Doctors explained why there is a constant desire to eat something

To get rid of excess weight and not gain weight, you need to control the volume of portions, and even better, create a menu taking into account the number of calories, as well as the ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. However, proper nutrition, which eliminates uncontrolled overeating, is not easy to adhere to. For some people, this is simply impossible, since immediately after a full meal they feel hungry. To lose weight without the risk of binge eating and without harm to your health, you need to enlist the support of specialists. The Doctor Bormental clinic uses its own patented method of losing weight and maintaining results, with the help of which more than half a million people have already lost weight. Read more about her here.

Eating habits

The most common type of eating disorder is uncontrolled consumption of food for pleasure. That is, people eat not because they are hungry, but because they are used to just constantly chewing something. But there are bad eating habits that lead to an uncomfortable state of constantly feeling hungry. Let's take a closer look at them.

Dehydration

Some people confuse the feeling of hunger and thirst. This is a rather dangerous, but easily correctable eating disorder. The thing is that the hypothalamus signals about a lack of food and a lack of water. If for many years a person paid great attention to food, while ignoring the drinking regime, the states of hunger and thirst could become confused in his system of self-awareness.

In this version, when a person needs a drink, he begins to eat. As a result, water deficiency becomes even greater and signs of dehydration appear. To get rid of this condition, you just need to instill in yourself the habit of drinking a lot of water (at least 2 liters per day).

Poor nutrition

For full functioning, the body requires fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. If a person’s diet is monotonous and does not include one or another necessary component, the hypothalamus signals that the food received is not enough. As a result, the person continues to eat, but the feeling of hunger still persists. A nutritionist will help you cope with this problem, creating a properly balanced menu and eliminating the risk of overeating.

Wrong nutrition schedule

Doctors recommend that everyone who has problems with eating behavior switch to fractional meals with a clearly defined meal schedule. With fractional meals, a person eats 5 or 6 times a day. An incorrect schedule is a complete lack of a schedule or eating with large time intervals between meals. In the first case, a person accustoms his stomach to the fact that food arrives at any time, regardless of whether the food received earlier has been digested. The result is that the body begins to demand food constantly.

In the case of large gaps between meals, the hormone ghrelin can be produced, which forces you to eat in reserve. A person sits down at the table, being very hungry, and then, when he starts eating, he simply cannot stop.

What to do?

“If symptoms of hypoglycemia occur and blood sugar drops below 2.8 mmol/l or if blood glucose is detected below 2.2 mmol/l, even without complaints, a quick intake of easily digestible (fast) carbohydrates is necessary,” notes Oksana Dyukareva.

The most suitable products for quickly replenishing blood glucose, says the endocrinologist, are 3-5 teaspoons of sugar, 1.5-2 tablespoons of honey or jam, 100-200 ml of fruit juice or other sugar-containing drinks.

“I recommend telling your loved ones about the possibility of this condition so that they can quickly help you before you lose consciousness. If consciousness is impaired, it is possible to administer 1 mg of glucagon intramuscularly or subcutaneously (purchase is possible at a pharmacy), call a doctor,” advises Oksana Dyukareva.

With timely elimination of hypoglycemia, the prognosis is favorable, warns the endocrinologist. But it is always better to prevent this condition. From the first day of diagnosis of diabetes, you should always keep fast carbohydrates with you in sufficient quantities. Also, a person with such a diagnosis should carefully monitor the organization of his diet - one must not forget about timely meals. In addition, you should monitor your blood sugar with a glucometer. And also, advises Oksana Dyukareva, it is necessary to plan sports activities, as well as other physical activity that may require additional energy expenditure - it is important that the body has enough reserves to support such tasks. And, of course, it is always necessary to discuss treatment methods and the possibility of hypoglycemia while taking your glucose-lowering medications with your doctor.

Lifestyle

Eating disorders are directly related to a person’s lifestyle. It is worth talking separately about the various options for everyday behavior that lead to a state of insatiable appetite.

Improper sleep patterns

If a person sleeps insufficient hours, leads a nocturnal lifestyle, or has a “floating” daily routine, his hormonal levels are sooner or later disrupted. This leads to a variety of negative consequences, such as depression, chronic fatigue, increased irritability, and a decrease or increase in appetite.

Taking medications

Some types of medications can make you feel hungry. These include hormonal agents, antidepressants, glucocorticosteroids, strong antibiotics, and contraceptives. If the desire to constantly eat began abruptly and simultaneously with the start of taking medication, you should consult a doctor and change the drug.

