Shouldn’t your body just give you the stop signal and make you not overeat? Then why do people get fat at all?
In: Biology
I believe there are different versions of feeling full.
The “I just participated in an eating contest and now I have to puke”-full where your stomach is literally filled to the brim. This is not helpful, because it’s always way too much.
And there’s the “I have gotten all the necessary nutrients”-full.
The latter one does not happen for a while, though, because in order to realize that there is enough of everything and to send that message, your body has to analyze what you have already consumed and this takes time.
Especially with energy-dense food (fatty/sugary etc), this will be AFTER you ate more calories than what you actually need, because there are so many calories even in a smaller amount.
Plus: We tend to not take enough time to eat. So we overeat.
We also tend to not focus on our food and body while we eat (watch TV, play on your cell), so we overeat.
Then there’s generations of people who were taught to finish their plates no matter what. Then there’s people who eat to cope with stress/depression/feelings in general and this impulse is bigger than the tiny cue from your stomach.
Plus: As others have pointed out: Our bodies did evolve at a time where it was better to fill up and put on fat reserves because you could never be sure when the next meal might be.
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