Why do you crave sweets even after eating too much? Interpretation is everything here

There's always room for dessert in your stomach! Even after a heavy meal, never refuse dessert. Why is this happening?

Have you ever wondered why even after eating a very plentiful meal, such as the one usual at a wedding or Christmas, despite feeling full, it is difficult to give up dessert? Although the stomach is saturated with food, it actually is There seems to always be room for dessert. Obviously, gluttony and the fact that almost everyone loves sweets is the main reason for this.

However, there are others too The psychological and physical mechanisms causing this phenomenon. To understand whether there are scientific reasons to never refuse sweets, studies have also been conducted. Let's see in particular what researchers have discovered on this matter. Let's start with a study conducted by scientists from the Department Pennsylvania State University Nutrition Sciences.

What studies say about “sweet stomach”

According to researchers from the department Pennsylvania State University Nutrition SciencesIn some cases, the reason we think we still have some room in our stomach to eat dessert is the fact that this space already exists, even if we feel that capacity has reached its limit. This mechanism that encourages you to eat sweets even if you are no longer hungry is called “sweet treats.”Specific sensory satiety“.

It was first introduced in 1956 by a French neurophysiologist Jacques Le Magnin. This is a selective limit that the human body uses to urge people not to always eat the same foods, but to vary them, in order to have a more balanced diet.

Barbara Rolls explained this mechanism. The researcher conducted the research on a group of volunteers with a team of scientists. People had to rate how much they liked eight different foods by tasting a little of each, at different times. They ate the first dish until they were full, and even ate a large amount. Then they ate the other dishes and expressed their opinion about each of them.

After a break, shortly after the meal, the volunteers had to taste and judge the eight dishes again. Here the researchers found a decrease in enjoyment of food. This has led researchers to conclude that you can eat one food until you feel like you're bursting, but not give up other foods if they are available. What leads to reluctance to eat is often a decrease in pleasure given by food, which is specific to that food and not incidental. So If appetite for one food decreases, this does not mean that appetite for another food with completely different properties will not remain high. So the fact that there is always room for dessert is based on the radical difference in this compared to previous courses.

What another study says

This theory was also confirmed by subsequent research, which added another piece, in which it was discovered that the food, as it continued with the meal, would not only become less tasty to the eater, but would also take on a less attractive appearance and smell. This often leads to… Stop eating but resume enthusiastically when it's time for dessert. This mechanism is also the basis of the fact that when we are faced with a buffet containing many different types of food, we often have to eat more food than usual.

In short, the desire to eat sweets after eating a large meal can be attributed to a A combination of psychological and physiological factors. Sensory-specific satiety plays a key role, as decreased pleasure for a particular food does not necessarily extend to all foods. Furthermore, altered perception of the taste and appearance of foods during a meal can contribute to the desire to eat something sweet and tempting. Therefore, even when the stomach seems to be at maximum capacity, the temptation of sweet persists, making it an irresistible pleasure that transcends the rationality of food.