Diets

Frequent exhausting diets, when a person eats, lead to the body turning on the energy storage mechanism. It constantly requires food in order to store reserves in the form of fat in case a nutritional deficiency arises again. Therefore, people who incorrectly organize the process of losing weight, instead of the desired weight loss, get an uncontrollable appetite, as a result, even more extra pounds.

Stress

When a person is under stress, he may begin to consume food in quantities that are excessive for himself. At the same time, they say that a person eats away his problems. This is especially true for women. The fact is that during stress, depression, and nervous breakdowns, the body produces cartisol. The brain perceives it as a negative signal that needs to be neutralized by serotonin and erdonphins, which have opposite effects on the emotional state. To this end, the hypothalamus signals hunger so that a person begins to eat and enjoy food.

Bad habits

Smoking, drinking alcohol and drugs leads to a decrease in the content of useful substances. To compensate for their deficiency, the body requires additional food. Increased appetite is caused by hormonal imbalance, which often occurs with prolonged abuse of alcohol or drugs.

A new approach in dietetics: the problem of appetite in the light of the theory of functional systems

author: I. E. Reif writer, publicist, Germany, Frankfurt am Main

During my student years I happened to end up in a hospital. And I remember how my roommate, an elderly, haggard-looking man, when he had an appetite, said, wincing in pain: “I don’t know what to eat.” And he glanced doubtfully at the refrigerator. At that time it seemed funny to me: if I really wanted to eat, then what’s the problem?

about the author

Doctor, journalist, writer Igor Evgenievich Reif was born in 1938 in Moscow.
In 1963 he graduated from the 1st Moscow Medical Institute (currently the First Moscow State Medical University named after I.M. Sechenov), in 1975–1980. worked as the head of the department of the Country Rehabilitation Clinic of the 1st MMI (currently the Center for Rehabilitation Medicine and Rehabilitation of Moscow State Medical University). Since 1998 he has lived in Germany.

He began publishing in the perestroika and post-perestroika years. Author of the books “The Tale of an Unfamous Graduate of Moscow State University”, “Recreation Technology”, “Geniuses and Talents”, “The Thought and Fate of the Psychologist Vygotsky”, “Biosphere and Civilization: in the Grip of the Global Crisis” (co-authored with V. I. Danilov- Danilyan), “The Biosphere and Civilization: Social and Natural Dimensions of the Global Crisis” (with VI Danilov-Danilyan), as well as a series of articles in the journals “Science and Life”, “Knowledge is Power”, etc.

The theory of functional systems is a model that describes the structure of human and animal behavior, created by Academician P.K. Anokhin, the largest neurophysiologist of the 20th century.

Functional systems, according to Anokhin, are self-organizing functional formations, united by nervous and humoral regulations and contributing to the achievement of results beneficial to the body, necessary for its adaptation to the environment.

According to information: Ivanov V.P., Ivanova N.V., Polonikov A.V.

Medical ecology: a textbook for medical universities / edited by. ed.

V. P. Ivanova. - St. Petersburg, 2012.

What is appetite?

Appetite (from Latin appetitus) is an emotional urge to consume certain food in the form of a deliberate experience of pleasure from the upcoming meal.
The emotion of appetite differs from the subjectively unpleasant feeling of hunger in its positive nature, although both sensations are based on nutritional need. Appetite is considered as an important psychophysiological factor in the regulation of eating behavior in the direction of selective consumption of substances necessary for the body, for example, salt when there is a lack of it in the body, carbohydrate foods when mobilizing energy resources, etc.

According to information: “Medical Encyclopedia”, dic.academic.ru.

I also remember another bewilderment of those years. At the Department of Physiology, we, future doctors, were taught: the digestion process begins in the mouth. Here the food is crushed and moistened with saliva. This is where the process of assimilation of easily broken down carbohydrates begins, which is affected by the enzyme ptyalin contained in saliva. True, in the acidic environment of the stomach, its activity quickly disappears. So what, one might ask, is it needed for? As a result, there was a feeling that something very insignificant was happening in the mouth from a physiological point of view, almost unworthy of attention. After all, food that requires chewing will not get into the stomach anyway, so why talk about self-evident things? Well, the one that doesn’t require soup, thin porridge, a soft-boiled egg doesn’t seem to need chopping and wetting. Swallow it and the whole conversation.

