The topic I chose for this essay is:
How does your body “know” when you are hungry/not hungry? Describe the organs, chemicals, and mechanisms that affect feelings of hunger and satiety.
For beginners the simplest way to know when your body is telling you that you are hungry, is when it’s releasing the ‘hunger hormones’ when the stomach is empty. This hunger hormones called Ghrelin. The opposite of this hunger feeling in your stomach is the feeling of being satisfied or fulfilled. This feeling of not wanting to eat is called satiety.
The way that ghrelin functions is it travels through your bloodstream and to your brain, where it tells your brain to become hungry and seek out food. Ghrelin’s main function is to increase appetite, that’s its purpose.
As I’ve mentioned already satiety gives you the feeling of being full or not wanting to eat. Enhancing satiety could reduce overeating, however it is not that simple. The type of food eaten – including its nutrients and physical form – can influence satiety. Food structure influences how easily nutrients are absorbed and digested and this can in turn influence gut hormone responses. For example, in the case of whole nuts, their fibre content reduces the digestibility and slows the absorption of the fats they contain and this is likely to enhance satiety. Conversely, high levels of food processing can make nutrients more accessible and reduce satiety. Oral processing, or chewing food more also enhances satiety and reduces food intake.
Thanks for reading this essay. I hope you liked reading it or learned something new from it. I’ll be posting more soon and have a great rest of your day!
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