Hungry or Nah?
- HerestoHealth
- Mar 18, 2020
- 5 min read
March 18, 2020
8:30 AM
Have you ever thought about the food choices you make? Why you want that specific food or why you get so excited about meals?
Have you simply asked yourself, “why am I eating?”.
And no, the answer is not always, “because I’m hungry”.
We live in a world where we have so many differences, but the one thing that we all have in common is our love for food.
This love does not discriminate. It doesn’t matter if someone is overweight, an extreme athlete, or your everyday Joe; we all enjoy some aspect of food. But why?
Psychology Behind Eating
Hunger
The first most obvious reason why we eat is because we are hungry. Duh. But what exactly is hunger? As I’m not nutrition certified or licensed in any way, this is what I gathered from doing some research.
Hunger essentially is a complex communication process between our body and our brain. When our bodies need to be fed, neurotransmitters are activated particularly in the hypothalamus area of our brain (or the part of our brain that controls our thirst and hunger signals). Scientists have discovered that the two chemicals that trigger the hunger process are ghrelin and leptin.
To put it simply; when glycogen and blood sugar levels go down, ghrelin goes up, neurotransmitters are activated and you’re experiencing hunger. After you eat, leptin goes up, ghrelin goes down, and the neurotransmitters calm down signaling you're full.
Emotions
Another reason why we eat is because of our emotions. Without going too deep into this (because this reason could be a blog in itself), many of us choose foods because of the emotional state we are in. Jokes are made about women wanting chocolate when we’re sad as if cocoa beans and sugar will ease our pain.
Well, there may be a point to that. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that controls how we sleep and our mood and is mainly produced in our gastrointestinal tract. Our gastrointestinal tract is lined with over a hundred million nerve cells making it somewhat obvious why it affects not just our digestion, but our mood as well.
"Dopamine is released whenever we are experiencing anything we enjoy."
Some types of food we enjoy (such as chocolate) release those feel-good neurotransmitters such as dopamine. Dopamine is released whenever we are experiencing anything we enjoy. A lot of this is psychological and again, I am not a doctor, so that’s about as far as I’ll go with this one.
Oh, we also eat certain things because of the fear of never having it again. Fear is what cause many who have been on a calorie-restricted diet to binge. It’s what can cause children to eat too much cake on their birthday, and it’s what can cause people to stock up on girl scout cookies every Spring. They all subconsciously think that they won’t be able to eat them ever again and go crazy when they get the chance to eat this “rare” treat.
Social Influence/Acceptance
I think the biggest influence over why we eat what we eat is because of social interactions. Studies have shown that humans tend to eat more when surrounded by others. What you eat also depends on who you’re with. For example, if you’re with your old college buddies, you may be tempted to eat excessive amounts of pizza and wings like you used to “in the good ole days”.
In today’s society, we tend to gather in groups and almost brag about the amount of food we can consume. How many times have we heard someone bragging about helping themselves to seconds and thirds? It seems that feeling “stuffed” after Thanksgiving is almost something we do on purpose just have that one thing in common with our relatives.
"How many times have we heard someone bragging about helping themselves to seconds and thirds?"
Environmental Influence
Another influence on why we eat what we eat is by our environment. This could include advertising, packaging, and environmental association. Why do employees feel the need to eat a donut every time someone brings them into the office? Because they’re free. One may have never eaten a donut that day simply because of the inconvenience of purchasing it.
The same goes for advertisements like “buy one, get on free”. If McDonald’s is having this type of deal on Big Macs, you’re going to get two Big Macs instead of your traditional one because, heck, the second was free so why not! Therefore, the likelihood of you eating both sandwiches could potentially increase.
Past Experiences (Fond memories)
Many of our food choices stem from our past particularly with positive memories. I personally have a wonderful memory of getting ice cream with my grandpa growing up. Now whenever I get ice cream, I remember that special time with him. Do I NEED the ice cream? Absolutely not. But the memory and love of my grandpa is triggered when I have it.
Dietary Goals
Another reason is for the basic mentality that “food is fuel”. We’re hungry, we need food to function, so we just choose whatever we choose as a means to an end. This is the mentality many bodybuilders take on when dieting to erase other eating obstacles such as emotion. If we don't think about the repetitiveness about chicken and broccoli everyday, then we don't care about it so much.
Nutrient Deficient
Another reason behind food choice is that our bodies are deficient in a specific nutrient. For example, if someone is low in iron (anemic), they may tend to crave red meat or ice.
Food Intolerance
Another reason is food intolerance. If someone is intolerant to dairy, they will not be able to digest whey protein properly and, therefore, are choosing non-dairy protein powders such as egg white or pea proteins.
Another example is if someone is intolerant to gluten, they will choose corn tortillas over flour at a Mexican restaurant.
"Another example is if someone is intolerant to gluten, they will choose corn tortillas over flour at a Mexican restaurant."
Religion/Ethnicity
The final reason is for religious or ethnic reasons. An easy example is someone who practices Catholicism will not eat meat on Fridays during Lent.
Why We Care
The goal is to recognize these influences when we choose the foods we eat and to potentially overcome them to be healthier versions of ourselves. As defined below by Acefitness.org, we want to be psychologically healthy eaters.
"Psychologically healthy eaters are mindful of the singular purpose of eating – health. They easily recognize emotional triggers, know how to stop eating when they feel full, and are overall more internally driven than externally driven. They are very aware of food's taste, texture, feel and temperature, as well as the importance of proper chewing. Psychologically healthy eaters don't eat to meet an emotional need or escape an unpleasant feeling, thought, or situation, following Ben Franklin's advice, "One should eat to live, not live to eat.""
To Conclude
I recently had an experience where I had to practice being a psychologically healthy eater. Friends were visiting from out of town and the best way I know how to explore any city is through food. But at the time, I was only four weeks out from my show and, therefore, could not stray away from my macros and eat at restaurants.
So what did I do? I brought my own food everywhere we went and ate when they ate.
While you’d think this would be difficult since they were eating the best food Pittsburgh had to offer, it actually wasn’t that bad. I realized that I enjoyed their company and the overall restaurant vibe and experience, rather than the food itself. It was actually quite interesting for me to discover about myself and about where my priorities lie when it comes to a dining experience!
So raise your forks but pause to think... “am I hungry or nah?”...
Here’s to Health. Cheers.
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