However, in this state of affairs presented here, I felt a certain injustice. For ordinary living people, digestion not only begins, it actually ends in the mouth. And what happens to the swallowed bolus of food, in fact, no longer concerns us. While we eat - bite, chew, swallow - we are certainly in the power of this process. But then the last spoon is eaten, the last piece is chewed, and what happens there in the darkness of the body - physiologists and biochemists know this well. We, mere mortals, blithely get up from the table and go about our business until another bout of hunger reminds us of our “main concern.”

Knowledge that is on the tip of the tongue

Academician I.P. Pavlov established: hunger is different from hunger. Different foods require different sets of digestive enzymes, and if, say, meat secretes juice with a high concentration of pepsin, then the picture is completely different when digesting bread or potatoes. For an omnivore, the last point, by the way, is especially relevant. After all, both “pure” carnivores - predators, and “pure” vegetarians - elephants, monkeys, ungulates - food is more or less homogeneous in nature and does not require any special adjustment of the digestive apparatus.

And a completely different matter is a person. Try teasing your tablemate with some deliciously fried steak, and then slip him a bowl of porridge cooked in water. I assure you, the thin porridge will form a lump in his throat, no matter how hungry he is. Yes, from steak to semolina porridge - this is the range of nutrition of a modern person. This is his strength, but this is also his weakness. Because omnivory, on the one hand, opens up for him the broadest opportunities for maneuver, for adaptation to certain specific living conditions, which, naturally, includes the possible set of products available to him. But on the other hand, such a variety of nutritional diet requires constant, and very subtle, adjustment of the digestive apparatus in relation to the characteristics of each specific type of food. In this case, a special role is played by the physiological readiness to assimilate it, which is subjectively reflected not so much by the feeling of hunger as by the presence of appetite.

People of the older generation, who drank from a hungry wartime childhood, are accustomed to treating appetite with some suspicion. Like, what kind of whim is this, born of the current availability of food? A truly hungry child will gladly eat everything in a row and without any pickles.

Alas, not everything is so simple. A healthy child is really able to quickly adapt and, if he is denied the desired dish, will happily be content with bread and potatoes. Well, what if we have a person in front of us who is not completely healthy or very tired (which, in principle, is not too different from one another), whose adaptive capabilities are currently significantly limited?

In Fyodor Abramov’s novel “Two Winters and Three Summers” there is a remarkable episode that could not help but be remembered by everyone who read it at least once. In the harsh post-war winter, the eldest of his sons, Timofey Pryaslin, returns from German captivity to his native village of Pekashino, lost in the dense Pinega forests. He returns not only extremely exhausted, but also sick (as it turns out later, with stomach cancer). And at home at this time there is only raw chaff bread and potatoes. And the very first serious conflict that breaks out in the family at the table is connected with a seemingly innocent question that this cornered man timidly asks his family: “Is there any milk?” For them, who do not see this milk for months, handing over everything for agricultural supplies, this question sounds like a daring attack. He himself understands this in his soul, but what to do if his stomach does not accept this stale, heavy bread and last year’s sprouted potatoes? But how does Timofey Pryaslin, who is not knowledgeable in medicine, and especially in gastrophysiology, know that in his current state he needs milk?

Let's start with the fact that a person who has never tasted milk at a reasonable age will not ask for it. To do this, it is necessary that in his memory not only the taste impression of a given product is preserved, but also those often subconscious sensations that are associated with its deeper assimilation. And no matter how carefree we may be about the food we eat, still each of us in most cases (although not always) can say what he wants and doesn’t want at the moment. And this knowledge is at the tip of our tongue.

The body works ahead

We all remember a Pavlovian dog with a gastric fistula, which, in response to a conditioned signal - a bell or a flash of light - begins to secrete gastric juice in advance, when there is no food in front of it. That is, the body functions here as if ahead of schedule. But this is a normal conditioned reflex. In reality, everything is much more complicated, and, as our outstanding neurophysiologist Academician P.K. Anokhin showed, the human and animal body not only works ahead of the curve, it anticipates the results of its own activity in its nervous system.

For example, we anticipate the weight of a carafe of water that we are about to lift, and tense our muscles accordingly. And by putting our hands through the sleeves of our shirt - an example that Anokhin especially often liked to give in his lectures - on the contrary, we subconsciously focus on the ease and unhinderedness of this automatic action. What if someone tries to sew up the sleeves unnoticed? The reaction in this case - due to the sharp discrepancy between the forecast and the actual result - will most likely be stormy and emotional.

