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A few weeks ago I heard someone say that the human body had design flaws. To my dismay, the conversation shifted before I got a chance to ask exactly what these flaws were. But the concept of the human body having design flaws stuck with me, and I’ve been keeping my eyes out for them. Not flaws like the inability to fly or x-ray vision, but something that kept us from performing optimally.
Today I identified one of these design flaws, our bodies do not communicate hunger properly. The last few days I have been hungry, I eat and I’m still hungry. Over the last few months I have learned (and learned again) that hunger is the body’s way of announcing it is low on nutrients, not that the stomach is empty.
But the signal is always the same. Every time you’re hungry it’s the same ache in your stomach. Needing Vitamin B12 is the same hunger as needing calcium.
Wouldn’t it be nice if hunger differentiated itself?
- “Hey, I need some potassium, can you please go eat a banana?”
- “Uh, I’m getting low on iron, how about a little parsley tonight?”
Not so lucky. Our bodies are designed with a “one signal fits all nutrient deficiencies” philosophy. Which I think is why I can’t stop eating the last few days. I’m trying to overcome this flaw by eating a wide variety of foods and hoping that I will magically hit the missing nutrient. Thus far I’ve been unsuccessful which is really frustrating.
The lack of specificity of the hunger signal leads to overeating. As I write this, I just finished eating a well proportioned dinner, but I’m still hungry, which tempts me to eat more. I know if I look at my diet at the macronutrient level I should be satisfied, but the ache in my stomach persists. Because I am missing a something on the micronutrient level I am still hungry and chances are good that I will eat again before the night is over.
I’m a healthy eater, but remember this same situation is the norm in the body of a person that dines on hamburgers, French fries and soda daily. This person is overweight and malnourished. His body is going to continue sending out the hunger signal because the food lacks nutritional value. And what message is this person receiving? I’m hungry, I better put something in my stomach now. That something will probably be another equally void of nutrients.
Why aren’t our bodies designed to tell us what we are hungry for? What a terrible design flaw. Left to our own devices we’re doing a terrible job. I’m lucky that I eat well already, because while I feel like I’m in search of the buried treasure of vitamin X, at least I’m loading up on a lot of other good vitamins and minerals my body needs to operate optimally.
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