Psychology and Relation With Food

Psychology and Relation With Food

Conversations related to eating and food is said to have no end . Questions such as " where to eat ? " Or "eat what ? " Always interesting to thrown . Scientific findings about the food was like it never stops flowing . Human life is closely related to food issues . What can we do ? Activities of eating and searching for food is indeed one of the fundamental human instinct . Since humans first set foot on earth - even since the first time there was life on earth - , activity - and chew - swallow - let - digestive - system - care - rest has guaranteed the continuation of human life . Thus, we can say that the search and enjoy a meal is one of the fundamental aspects of human life . There's even a special part of the brain that regulate these issues (to be discussed later ) .


But , for me that according to matchmaker site must click ' excess few pounds ' in the Self- Description , discussion of food issues do not stop at the topic of ' places to eat well ' and ' new recipe ' . I also have to talk about the dark side of eating and foraging activities , namely , the problem of ' hold and reduce the size of the meal ' or in everyday language known by the word DIET . Question of why people should be diet related to many things which if translated to produce a single piece of new writing again . But in short like this , or control diet eating instinct is closely related to two other basic instincts , that is, the instinct of sex ( people who have extra few pounds will be more difficult to get a pair ) and the instinct of self-defense ( people who have extra few pounds have a proven range of employment options a narrower , so the ability survivalnya is lower ) .


Only, I was not alone . Even " friend " me equally face the problem of diet and being overweight ( obese even ) very much - maybe one of them is you . An editorial in the Washington Post stated that the rate of obesity in children in the United States has increased three -fold in just two decades . Even Mary Boggiano , my fellow colleagues psychology practitioners claim that sixty- four percent of all people would have a weight problem ( which led me to ask , ' if so , how do we determine the weight of "normal " ? Because the normative mean people has a weight above the " normal " , right? ' ) .


Deviated slightly from the subject , half of sixty percent of human population has a weight problem that is one-third of the citizens of the United States , which makes the country deal with the problem seriously overweight . All that serious to the extent that they act silly sometimes . For example , in February 2008 to a fairly busy month in the state of Mississippi after some members of the planning legislation passed legislation mandating the state for the waiters to refuse to provide food for diners who are overweight . If this law to political reality , rejection at the restaurant will be quite a massive recall thirty percent of adults in Mississippi suspected of suffering from obesity .


Still slightly deviated from the subject , making the laws relating to food does not just happen in the state of Mississippi . Even nationally there is a law ( which is popularly known as Cheeseburger Bill ) which complicates the consumer to sue food companies . This law was made after three people in 2002 who demanded fast-food restaurants ( which has the symbol golden arch ) because they think fat calories in a burger restaurant made ​​it far above their estimates , thus eventually making them obese . Although there was previously a consumer who successfully sued tobacco companies which he said had made him addicted to cigarettes , the demand for this restaurant is canceled by the court and made ​​Cheeseburger Bill was triggered . Proponents of the legislation Cheeseburger said that unlike tobacco , food does not make a person addicted and the amount of food that enters the body entirely within the control of individuals who eat them .


But is that true ? Psychology replied , ' yes and no ' . Conversation that strayed from the topic led us to the main discussion that I want to convey . Starting from the question ' is it true food can cause addiction ? ' Is the answer that we have raised the question of how the brain works in regulating the activities of eating , where knowledge of the brain work will help us to understand the diet .

To answer it true that food can be addictive , we need to know how the brain works in regulating feeding behavior ( here , I pay my promise above ) . In 2007 , the magazine Scientific American Mind discusses this issue ( under the heading This Is Your Brain on Food ) . In the current issue of Psychology Today magazine , this discussion resurfaced with the title Consuming Passions . Explanation that I put in here is basically a merger of both the article. I think this article also adds conclusion Diane Papalia et al . (author of Human Development , discusses the book of human life from the embryo until his death ) which states that the main cause of human death is actually not decreased function of the body ( degeneration ) , but rather due to a lifestyle that is not responsible for ( among others , do not keep the pattern and feed composition ) .


Well , let's discuss the process that the brain in regulating feeding behavior ( if you do not like the translation of the human physiological system , you better skip down three paragraphs , calculated from this paragraph . I'm not angry . Swear ! ) . Parts of the brain that regulate feeding behavior called hypotalamus ( located in the middle of the brain ) . The side - outer ( lateral ) is part of what makes hypotalamus hunger , while the front - middle ( ventromedial ) hypotalamus is the part that gives a sense of satiety .