Anokhin called this functional link built into any act of our activity, programming the afferent properties of its result, the acceptor of the result of the action (from the Latin acceptor - perceiver). And he outlined the general principles of self-tuning of the nervous system for an effect beneficial to the body in the theory of functional systems he developed.

P.K. Anokhin:

“What could be included in this device? It is quite obvious that essential signs of a future result are dynamically formed thanks to multilateral processes of afferent synthesis with the extraction from memory of past life experience and its result. <…> This complex of excitations is, in the true sense of the word, an afferent model of a future result, and it is this model, being the standard for assessing reverse afferentations, that should direct the activity of humans and animals until the programmed result is obtained.”

Source: Anokhin P.K. Essays on the physiology of functional systems. M.: Nauka, 1973. - pp. 53–54.

Consequently, we live and act not blindly, but in advance by “building” the sum of those sensations accumulated on the basis of past experience, to which any of our conscious or subconscious steps should lead. And this, in turn, allows you to constantly compare and adjust the actual result achieved with its neural model.

As P.K. Anokhin’s student and follower, Professor K.V. Sudakov, wrote:

“During the process of evolution, special information screens were formed in the central nervous system. <…> The information screen of the brain is the structures that make up the apparatus of the acceptor of the result of an action, established by P.K. Anokhin. It is on the neurons of the action result acceptor that the interaction of motivational and reinforcing excitations, formed on the basis of signals about needs and their satisfaction, takes place, as well as the programming of the properties of the required results.”

Source: Sudakov K.V. Systematic construction of human functions, M.: INF im. P.K. Anokhina RAMS, 1999.

Rice. 1. Schematic diagram of a functional system, according to P.K. Anokhin

Note: each of the components of the functional system is looped multiple times due to the presence of direct and feedback connections.

But isn't the same anticipatory mechanism found when it comes to hunger and satiety? For example, the very process of eating, that is, chewing and swallowing food, usually immediately relieves the first manifestations of gastric discomfort, when true satiety is, in fact, still far away. Indeed, for this, the eaten product must not only be digested and assimilated, but also must be carried by the bloodstream throughout the body, integrating into the processes of cellular metabolism and replenishing spent protein, carbohydrate and other resources. It is this final stage that marks real, post-absorptive saturation (as opposed to pre-absorptive, when the food is still in the stomach).

In other words, our nervous, and in particular the receptive, apparatus, as it were, anticipates the effect of upcoming satiation, signaling in advance to the body that the need that worries it is close to satisfaction and, therefore, it makes sense to relax and demobilize, focusing on the process of eating.

Behind the façade of hunger

However, hunger in general is, so to speak, a general, undifferentiated feeling, which includes an infinite variety of all possible shades of it, perceived subjectively as a selective need for certain products. After all, at different moments in life we ​​experience different feelings of hunger, behind the façade of which again different biological demands of the body are hidden. So, after hard physical labor, this may be the need for dense and satisfying food, due not only to energy expenditure, but also to the need to replenish cellular protein structures. In case of severe overwork or nervous stress, it is often the energy needs of the body that come to the fore, which we strive to extinguish in a completely different way - with the help of sweet drinks or foods containing easily broken down carbohydrates.

Consequently, the entire range of our taste preferences is a spectrum of physiological expectations of the body, which needs one or another food supply. At the same time, the taste buds of the oral cavity, together with their corresponding brain neurons, play the role of not only passive recorders of food quality - sour, sweet, salty. They also form a program for our attitude towards it, thanks to which we reject one dish and eat another with pleasure.

And now it’s time to remember the patient who was discussed at the beginning of this article. After all, his “I don’t know what to eat” is, essentially, the lack of identification of the vector of physiologically determined taste preferences.

In fact, like any non-sick person, he, of course, experiences a periodic feeling of hunger, but as if in a disguised form. And because he is afraid to eat, vaguely feeling that not all food will be accepted by his body, undermined by the disease (something can provoke pain, something can cause nausea, a feeling of discomfort, etc.), and due to lethargy, “erased” perception of natural physiological stimuli. All this ultimately, apparently, disorients him, preventing him from deciding on his desires.

Well, haven’t we, healthy ones, happened to be, as they say, in the same skin, meaning the disguise of our desires?

