The term appetite is one’s desire to eat. Sometimes we feel hungry and other times we are not. There is always an appetite that could prompt one to always want to eat and the one that will make one to always gaze at foods without the feeling of wanting to eat. This should not be a magic process because our body consists of various complex chemicals that play their important roles in controlling the intake of food and how the body responds to stimulus. We can say here that appetite is a kind of stimulus that is triggered in our body by certain interactions rising from hormonal signals that come from fats cells. These cells can be found in the gut and pancreas, and the response to this hormonal signal will depend on our individual body’s situation, whether to take in more food or not.
An appetite should not be mistaken for hunger. They are two different things entirely. While appetite is regarded to be a product of physiology and psychology since the foods we crave are as a result of our physiological and psychological behavior, hunger is known to be our physical desire to take in food. You may experience the desire to want to eat but at the same time not need to eat, for instance, in a case when you want to eat a big bugger after a heavy meal, there may be a kind of want you will experience of wanting to eat but for the fact that you just finished consuming a heavy meal, you may feel the need not to eat. On the other hand, you may also feel the need to eat but not be wanting to eat, for instance, when you lose your interest to eat even when you are hungry but refuse to eat just because you are stressed.
How do all these come about? You may ask! If you have ever intentionally controlled the intake of food for weight reduction, you will surely know how strong a counter control can be. Much of the controls seem to be handled by our endocrine system which must do with the forth and back interaction between our hormones and brain. In the process of losing stored fats in our body, a major pressure is mounted on our body with the need to store energy and enhance appetite, thereby preventing further loss of weight and promoting an increase in weight.
However, there is no disputing of the fact that appetite regulation is important for our body ‘because if we decide to get over fed, health problems like obesity may arise, and if on the other hand, we choose to under feed we may end up being malnourished which could eventually lead to disease, failed organs and one’s loss of reproductive ability.
One of the important ways to keep our appetite controlled is to kick it out. That best way to know exactly the role a hormone play in the body is to get it off the way. For example, a minor defect in the hypothalamus situated in the brain might make one to either starve oneself too much or make one to eat too much. This shows the importance of the hypothalamus. It can be said that the hypothalamus is a master controller of appetite, but there exist other processes that accompany the act. The main appetite hormones are the thyroid hormone, insulin, cortisol, and glucagon. If any of these hormones go out of proportion, it can literally lead to death.
Having known all that contribute to one’s Nutrition Appetite, we should know that our appetite is controlled by two major systems- the nervous system that deals with our brain and the endocrine system that deals with our hormones. Being aware of this will help us to always keep our appetite in check to avoid things getting blown out of proportion for the sake of our health.
