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The Leonard Lopate Show

Please Explain: Appetite and Hunger

Friday, April 13, 2007

According to food psychologist Brian Wansink, our stomachs have only three settings: starving, stuffed, or able to eat more. On today’s Please Explain, Dr. Wansink tells us about some of the factors--from plate size to clever marketing--that lead many of us to eat more than we think. And Dr. Alison G. Hoppin from the MGH Weight Center explains the biological mechanisms of hunger and appetite.

Brian Wansink’s Mindless Eating is available for purchase at amazon.com


Comments

  • [1] vb from brooklyn April 13, 2007 - 12:17PM

    Is it better to eat three full heavy meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) or little snacks throughout the day? I've heard arguments for both.


  • [2] Ramen from NY, NY April 13, 2007 - 12:19PM

    I often eat to block out anger or sadness which I know is NOT GOOD!

    But one good thing is... if I had a bad day, nothing makes me feel better than cooking a big meal, not eating it, cooking it! Just the act of chopping vegetables is relaxing, kind of like meditation.


  • [3] Barbara from ny, ny April 13, 2007 - 12:53PM

    On 2 points:

    When I have a cold and lose my sense of smell, my appetite goes way down, and I eat almost nothing, which makes me see how much appetite has to do with hunger and how little food I truly need to satisfy hunger. Sometimes the loss of the sense of smell lasts as long as a week, and I live in fear that it won't return, an especially scary thought as I found that along with the condition I lost a good deal of the savor for life that comes with smell.

    When I stopped smoking, I lost weight and eventually figured out why: My favorite cigarettes were those smoked after eating, and I was constantly eating more in order to enjoy my cigarettes more.


  • [4] Andres from Queens April 13, 2007 - 01:18PM

    I read Brian Wansink’s Mindless Eating and found it very helpful and informative. In addition to phycological reasons on why we eat more than we think, we should not overlook at the fact that processed foods are very cheap and easily available nowadays, in part, due to government policies of subsidizing the raw materials of these foods: corn, sugar, soy, which we end up eating in the form of cheap and calorie rich chicken nuggets and sodas, etc. It is time to review these policies and start using taxpayer's money to subsidize locally produced fresh fruits and vegetables instead.


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