Why is it that it takes few seconds for our body to decide that it’s had enough water not to be thirsty, but several minutes to recognize that no more food is needed cuz it’s not hungry?
In: Biology
It’s not true.
Have you never taken a bite of food and then though, “OK that’s it I’m full”? That’s it, it happens instantly.
I think the confusing factor is that water isn’t “delicious” while food can be, also water doesn’t come in portions while food does, and so we can easily decide to eat more food because it’s yummy or because it’s on the plate, so we wind up eating more than we needed to feel full.
And I think a lot of people have learned to just completely ignore their internal feeling of fullness, because their parents insisted “finish your plate!” or that last chicken wing just looks really good or whatever.
But if you pay attention, your body tells you *exactly* when you’re full, to the bite, at the moment. Just like water.
Mine work the same way. I know immediately when I’ve eaten enough. Never understood how anyone can be unaware of this.
Wait, what? If I feel “not hungry” after eating food just like “not thirsty” after drinking water.
Biochemist here with speciality in hormones. When you are hungry your gut releases a hormone known as ghrelin which signals that it’s time to eat. When you start eating, leptin, a hormone that is produced by fat, checks your fat supply and if it is sufficient (so that you don’t die of starvation), is released from your fat cells to act on your brain to tell you to stop eating and to induce a feeling of being full. This usually takes around 20 minutes for it to enter the bloodstream and act on your brain. So I always advise people if they want to have seconds, wait 20 minutes, and if you are still hungry after then you good to go, otherwise you may just overeat. Leptin not functioning properly is linked to diseases such as type 2 diabetes etc. so it’s a pretty important hormone. Hope that helps!
People who are aware of how their own bodies actually feel can normally tell when they’re not hungry anymore really quickly or even when they feel they’re getting full. I’ve never thought, “damn I overate, I should’ve just stopped 5 minutes ago”… I can normally very easily tell when I am going to be full soon. I eat because I’m hungry and because I have to, not because I want to finish a whole dish or because it tastes good.
Ugh I’m exhibit A, I just ate too much corned beef because I thought I was hungry again after dinner but I should have just drank some water and went to bed.
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Other people have answered it well enough but I want to throw out some notions of what ‘hunger’ is that may help people with weight gain problems.
Youve probably heard about hunger “being in the head” and well, thats pretty much true. Hunger is not exactly a “I need food” signal, its a “im currently not digesting food” signal. Just because you FEEL hungry doesnt mean you HAVE to eat. You may well be perfectly fine and fed, and overeating can definitely cause inconsistencies to worsen.
You can often ignore hunger and it will go away after some minutes, assuming you didnt actually need to eat. This is why its also healthier to eat less more often than the massive one off meals we normally eat, AND it helps lose weight because eating little bits keeps the hunger feeling away while potentially consuming less food overall.
The receptors for hunger are all over, stomach activity, intestine activity, even just the motion of eating all provide signals for the brain to say “im eating, or im fed” and the hunger dissipates. Its completely separate from “I need food im low on stuff”
But yes, as other said, with water its almost instant and is controlled mostly by the throat. And not particularly because you need water and have replenished it.
Ive never experienced this. I feel full and don’t overeat unless I really want to. Maybe I’m just lucky.
Early humans often had access to unlimited water, but rarely had access to unlimited food. You can also consume enough water within less than a minute, whereas eating takes a lot longer (or at least took longer, until we invented high-density foods like chocolate, energy bars etc.)
Thus there was an evolutionary need to quickly realize how much water to drink, but no pressure to realize the same for food. Overeating hasn’t been a problem until pretty recently.
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