Who doesn’t know this state: you come home tired, depressed, you don’t want to look at anyone - is there time to eat? Just to plop down in a chair, stretch out your legs and stare at the TV, no matter what they show. But then someone’s kind hand brought cranberry jelly from the kitchen or a glass of cold milk or some completely unusual pie with cabbage. You reluctantly tried once, twice, and suddenly it was as if a dam had broken. A sharp pleasure, the proximity of which you did not even suspect, covers your entire being, and you drink, eat and just can’t get enough. It was as if someone had turned an invisible key in the lock, starting this entire complex juice-secreting conveyor belt as soon as the first tender pieces lay on the tongue.

In such cases, the French say that appetite comes with eating. True, not every one, but only one that corresponds to the currently available capabilities of our digestive apparatus. Because eating other foods will not only not awaken your appetite, but will be completely extinguished for an indefinitely long time.

So how can we understand what our body will accept and what it will not accept, especially if the stomach is silent and you don’t feel like eating? After all, such a state - and it equally applies to the feeling of thirst - as we have already seen, is not always equivalent to the absence of the need for food and drink. And you can give any number of examples when a person is tired, exhausted, when he clearly needs to replenish the resources he has expended, but does not feel hunger as such. And does this mean that in such a state we really shouldn’t sit down at the table, as some people think? It turns out not. It is enough to awaken your appetite with a delicious aperitif, and... physiology will take its toll.

Between biology and culture

Once upon a time, the famous Soviet psychologist L. S. Vygotsky, studying the process of development of children's thinking, came to the conclusion that the boundary line between the behavior of an impulsive 2-year-old child and a 6-7-year-old preschooler, and even more so an adult, who is beginning to recognize himself, is that the first is entirely at the mercy of his desires (hence the expression “childish spontaneity”), while the second is capable, to one degree or another, of controlling his behavior, and with it his internal mental processes, such as perception, attention, memory and etc.

He called this phenomenon higher mental functions and considered it as an element of culture - as opposed to the natural, biologically determined impulses that are given to us from birth.

Of course, we cannot control the feeling of hunger or thirst in the same way, which accumulates the deep, metabolic needs of the body. However, this cannot be said about the process of eating, which occupies, as it were, a borderline position at the boundary of two spheres - biology and culture, representing at the same time a physiological, but at the same time a cultural act.

But if we cannot suppress the feeling of hunger in ourselves by volition (we can only distract ourselves from it for a while), then we are quite capable of controlling the process of satisfying it.

Because the reflex alarm from an overfilled stomach is often deceptive, it works, as a rule, with a delay (since those ancient times, when food for future use was a factor of survival for a person), and you continue to put it on your plate, not noticing that your norm has long been already passed. Approximately as it is described by Gogol - when Sobakevich at a party with the police chief, “having finished the sturgeon, <...> no longer ate or drank, but only squinted and blinked his eyes” and “felt a great urge to sleep.”

How to get out of the “metabolic stupor”

Now let's turn to the opposite state, when the absence of hunger or thirst cannot be equated with the absence of the need for food and drink.

For example, with persistent loss of appetite - anorexia - due to any gastrointestinal pathology, infectious diseases, depression, insomnia, etc. It is based on deep depression of the food center located in the outer region of the hypothalamus. At the same time, eating without appetite, eating “because I don’t want to” usually leads to the opposite result.

On the other hand, waiting for the spontaneous awakening of hunger is often also useless - it may not wake up on its own. And you can break this vicious vicious circle, this “metabolic stupor” only by starting... to eat (or drink) - in full accordance with the French proverb cited above. However, this seemingly old truth takes on a completely new meaning in the light of the theory of functional systems.

If a person is able to anticipate the taste of the food that his body needs and which he is currently able to assimilate, then, therefore, he can intuitively choose exactly the product that he currently needs. At the same time, it is not even necessary to taste it - sometimes, relying on past experience and previously experienced taste sensations, it is enough to revive it in your imagination, comparing the taste gamut of a particular dish with the one predicted in our subconscious. After all, man is the only living creature capable of imagining something that is not currently in front of his eyes.

P.K. Anokhin:

“From a neurophysiological point of view, this process of choosing a single degree of freedom (i.e., reducing the diverse potencies of a neuron to the only possible option. - Note by I.R.) obviously consists of continuous scanning of various results, and the standard for this scanning is the dominant motivation present at the moment.”

Source: Anokhin P.K. Philosophical meaning of the problem of natural and artificial intelligence // Questions of philosophy. - 1973, No. 6. - P. 83–97.

