Why do you always want to eat while you are not hungry? What is wrong with this?

Why can't it stop once I eat a melon seed? How to appropriately control "hedonic hunger"?

I don’t know if there is such a group of people around you, they:
If you see food on the table, you will immediately destroy them;
Just after eating, you can open the refrigerator seamlessly and add fruits, drinks, and snacks;
Seeing other people eating late at night, I was already lying in bed, so I can get up and order takeaway immediately;
If you see other people eating, then you definitely can't idle your mouth;
Once you eat a melon seed, you will eat up a bag in one go;
...
In fact, they are not hungry, they just want to eat something when they are all right. So what is wrong with this?

Before talking about this issue, let's first understand "hunger". Hunger is actually divided into two types: one is called steady-state hunger and the other is hedonic hunger.

"Steady-state hunger" is well understood, and it means "hungry" in the actual sense. The stomach will contract when there is nothing in it. If you do not eat at this time, it will cause mild dizziness, trembling, and lower blood sugar. This hunger represents the body's desire for energy and food.

And there is another kind of hunger in the body, namely "hedonic hunger", which is caused by the instinctive desire for food and taste stimulation when there is no need to eat. This pseudo-hungry represents the human body’s desire for happiness and satisfaction. German expert Tobias Hoch (Tobias Hoch) said: “This kind of recreational behavior may happen to everyone. And the long-term hedonic hunger' is an important factor in the epidemic of overweight and obesity, threatening To be healthy."

So, why does "hedonic hunger" appear?

The most widely accepted theory at present is the tendency of humans to delicious food.

As the standard of living is now better, people can get food anytime, anywhere, anytime, so this kind of people's need for food is not only to satisfy food and clothing, but the enjoyment has become the basic motivation for more people. Because the more delicious foods you eat, the more your brain will look forward to them. It can be said that this kind of eating is not to fill the stomach at all but to please the spirit.

If you put it in a more simple and understandable way, it is: greedy!

And "greedy" physiologically means that the body really needs dopamine!

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that can affect people's emotions and feelings. The secretion of dopamine is related to eating, sleeping, and sex. If the concentration of dopamine in the human body is too low, it may cause depression, obesity, fatigue syndrome, etc., and may even lead to attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder. And if the concentration of dopamine increases, it will make people feel pleasant.

Due to long-term lack of sleep, heavy stress, lack of exercise, and other reasons, the human body will spontaneously find ways to increase the secretion of dopamine, so eating is the most convenient and quick way.

In addition to "I always want to eat something when I'm okay," there is another situation in life called "Can't stop eating".

For example, if you open a bag of melon seeds, you will eat it all at once; once you eat a slice of potato chips, you will uncontrollably put the second and third slices into your mouth... Actually, you are not hungry, just eat purely. Can't stop, what's the matter?

In fact, this is also a kind of "hungry hunger." Studies have found that when people are constantly eating snacks, key parts of the brain's reward system are strongly activated and send out a reward signal. In addition, the central satiety circuit, which was able to adjust the desire to eat according to food intake, became insensitive, resulting in the intake of calories exceeding actual energy requirements. The reason why you can't stop eating is the common result of activating the hedonic reward circuit and inactivating the self-balancing circuit of satiety.

When snacking repeatedly, the time span between the participant’s behavior (such as eating melon seeds) and the result (eating melon seeds) is short, that is to say, the feedback from the effort is timely, which makes it easier for the participants to establish behavior-effort -The causal connection between feedbacks makes it easy for the mind to be satisfied, which inspires you to repeat this process continuously.

So, how to properly control "hedonic hunger"?

1. Divert attention: According to psychology professors, people usually only feel hungry when they are very hungry and have no other concerns. If you feel like you are thinking about eating all day long, then quickly find a hobby for yourself and divert your attention!

2. Don't think about how delicious the food is: According to scientific research, the imagination of food plays an important role in the generation of appetite. Just like in summer, you always want to imagine the yogurt ice is very comfortable, sweet and sour taste, and then the more you think about it, the more greedy.

3. Enjoy a healthy diet: It is definitely a misunderstanding to think that a healthy diet is a bland diet for practitioners! In fact, people who can eat have a lower rate of obesity. Eating is the same as dressing and dressing. It is layered and matched. Some foods are suitable for daily eating and large amounts, and some foods are suitable for occasional tasting.

4. Learn to relieve stress: When people are under stress, the secretion of cortisol will also increase. In this state, people generally become craving for food and cannot control their appetite. Therefore, it is important for everyone to maintain a healthy schedule and a state of stress.

Disclaimer: and some pictures are from the Internet. If there is any infringement, please contact to delete!