starvation reaction

by Kyeli on August 26th, 2008 @ 7:00 pm in Health
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The other night, I had a weird food experience. I ate half a bag of Doritos, most of which I consumed well after I stopped wanting them. I mulled on this for a long time, trying to figure out why the hell I’d eat so much junk, especially after I stopped wanting it.

I think I figured it out. I think it was a starvation reaction.

My system has adjusted and now expects whole, alive, nourishing sustenance. When I fed us junk devoid of nourishment, my body panicked, thinking no goodness would come of the food I was ingesting and went into overdrive, needing to consume as much as possible in an attempt to scrounge some kind of life-sustainability from the chips. This created a need to continue eating them even well after I was consciously ready to stop, because my body was afraid of starving. I didn’t get full, either, because that kind of “food” doesn’t actually get processed and turned into anything useful, so it was being shuffled out as fast as I was putting it in.

When I eat life-giving real food, I get satisfied and only eat when I want to and can stop when I want. I don’t panic and don’t wonder why I’m eating so much, because I’m not eating so much. But every time I eat foods that aren’t as nourishing, I get that feeling and end up eating far more than I wanted, and far more than I needed, and I get over-full and feel icky.

Food is so interesting and exciting!! Our bodies are so amazing and interesting!

2 Comments!

#1 Posted by Kelan on September 18th, 2008 6:57 pm | link

Agro-business is fairly flat. Sales increase with population, but no more. “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” By Michael Pollen describes how large agro-companies have created ways to increase food consumption, so that business increases faster than population growth.

What a way to increase shareholder value.

#2 Posted by Megan M. on September 19th, 2008 12:29 am | link

Kelan: YUCK! That was one of the parts of Omnivore’s Dilemma that really made an impression on me, and now I see it everywhere. Reticular activating system as blessing and curse…

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