Let us pay attention to the term “scanning” used here; it will be useful to us later. For now, let me give you a small example. We all remember the prose poem by I. S. Turgenev “Two Rich Men,” where the widespread charity of the millionaire Rothschild is contrasted with the willingness of a poor peasant to shelter his orphan niece, while denying himself the most necessary things. “We’ll take Katka,” his wife tries to resist, “our last pennies will go to her, there won’t be enough salt to get salt for the stew.” “And we have it... and not salted,” the husband replies.

Yes, unsalted soup is indeed inedible, and salt is the most important ingredient in this dish. But then you start adding a little salt to the soup, and at some point, eating through force suddenly gives way to eating with pleasure, eating with greed. What happened?

It is perhaps difficult to explain this phenomenon outside the framework of the theory of functional systems. But if we remember that in our brain there already exists a corresponding “taste model” that reflects the body’s need for a given product (and salt, as we know, plays a crucial role in maintaining the homeostasis of our internal environment), then everything falls into place. And when the taste buds signal to us that the expected salt concentration has finally been achieved, the acceptor of the result of the action (and in this case, the satisfaction of food needs) initiates the launch of the entire complex mechanism of food intake and assimilation, including the secretion of saliva and other digestive secretions, the friendly work of the voluntary and smooth muscles during chewing, swallowing, moving food through the esophagus, etc.

P.K. Anokhin called such reverse afferentation sanctioning, “since it can sanction the final distribution in the system of efferent excitations, ensuring a useful result.”

Source: Anokhin P.K. Essays on the physiology of functional systems. - M.: Nauka, 1973.

But soup is not only salt, it is also a liquid, it is proteins and carbohydrates, it is, finally, extractive substances in a very complex combination of their taste and chemical properties. But there are also non-gustatory ones: the sight and smell of food, its structure and consistency, the characteristics of its chewing, etc. And all this diverse afferentation is integrated and processed on neurons that bring together the flow of receptor impulses, the motivational component (hunger, thirst during all their variants and specific manifestations), as well as memory with images of dishes and products stored in it. And if we consider that each neuron is comparable to a personal computer in terms of the amount of information processed, then it will not be an exaggeration to say that the functional system involved is in some sense smarter than us, especially taking into account the volume of information flows passing through it. We can only trust our feelings and act as “our stomach is our faithful guide” tells us. Only everyone knows how to obey him?

“If you don’t even know what you want”

One of the American supermarkets became famous with this advertising slogan. This phrase in full sounded like this: “If you don’t even know what you want, come to us, we have it.” I think that the first part of it can rightfully be attributed to people who have problems with appetite. After all, they, too, often “don’t know what they want” and, when it’s time to sit down at the table, they start eating without waiting for a real feeling of hunger. And such food, as you know, is not useful, completely suppressing any interest in it.

However, any person, while alive, needs some kind of periodic “feeding”, and, therefore, the whole point is that this natural need of his is sometimes blocked. Much the same as in the case of network computer ports (after all, food is also a storage medium), which can be blocked or open. And in order to find the keys to them, you sometimes have to resort to some kind of workaround. It is to this kind of technique that I would now like to lead the reader.

At the very beginning of the 1990s. M. Zhvanetsky’s humoresque, called “Memories of Food,” appeared in one of the Moscow newspapers. That was a time when most Russians really only had to remember many familiar products, because store shelves were empty, and home thieves, in addition to belongings and valuables, never forgot to take with them the contents of refrigerators.

And now I invite anyone who wants to also remember food, but not the food that has disappeared from the shelves, but only the one that is missing from before your eyes - in order to reveal those hidden expectations of the body that are encoded in our subconscious. In other words, mentally scan the entire product range available to you in an attempt to find the flavor range that would correspond to your current physiological mood. Anokhin himself defined it this way: retrieving from memory everything that has ever been related to a given situation, the consequence of which is the emergence of a more or less defined idea of ​​the desired result.

P.K. Anokhin:

“Perhaps this is one of the most remarkable abilities of our brain, which could be called sorting through the imaginary results of the past and comparing them with the need of the present moment.”

Source: Anokhin P.K. Philosophical meaning of the problem of natural and artificial intelligence // Questions of Philosophy, 1973, No. 6. - P. 83–97.

In fact, to want to eat, it is enough to remember some specific food, or even better, try it: after all, real perception is significantly different from virtual perception. At the same time, the coincidence of the physicochemical properties of food with the current neural model is often felt as a kind of “short circuit”, when familiar or half-forgotten food, entering the mouth, suddenly, immediately, sometimes unexpectedly evokes a feeling of acute pleasure, sometimes pleasure.

