This week's lucky "winner"... an unnamed hot dog-laden Pizza Hut monstrosity with tempura shrimp and mayonnaise!
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Why Do We Eat? A Neurobiological Perspective. Part VIII
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
In the (probably) last post of this series, I'll take the pieces that I've gradually outlined in previous posts, and put them together into a big-picture, common-sense framework for thinking about human eating behavior, and why we eat more today than ever before.
Why is Eating Behavior Regulated?
Let's start at the most fundamental level. To be competitive in a natural environment, organisms must find rational ways of interacting with their surroundings to promote survival and reproduction. One of the most important elements of survival is the acquisition of energy and chemical building blocks, either by photosynthesis, or (in the case of animals) eating other organisms. This imperative drove the evolution of rational food seeking behaviors long before the emergence of humans, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, worms, and even eukaryotes (organisms with nuclei).
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Why is Eating Behavior Regulated?
Let's start at the most fundamental level. To be competitive in a natural environment, organisms must find rational ways of interacting with their surroundings to promote survival and reproduction. One of the most important elements of survival is the acquisition of energy and chemical building blocks, either by photosynthesis, or (in the case of animals) eating other organisms. This imperative drove the evolution of rational food seeking behaviors long before the emergence of humans, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, worms, and even eukaryotes (organisms with nuclei).
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Why Do We Eat? A Neurobiological Perspective. Part VII
Monday, February 4, 2013
Welcome back to the series, after a bit of a hiatus! In previous posts, we covered the fact that humans eat because we're motivated to eat, and many things can motivate us to eat. These include factors related to energy need (homeostatic factors), such as hunger, and factors that have little to do with energy need or hunger (non-homeostatic factors). These many factors are all processed in specialized brain 'modules' that ultimately converge on a central action selection system (part of the reward system); this is the part of you that decides whether or not to initiate eating behaviors.
This will be somewhat of a catch-all post in which I discuss cognitive, emotional, and habit influences on food intake. Since these factors are not my specialty, I'll keep it brief, but I don't mean to suggest they aren't important.
Food 'Cost'
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This will be somewhat of a catch-all post in which I discuss cognitive, emotional, and habit influences on food intake. Since these factors are not my specialty, I'll keep it brief, but I don't mean to suggest they aren't important.
Food 'Cost'
Read more »
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