I have a friend who is a typical "hungry at midnight" person. At 12 noon, he must eat Chinese food. In his own words: "It doesn't matter if you eat more or less at each meal, but three meals a day must not be less." Why is this? In fact, this is mainly related to everyone’s different eating habits.

In the past, it was believed that the size of human appetite was controlled by the gastrointestinal tract, which is what people often say: "The stomach is full, or the stomach is hungry." However, modern medical research has found that how much we eat every day is controlled by the ventromedial nucleus (also known as the satiety center) and the ventrolateral nucleus (also known as the hunger center or feeding center) located in the hypothalamus of the human head.

Under normal circumstances, the food intake process of the human body is carried out through the neural regulation mechanism between the gastrointestinal tract, the satiety and hunger center, and the cerebral cortex. Everyone is in a mutual adjustment and restriction. in a relatively balanced state. When the cerebral cortex feels hungry (the gastrointestinal tract sends out a fasting signal), the center will send an eating (excitation) instruction to the food intake center and an inhibition instruction to the satiety center to start eating; when a certain amount of food is eaten, After the gastrointestinal tract feels distended, the gastrointestinal tract will transmit the satiety signal to the brain and satiety center through neural reflexes. The cerebral cortex will send satiety instructions to the satiety center and the feeding center respectively to stop eating. . Of course, food with good color, aroma and taste can leave people with the idea of ??having a full meal through our visual organs and transmit this information to the center of the hypothalamus.

When to eat every day, or how much to eat at each meal is often related to personal lifestyle and habits. Many obese people with a family history of obesity often have the habit of polyphagia and gluttony. Their eating habits are not due to hunger, but just a habitual repetitive action. This is just like the reason that whenever people see food that is full of color, aroma and taste, no matter whether they are hungry or not, they can't help but try it. Animal experiments have found that after the ventromedial nucleus (satiation center) of animals is destroyed, the animals lose their sense of satiety and stop eating. The food intake increases significantly, and the animals become obviously obese. Moreover, this weight gain will only stop when the body reaches a new energy balance. This can also explain why some patients suffering from encephalitis and meningitis sequelae have symptoms of polyphagia and obesity. One possible reason is that there is a problem with the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus in these patients. If the hunger center of the animal's hypothalamus is destroyed in the experiment, the animal will lose the sense of hunger and not want to eat, refuse to eat for a long time, and finally die from exhaustion. In daily life, you can often hear obese people complaining: "There is really no way, drinking cold water will make you gain weight." Is this true? Is there any scientific reason for this?

In fact, there is no such thing. What is the scientific reason? The complaints of obese people are just an illusion of their own, or a helpless way of self-adjustment in the face of obesity. We have already talked about the causes of obesity before. In addition to those patients with secondary obesity who are related to the diseases they suffer from, the cause of obesity in patients with simple obesity is mainly closely related to the energy intake in the body being greater than the body's consumption. . Although water is a nutrient, it does not contain any energy except for a small amount of minerals. So just drinking water won't make you fat unless you drink sugary drinks.

Why do many obese people come to this wrong judgment? This is mainly related to the long-term eating habits of obese people and the weakening of the body’s metabolic functions and needs with age. . They have become accustomed to all this and feel it is natural. Therefore, if obese people cannot seriously adjust their eating habits according to their actual situation, it will be very difficult for obese people to lose weight.