But first, a few necessary notes or, if you like, tips so that, as in that children’s game, you still look where it’s warm, and not where it’s cold.

Through drinking to food

And the first thing I would like to remind you is that poor appetite and lack of thirst often go hand in hand, being caused by related reasons. And since digestive secretions consist of 98% water, it is best to “break through” to food (although not always) through drinking or food that combines the properties of both, such as soups, cereals and vegetables decoctions, sweet and sour compotes, etc.

I would like to pay special attention to soups, this is the greatest invention of mankind. It is difficult to find a product that could compete with them in ease of digestion, in the originality of their taste, in the organic combination of heterogeneous ingredients that satisfy a wide range of metabolic needs of the body. And besides, the soup goes well with bread, which is important for many reasons. Bread contains components that are little or almost absent in soup - adsorbed fat, denatured proteins, gelatinized starch. But most importantly, bread serves as an excellent “filler” for the stomach, which, in combination with the process of chewing it, promotes reflex juice secretion and increased smooth muscle tone, and therefore a feeling of fullness.

Undereat or overeat?

Recently, along with various diets for weight loss, the advice to get up from the table without waiting to feel completely full has become widespread. The advice, it must be said, is poorly consistent with human nature. After all, our body, one might say, is programmed to achieve satiety, accompanied by a feeling of physiological comfort. In addition, satiety is necessary and useful in the initial stages of digestion - undereating, in general, is just as bad as overeating - and the whole question, so to speak, depends on its price.

Should we follow the example of Sobakevich, who, in pursuit of satiety, was taken out of the game by sturgeon, or should we give preference to easier-to-digest dishes that do not linger long in the stomach, but at the same time stimulate its secretory function? Plant fiber especially meets the last condition, imparting to our food such properties as mass and volume, and involving our masticatory apparatus in its work. And so on.

The crucial role of the nutritionist

In light of all of the above, it will probably not be surprising to conclude that food - in the literal, and not in the culinary sense - is also a kind of science, for some more, for others less (who are younger and healthier) relevant, but , in any case, should be on a par with our other most important life skills and abilities. And although a person can only master this wisdom himself, expanding and varying his diet, enriching his intuition and taste experience, in some cases it is desirable that a qualified consultant be next to him at first, who would direct his search in some rational direction.

That is, we are talking about a kind of training - individual or group - under the guidance of a nutritionist, who could tell the patient what products he should pay attention to, if he has problems with appetite, what is worth trying and in what combinations, remind him of some forgotten ones dishes and drinks, learn about the intricacies of culinary technologies, etc. Such sessions can also be remote, for example via Skype. Various types of printouts and reminders could also play a role. But in any case, the main task of our consultant should be to awaken in a person a creative approach to his diet and give him some kind of guiding thread, using which he could later solve his problems on his own.

As already mentioned, our food occupies an intermediate position at the border of two spheres - biology and culture. But not only in terms of table manners and the use of cutlery - this can be taught to chimpanzees - but, more importantly, in terms of the ability to navigate everything that looks at us from store and pantry shelves, while being aware of our true needs. In addition, unlike chimpanzees, we are able to operate not only with available food, but also with imaginary food. And this is also one of the elements of a person’s vital equipment. And the teachings of Academician P.K. Anokhin and his school seem to allow us to lay our own theoretical foundation under it.

Diseases

Increased appetite occurs in some diseases. For example, people with type 2 diabetes experience hunger more than others because they metabolize glucose too quickly. It is converted into glycogen and fat, resulting in the need to replenish its reserves from food.

Recently, doctors often talk about such a disease as bulimia. Unreasonable bouts of gluttony, when you want to eat something almost around the clock, and complete ignorance of problems with excess weight were previously considered simply problems of a person’s character. This condition is now called an eating disorder that requires specialized care.

Increased appetite, along with weakness and nausea, may indicate the presence of a very dangerous disease called hypoglycemia. It is characterized by a strong decrease in blood glucose levels. This disease requires urgent medical attention. In the worst case scenario, the patient may fall into a coma.

Problems with the thyroid gland can also cause constant appetite. The gland is responsible for regulating metabolism and secreting hormones. With hyperthyroidism, hyperfunction of the thyroid gland occurs, which results in accelerated metabolism, low body weight, and a constant feeling of hunger.

