I had a heavy, sumptuous meal lately. I was so full that I even skipped breakfast the next day. But by lunchtime I was craving a hearty meal again, even though I definitely didn’t need the food. It was like a hangover. Isn’t that completely illogical?
In: Biology
Overeating for one meal shouldn’t be enough to make you hungrier the next day. Consistently eating a high volume of food can make it easier for your stomach to expand and disrupt the timing of satiety signals.
Why? Hunger is complicated, relying on both hormonal and gut-brain neural signals along the vagus nerve.
– When your stomach is near empty, it will release a hormone called ghrelin that increases appetite in the brain.
– Eating causes the walls of your stomach to stretch out and lowers pH levels. In response, the stomach sends a fullness signal to the brain. Eating past this point of satiety too often can make it take longer to set off this neural reflex.
– There’s also a hormone called leptin, which is produced by fat cells and sends fullness signals to the brain. It’s a long-term appetite regulator in response to levels of fat stores in the body; low leptin causes more eating, and high less.
So yeah…most likely you were hungrier at lunch the next day simply because you skipped breakfast.
Latest Answers