live to eat or eat to live

8/8/2019 Live to Eat or Eat to Live

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Why do we eat? Do weeat only because weare hungry, or do we

eat for other reasons? In fact, thedesire to eat is not just governed by hunger, but there are manyother factors that drive us to eat.Here, we examine some key

factors that influence our eating behaviours which ultimatelydetermine if we eat to live or liveto eat.

We all need food to survive.Food supplies us with energynecessary for carrying out basicphysiological processes that keepus alive. We also use this energyto carry out activities for dailyliving.

Food intake – how often, howmuch and what to eat – iscontrolled by several factors.These include:

• the body's control system,including the nervoussystem, hormones, andstomach;

• environmental influences,e.g., food availability, cli-mate, etc;

• emotional factors, e.g. stress,mood, perceptions;

• social influences, e.g. culture,religion;

• health status, e.g. chronicdisease, mental illness;

• medication, e.g. appetite

suppressing drugs;• sensory aspects, e.g. taste,

texture and smell of the food.

These various factors affehow much we eat by influencinhunger and appetite. Hungeand appetite both encourageating. Hunger is an inborstimulus – the physiologicneed to eat. Whenever ou bodies begin to fall short o

energy from food, our emptstomachs and intestines sensignals, processed by the brainthat stimulate feelings of hungeThese feelings of hunger theprompt us to eat to replenish th body with the energy it needs.

Appetite, on the other handis a learned response. Appetite the desire to eat food which usually associated with thsensory (sight, smell, tasteaspects of food. Appetite is mordriven by external forces. It ma be influenced by our emotion

EATING TO LIVE OR

LIVING TO EAT?

January Nos. 1&2 20

What Controls Energy Intake?



social situations, as well ascultural norms, and not so much by our body's need for food, as isthe case with hunger. Ourappetites are at work when wehave eaten an entire meal, but

see a tempting dessert item andeat it, despite the fact that we arenot hungry. The reverse occurswhen we are hungry, but haveno desire to eat (no appetite),such as when we are ill.

We usually experience afeeling of fullness after we haveeaten, that lasts for a while. Thisfeeling of fullness is what iscalled satiety, and like appetiteand hunger, is influenced by

different factors.Hunger, appetite, and

satiety are the three main factorsthat determine whether we eat tolive, or live to eat. While all threefactors are influenced by externalfactors, hunger and satiety areusually more dependent uponour body signals, than externalfactors.

Sometimes we eat in responseto hunger (eating to live) and othertimes we eat in response to ourappetites (living to eat). Have youever noticed that you may eat just because there is nothing else to doand you just feel bored? At othertimes you may eat because youfeel sad or disappointed. Theseeating behaviours are more driven

by our appetites than by hunger.When we are hungry, we reach forfoods that are available to us, andwe generally eat foods that areculturally, socially, or religiouslyappropriate.

Hunger, appetite, andsatiety ultimately determine ourdiets and eating behaviours. If we learn to accurately respondto, and control these threefactors, then we will be better

able to control our weight, whichmany of us want or need to do.We need to let hunger havegreater influence on our eating behaviours, and stop eatingwhen we are full.

In fact, many children dothis naturally. They eat whenthey are hungry, and stop whenthey are full, but they are oftenforced to override these signals.Children are very often told to

“clean your plate”. As childrengrow older, however, theirexperiences of different tastesincrease, and they begin to preferthe taste and textures of somefoods over others. They begin todevelop an appetite for the foodsthey prefer. Parents andcaregivers notice this and mayreserve these foods for specialoccasions or as rewards. This

may lead to weakening of thehunger and satiety signals, andso a person becomes less likely toeat when hungry and stop eatingwhen full.

In order for us to eat justenough food to satisfy our bodies' needs, we must exertgreater control over our hunger,

appetite, and satiety. We can dothis by re-connecting with thesignals that are sent when our bodies are running low onenergy (hunger), and whenenergy stores have beenreplenished sufficiently (satiety).

But can we re-connect withthese signals and if so, how canwe achieve this? We can re-connect with these signals by being more aware of theconditions that cause us to eat.

