the Science of Sin: Gluttony by ric gustafson
Gluttony starts out with the occasion of eating too much. We eat more chips than usual or eat more helpings of pie than we should. Our brain can be tricked into eating more based on how it tastes or feels in our mouth. Our brain responds to high sugar and high fat foods. When we eat for pleasure rather than hunger, gluttony can happen.
Eating is a great pleasure and a dire necessity. We have a system of hormones and neurotransmitters that make us hungry when we need energy and full when we have had enough. Take a potato chip for example. When we bite into one, we feel crunchy, salty and rich. We will stop eating them when we are tired of eating them. This is called sensory specific satiety. This is processed in the orbitofrontal cortex of our brain. Neurons respond when we first take a bite of something and then get weaker the more bites we take. Gluttony can happen when the wrong food is right in front of us. When someone has overindulged, the likelihood of continuing is greater. Some foods are more prone to gluttony than others. These include ice cream, chocolate, cookies and candy.
research help: Scientific American Mind November December 2013
Peace and God's blessings. Love Ric
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