To Eat or Not to Eat
Eating is a part of human nature. It is necessary to maintain good health and wellness, but some people may find themselves facing negative health factors due to overeating or under eating. Hunger and satiety are the two main driving factors that lead to food consumption. To make this concept a little easier to understand try thinking of hunger as something that tells us when to eat, while satiety tells us how much to eat. Our blood glucose tends to remain at a fairly stable level most of the time. Hormones found in the pancreas help keep our glucose levels steady. One theory points towards people experiencing hunger as a result of a drop in blood glucose levels when faced with premeal hunger. Some studies have found that when our bodies are anticipating a meal (premeal hunger) our blood glucose levels can drop up to 8% (Pinel, 2007). Often people see premeal hunger as an indicator that they need to consume food for energy, but it is actually the body’s way of preparing for the consumption of food, which causes the body stress and disrupts the body’s homeostatic balance (Pinel, 2007). An experiment was performed on rats which examined the relationship between two regions of the hypothalamus and eating behavior. It was actually believed that these two regions of the hypothalamus controlled one’s eating behavior (Pinel, 2007.) Scientists performed various operations on rats to study how the brain controls eating behavior. Some rats were given bilateral electrolytic lesions to their ventromedial hypothalamus. These lesions caused hyperphagia within the rats. The rats ate excessively until they became obese, at which point they began to consume enough to maintain a steady level of obesity (Pinel, 2007). In contrast, one experiment took place by performing bilateral electrolytic lesions to the lateral hypothalamus (LH). These