Food Psychology by Brian Wansink, Jacob Staples (best ereader for epub .txt) 📕

Why do we wake up in the night feeling hungry?

 If this happens, it’s highly likely that a lack of energy is to blame. Usually the brains energy demands are up to 40% lower at night. Thats why we normally don’t experience feelings of hunger while we sleep. However if we wake up feeling ravonous, the body’s fat reserves are clearly no longer sufficient to provide the brain with enough energy during the night.

Less food=lower sex drive?

Diets that impact on our energy levels force the brain to act. They divert just enough energy without causing a crisis, but the body must compensate. It dials down all of its systems that aren’t vital to survival: concentration decreases and you get tired more easily. Another symptom of dieting can be a lower sex drive. 

Does the brain’s energy supply decide whether you’ll become a successful athlete?

Dreaming of becoming a medal-winning marathon runner? Key to your success is how well your brain can control your energy supply during a race. You can train for this metabolic work in the same way muscles can be built - and it has a significant effect on your own performance capacity and sporting success.  

Is obesity really a disease?

 If the brain pull is no longer working, the organ needs a plan B to get enough energy. Rather than taking glucose primarily from the body’s fat reserves, it gets it directly from the blood when the bloods sugar levels have been raised after a meal. This is an example of the brains ability to problem-solve to reverse an energy emergency. However, a side effect of this ingenious solution is that the person gains weight. If you try to burn off this extra weight by dieting, the brain spirals into a new energy crisis - which can also have dramatic consequences.

Why do all of the internal organs shrink during a diet - apart from the brain?

Researchers have shown that going on a diet causes internal organs, such as the heart, liver and kidneys, to get thinner - with the exception of the brain. Why? Because it provides for itself first. In contrast to the other organs, the shrinking process would inflict irreversible damage to the brain.  

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Publication Date: 01-11-2019

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