is distinguished throughout the body.