A man worthy of the name should never be a slave of his appetites, but must discipline them so they do not hamper him in winning success in whatever field he is interested. But disciplining natural instinct, and denying them, are two different things. To my thinking, extreme asceticism is the moral refuge of the mediocre. One may go without love, or starve, thirst — I’ve done so – if necessity forces it. But only when it is forced. Once the condition of compelling abnormal abstinence is removed, it is not only natural but to be commended in a man to enjoy again the comforts and pleasures. - Paul I Wellman
If the increase of wealth and
refinement of modern times have tended to banish plague and pestilence from our
cities, they have probably introduced the whole train of nervous disorders and
increased frequency of corpulence (Wadd, 1816)
Psychology is a complex subject.
Will Durant, renowned historian had aptly said that the last science that man
has to study will be psychology. Much of the study of psychology
revolves around eating and
mating.
Food intake to a large extent
depends on the sensation of hunger and appetite. However, these are two
different things. Hunger is the need for food whereas appetite is the desire
for food. We can have an appetite without actually being hungry and hungry
without an appetite. Hunger is based on the physical needs; appetite is
influenced by our senses, culture, experience and other external factors.
Our
desire to eat is greatly influenced by advertisement and other visible market
forces. Food is all around and its tentacles capture our senses and we easily
yield to our temptations. Flavours and additives such as Monosodium Glutamate
are widely used both in food industries and house holds. This increases our
craving. As Albert Stunkard, Professor of Psychiatry, University of
Pennsylvania and an expert in diet behaviour has said, ”Most of us have a
greater problem not with starting to eat but with stopping”.
Disorders of hunger mechanism are
most common in modern society. By default, normal humans and normal rats(of
which we know much more) consume calories to maintain their weights in close
limits. Studies have shown infants given a choice of variety of foodstuff at
each meal than those whose meal has been prescribed by a dietician. This raises
the question as to how we manage to regulate the amount of food we eat and what
is the deal for us.
To regulate the amount, there
must be an internal signal which initiates eating called hunger and another
signal which terminates eating when we attain satiety. What these signals are, why and how they operate is still not
clearly understood.
Biology of Digestion
The biology of eating and hunger
begins as an innate mechanism where the body itself regulates the signals of
hunger and satiety. The digestive system in the body is responsible for the
breakdown of complex food into nutrients which the blood can easily absorb. The
process of digestion commences the moment the food enters the mouth and ceases
when food reaches the end of our
alimentary tract, the rectum.
Regions in the mouth which
contain the salivary enzymes are released when we chew our food. The mechanical
action of chewing aided by the salivary juices breaks the complex food to
simpler sugars. The food, now termed as bolus passes into the stomach by the
peristaltic motion of the food pipe called esophagus.
In the stomach, the gastric juice
– a mixture of acid and digestive enzymes – break the food structure much like
the mixer used in our kitchens. Harmful bacteria are destroyed and the food
begins to fall apart. The gooey mass is now ready to be pushed into the coiled
small intestine where the pancreas pours out its enzymes. Much of the nutrients
are absorbed into the blood and by the time the food reaches the end of the
small intestine it is bombarded by 17 different enzymes. Ten of these break down
protein, six work on carbohydrates and one helps to reduce fat into tiny
droplets. All that remains is the waste material which is ready to be ejected.
In the large intestine where the material passes, much of the water is absorbed
making the waste a solid. They are eventually rejected from the rectum.
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