An empty stomach , a hormone called Ghrelin released by the body . This hormone then , with the help of blood , until at Lateral Hypotalamus ( LH ) and LH release substances make ' hungry ' that Neuropeptide Y ( the substance that tells the body and tasteful hungry or want to eat ) . Ghrelin also inhibits hormones that inform the brain that the body is feeling full or sufficient ( agents ' full ' ) , the pro-opiomelanocortin ( POMC ) . Thus , humans also feel hungry ( or tasteful to eat ) . Not enough ? Body has a second mechanism , when the body is less energy because of lack of food , the amount of blood sugar and insulin in the blood decreases . This information is received and come to drive LH secretion and Neuropeptide Y inhibits POMC production . More hungry ' lah us if our brain is not obeyed .


Conversely , when stomach contents then we , blood - sugar levels and increases insulin , thus lowering LH back Neuropeptide Y and let POMC to be present in the brain ( brain so say , ' okay , we're full , all happy ' ) . There was also relief of leptin , a substance which is presented by a substance that inhibits the body's fat ' hungry ' and increase the production of substances ' satiety ' . In addition to blood, body feel full of information that also channeled directly through the nerve , ie with a peptide called Cholecystokinin ( CCK ), which tells the brain that the stomach is filled through a nerve . Full body of information that may be channeled through the "shortcut" so that we can immediately stop eating before the stomach is too full .


However, humans often stubborn . Often we hear people who do things , such as homework, forgot to eat . Well , your body makes a different system to help him get food security . This system is called a sense of pleasure . When food goes into our bodies , a substance called dopamine is released into the brain - the limbic system ( which regulates motivation and pleasure ) called the striatum ( part of the brain to feel the pleasure of food and orgasm ) . Dopamine gives a delicious sensation to the brain . Thus, the activities of eating a fun activity , which causes human beings will be happy to put food in his mouth and causes the body to have assurance that the man will enter the food your body needs to stay alive .


But , humans are creatures who have a disposition for pleasure . If he gets the enjoyment of an activity , the next time that he wanted the pleasure , he would repeat the earlier activity . Here, there is a separation between the two forms of hunger . The first is actually hungry hungry , that hunger is caused by a physiological process above ( through Ghrelin , blood - sugar and insulin ) are referred to as ' hungry stomach ' . The second type is hungry hunger ( appetite ) to get a sense of pleasure from dopamine , the so-called ' brain hungry ' or in our culture known as the ' hungry eyes ' .

Apparently , part of the brain that get pleasure from dopamine ( Striatum ) is the same part that get enjoyment from narcotics . The statement was made ​​by the magazine Scientific American Mind . Meanwhile , an article from Psychology Today has a different view by stating that the food is actually a naturally occurring substance that causes pleasure , while the drug is a substance that causes the double pleasure of food . Whatever views you receive , it can be concluded that food and drugs provide similar pleasure ( different in the strong sense of pleasure ) so that , food may lead to addiction .


How about the way food is addictive ? This discussion will be entered dietary problems . People who use drugs and people who are obese have one thing in common , their brains are not normal . They have a hypersensitif dopamine receptors , which makes little exposure to things they like ( drug or food ) to make them become obsessed to get it ; exposure not only to taste the things they like , but enough to see these items or see the others enjoy the goods.


But how the receptor can turn into a hypersensitive dopamine ? In laboratory experiments , it was found that the style diet ' revenge ' alter dopamine become hypersensitive . Intent -style diet ' revenge ' are on a diet to reduce certain types of foods ( usually high in calories such as rice ) . The problem , it was found that humans tend to have a period of ' revenge ' in which there is a time between when a diet high calorie foods come in large quantities . THEN hold the body style diet pamper the body by eating without this control could actually make dopamine receptors become hypersensitive and makes the body so obsessed with food such restraint . Hence , addiction to food ensued and the man who had reached at this stage will have difficulty controlling food intake into the body .


Another problem found was the body apparently does not have a system reminiscent of that weight has reached over- weight or obese . The body has a system that will only panic when body weight decreased . So , if you weight increased from 60 kg to 80 kg , your body will stay calm . But , if it is then your weight dropped from 80 kg to 79 kg , the body will be ordered that you eat in order to get back to the point of 80 kg .


Therefore , psychology concluded that the best form of diet is a diet that is logical , eat small portions under your current portion ( and decrease slowly improved portion ) and do not listen to your body that ' panic ' to make you hungry . Then , do the extreme cutting a type of food ; better you reduce all kinds of food but in a tiered phase and a reduction in small increments . If you gain weight , do not be handled by reducing the size of the meal ; should tackle with exercise , even if at the time you are lazy to exercise