It’s probably happened to you before: You finish a big meal and feel full. Stuffed. You’re never eating again. But then out comes dessert and, well, you always have room for dessert, right?
Scientifically speaking, you actually do.
The phenomenon is called sensory-specific satiety.
Sensory-specific satiety literally means that you get full from a specific taste, texture or combination of foods.
Basically, there are two energy balancing hormones that control our body’s urge for more food: leptin and ghrelin. Leptin regulates long-term energy balance by curbing our desire for food. It serves as a natural signal to stop eating when we're satisfied. On the other hand, ghrelin is a rapid-acting hormone originating from the stomach's lining, and it triggers our appetite, especially at the onset of a meal.
When ghrelin levels in our bloodstream are elevated, that’s when we start to feel hungry.. After we give our bodies food, ghrelin levels decrease and leptin levels increase—and that’s when we feel full! At least, this is how things are supposed to work. But that doesn’t explain why we still crave the sizzling brownie after our heavy meal.
It's not surprising that when we're tempted by sugary treats, our body's hormonal signals can get confused. There's a chance that ghrelin, one of these hormones, might make us want to eat rich, high-calorie sweets like sizzling brownies, even if our stomachs are technically full. Some experts think this happens because ghrelin makes the enjoyable parts of eating even stronger. Basically, having desserts can make us feel really good. It might sound a bit strange, but that's how these hormones work – they can make us crave things in unexpected ways.
It encourages you to switch from food to food, so it’s a good thing. As human beings, we need to eat a variety of foods so having a shift in the foods we are eating encourages variety. It can have its consequences though, of course, because if we're presented with a variety of foods, it encourages us to keep eating beyond usual malnutrition.
Take buffets, for example. When you have a wide variety of food, you don’t lose interest as quickly.
That's why you're going to eat more French fries with sauces than you're going to without. Or if you are given more than one flavor at the same time, then you will eat more ice cream.
Comments