There are other, less common diseases that lead to overeating. These include hypergraphia (impaired blood circulation in the brain), acoria (impaired functioning of the hypothalamus), and polyphagia (a tradition that has become an irresistible habit). In the case of polygapia, the situation can reach the point of severe obesity and is often treated by surgical reduction of the stomach.

Genetics

Mutations in some genes can affect appetite.

For example, mutations in the gene encoding the hormone leptin lead to hormone deficiency and uncontrollable feelings of hunger. People with such mutations experience obesity, hypothyroidism and delayed sexual development from an early age. These mutations occur in 5-6% of obese people. The use of exogenous leptin normalizes appetite, weight and levels of sex hormones.

In addition, mutations may affect not the hormone, but its receptor. The clinical picture will be absolutely the same: in both cases the hormone cannot perform its function.

Thus, mutations in the melanocortin type 4 receptor gene (MC4R) also lead to increased appetite and cause early obesity.

Melanocortins are hormones derived from proopiomelanocortin. They suppress appetite by acting on receptors in the brain.

Causes of constant hunger in women

In women, an increased need for food can be triggered by the following factors:

• taking incorrectly selected contraceptive drugs;
• pregnancy;
• PMS.

Many contraceptives are hormonal. They can disrupt hormonal levels, resulting in increased appetite. Typically, a side effect such as excessive appetite appears when a woman starts taking a new drug. Later the condition returns to normal. If, after long-term use, the constant desire to eat does not go away, you need to consult a doctor, get tested for hormones and replace the drug.

Pregnant women often say: “I’m eating for two.” This is true. A developing fetus needs “building material” in the form of useful substances, and it can only get them from the food consumed by the mother.

During pregnancy, the need for food increases for several reasons. Firstly, the body requires more nutrients. Secondly, hormonal changes occur. Thirdly, with toxicosis, there is a desire to eat salty, sweet, sour, etc. It is important to follow a balanced diet, agreed with your doctor.

PMS usually manifests itself as mood swings caused by hormonal surges. But sometimes there is a strong appetite. There is no need to fight it, since it only lasts 2-3 days. If you gain extra pounds during these days, after stabilizing your condition, you can spend one fasting day on low-calorie foods.

2. Causes of loss of appetite

Natural causes of loss of appetite may be intoxication, high body temperature, viral and infectious diseases, blood pressure fluctuations, the first trimester of pregnancy or the first days of menstruation in women, taking certain medications, and hot weather. It should be remembered that such reasons only temporarily reduce appetite, and the feeling of hunger should be restored after leaving these states.

As a rule, you should be concerned about loss of appetite if there are no apparent reasons for this, and you don’t feel like eating for a week or more. You should be especially careful about refusing to eat if there are accompanying disorders: loss of interest in favorite activities, decreased sex drive, sleep disturbances, absent-mindedness, unmotivated crying and irritability.

The cause of loss of appetite can be various diseases:

• cardiovascular;
• diseases of the digestive system;
• oncological;
• vegetative-vascular;
• endocrine;
• autoimmune;
• liver diseases;
• severe mental disorders and dementia;
• lack of vitamin B, zinc and other micro- and macroelements;
• elderly age.

Visit our Gastroenterology page

How to get rid of increased appetite

Frequent and uncontrolled food consumption will sooner or later lead to excess weight with all the accompanying problems. A specialist will help correct the situation. Patients are usually given the following advice:

• undergo a medical examination;
• give up diets, even light ones, and instead switch to a balanced diet, counting nutrients and calories;
• avoid stressful situations;
• analyze medications taken on a regular basis to see if they may cause increased feelings of hunger;
• adjust sleep patterns;
• Make it a habit to have a full breakfast of healthy, nutritious foods;
• create a meal schedule and stick to it daily;
• Calculate with a nutritionist your ideal ratio of proteins, fats, carbohydrates;
• remove unnatural, fried, fatty foods from the diet;
• normalize your drinking regime, drink 2 liters of water daily;
• remove foods that stimulate appetite from the diet - apples, sour juices, sauces, alcohol;
• reduce the consumption of high-calorie foods - boiled potatoes and mashed potatoes, boiled or fried mushrooms, bananas, baked goods, dried fruits, nuts;
• Have a light snack in the evening before bed;
• You should not eat store-bought confectionery or drink carbonated drinks (they are not healthy, high in calories, and stimulate appetite)