Body weight and fatness are significantly influenced by our eating environment, which is often described using terms like “toxic food environment” or “obesogenic environment.” However, these terms alone don’t fully explain obesity without detailing the specific features that encourage overeating. Key factors include food energy density and portion size, but ease of access, which relates to portion size, also plays a crucial role. Understanding appetite control, which makes people more susceptible to obesity, is central to this discussion. In this review, “appetite” refers to the desire to eat, while “eating” pertains to food intake.

Energy balancing

In an environment that promotes weight gain, keeping your energy balance—where the calories you consume match the calories you use—often requires careful dieting and calorie counting. The body manages this balance over a longer period than just one day because it has large energy reserves. These reserves, which include stored glucose, glycogen, and protein, are much bigger than what we need for fluids and oxygen, allowing us to go without food longer than we can without drinking or breathing.

How we regulate our appetite is also important. When we have more body fat, our appetite generally decreases, encouraging us to engage in other activities when we have plenty of energy stored. As body fat increases, so does the amount of energy we use, including the energy needed for basic body functions and physical movement. This means that fat levels tend to settle at a point where they balance with the eating environment.

Indian Diet Requirements:

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), dietary recommendations for Indians include:

• Carbohydrates: Should constitute 55-75% of total daily energy intake, primarily from complex carbohydrates like whole grains, legumes, and vegetables.
• Proteins: Recommended to make up 10-15% of daily energy intake, with sources including legumes, dairy products, and lean meats.
• Fats: Should account for 15-30% of daily energy intake, focusing on unsaturated fats from sources like nuts, seeds, and vegetable oils, and minimizing saturated and trans fats.
• Micronutrients: Adequate intake of vitamins and minerals, including iron, calcium, and vitamin D, is crucial for overall health. Foods such as green leafy vegetables, fruits, dairy products, and fortified cereals contribute to meeting these needs.

Adhering to these guidelines can help maintain a balanced diet, support energy management, and promote overall health within the context of an obesogenic environment.

Eating and performance

The body manages energy well whether you’ve eaten recently or not, using glucose for fuel right after meals and shifting to fatty acids as time passes. While people often think skipping meals hurts cognitive performance, research shows the impact is usually minor and varies. For example, missing breakfast might not affect performance much and sometimes even improve it, depending on the task. On the other hand, large meals and sugary drinks can make you feel sleepy and less focused. This suggests that meal size and timing are more about avoiding disruptions to how well you perform rather than strictly matching energy needs. That’s why breakfasts and lunches are often lighter during the workday, with different eating patterns on weekends or in cultures with mid-day breaks.

What is hunger

Hunger is often thought of as a signal that we need to eat due to a lack of energy. However, it’s not always as simple as just being low on energy. For most people, hunger is more about the sensation of an empty stomach rather than a direct response to an energy deficit.

When well-nourished people feel hungry, they usually refer to how long it’s been since their last meal or how full they felt after eating. This feeling of hunger is more about the absence of fullness rather than a direct need for energy, similar to how thirst signals a dry mouth but isn’t the same as needing air.

In everyday life, hunger often comes from having an empty stomach and anticipating the pleasure of eating. So, when we say we’re “hungry,” we’re often expressing a desire for food because our stomach feels empty and we look forward to eating something enjoyable. This is different from the physical need for food experienced during extreme energy depletion, like after intense exercise or in cases of low blood sugar, where the need to eat is more about relieving discomfort rather than just satisfying hunger.

Food reward: food energy density and satiety

Food reward and satiety shape our eating habits significantly. Food reward is the pleasure we get from eating, and it’s tied to how enjoyable the food is. Even when we’re full, the sight or taste of delicious food can tempt us to eat more because our stomachs are rarely completely full. Foods high in fat, carbs, and protein can make us feel full, but energy-dense foods like those rich in fat often provide more immediate satisfaction while keeping us full for a shorter time. People sometimes opt for less enjoyable, low-calorie foods to avoid hunger, but when faced with larger portions, they usually choose the more satisfying, energy-dense options. The ease of access to food, such as grabbing a chocolate bar versus an apple, also influences how much we eat, leading to more frequent and casual snacking in environments where food is readily available.

Energy balancing again

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

From the perspective of energy balance, easy access to high-calorie foods and their low cost in terms of time, effort, and money make it easier to add extra energy to our bodies. This means that eating more under these conditions can be seen as a natural response rather than a failure to control energy balance. However, there are limits to how much food we can eat and process, and our appetite does decrease as we gain weight, which helps control intake. Despite these factors, maintaining control over eating can be challenging. Dietary restraint can sometimes fail or lead to overeating, and frequent large meals can reduce our sensitivity to feeling full. Similarly, resistance to leptin, a hormone that helps regulate appetite, can weaken the effect of body fat on hunger.