Each time we eat or even drink,we should make note of whatoccurred during that time. Did Ieat that meal because I wasupset, bored, or happy? Did Ireally feel hungry, or did I justeat that large meal because I wasat a business dinner and didn'twant to seem impolite? Did I eata large lunch instead of a smallone because I was so hungry?This will make us more aware of

the factors that cause us to eat.When we have identified thesefactors, we can take steps tomodify, or to avoid them, so thatwe are influenced by hungermore than appetite.

After we have identified thesituations that cause us to eat, we

can modify our responses tothose situations so that we eat inresponse to hunger, and notother external factors. You mayfind that you eat based on howyou feel. Some people have atendency to eat whenever theyfeel sad, depressed, lonely, or bored. If you are such a person,you should try to replace eatingwith other activities, to respondto your feelings. You should try

to do something else that youenjoy, to deal with youremotions, or to eliminate your boredom as the case may be.

If you wait too long to eatwhen hungry you willeventually become ravenous.

January Nos.1&2, 2007nyam news 2

Living to Eat

Eating to Live

Modifying Cues to Eating



January Nos.1&2, 2007nyam news 3

This will delay your satietysignals, and make you more likelyto overindulge when you finallyeat.

If you go to a business dinneror other social occasion wherefood is offered, you should makea conscious effort to not eat anymore than you need. If it ispossible, ask for smaller portionsat a restaurant, so that you willnot have to eat too much, lest thefood should go to waste.

Try to indulge occasionally inyour favourite foods which may be high in fat and sugars. Doingthis will make you less likely to gocrazy and eat everything in sight

when you are presented with agreat supply of these foods.

If we feel full quickly, we willeat less food than if we take moretime to reach satiety. It is thereforeprofitable for us to be able tomanipulate our satiety, so that weare less likely to overeat. Let us

now look at some things we cando to help us feel full faster.Water may help us to feel full

faster by occupying more spacethereby stretching the stomachwalls, which leads to satiety. Thiswill decrease the amount of food

we need to feel full. Drinkingwater with, or just before a mealwill also achieve the same effect.Water does not contain energy, soyou are very likely to lose weight by adopting this practice.

Sometimes thirst may bemisinterpreted as hunger. Sosometimes we may eat food,when we really should bedrinking water to quench ourthirsts. Close attention should bepaid to body signals in order todifferentiate between hunger andthirst. In order to get around this,we should ensure that we keepour bodies adequately hydrated.

Fibre is not digested well by

humans; hence like water, it doesnot contribute to weight gain.Fibre also has a higher satietyvalue (i.e., a prolonged feeling of fullness between meals), thandigestible complex carbohydratesand simple sugars. High fibrefoods stay in the stomach andintestine for longer periods of time. High fibre foods and foodswith a high water content will

occupy more space in thestomach, thus contributing to afeeling of fullness. In this way,eating foods such as whole grains,fruits, vegetables, and manyground provisions can be used todisplace some of the higher

energy yielding foods that could be consumed.

How fast we eat our food wilalso help to determine howquickly we feel full. Our stomachneed time to report to our brainwhen satiety is reached. Consequently, we should take time teat, savouring the flavour of thfood, and chewing morcompletely to allow for easiedigestion. Eating in this mannewill allow the stomach enoughtime to send signals to your brainthat will tell you when to stopeating. If you eat too fast, you wileat too much food before youstomach has time to send signal

that you should stop eating.Our bodies were made with

sensitive systems that prompt uwhen to eat and when to stopeating. We were designed to eat tlive. It is when we disregard thessystems that we overeat. Living teat can lead to obesity, which alscan lead to a myriad of otheunwanted effects such as heardisease and diabetes. While ou

individual situations may noalways favour eating to live, wshould still try to adopt thipractice, as it will lead tlongevity and improved qualitof life.

For further information contact:

Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute

UWI Campus, P.O. Box 140, Kingston 7 UWI Campus, St. AugustineJamaica, W.I. Trinidad, W.I.

Visit us at our website: http://www.paho.org/cfni

Feeling Full Faster

live to eat or eat to live

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