Hunger

I picked up a book today that I find absolutely interesting. The book is Hunger: An Unnatural History by Sharman Apt Russell. I think this quote will speak for the whole of this post:

"Appetite can intertwine with hunger and then separate. You have an appetite for ice cream although you are not really hungry. You may be hungry for food without the appetite for anything specific. Appetite is desire, born of biology, molded by experience and culture.... When appetite and satiety conflict, appetite often wins. We know this whenever we leave the table after that stomach-distending holiday meal. We recognize it in most banana splits. We see it in patients being fed nutrients through a tube; their hunger is abated but their appetite remains, and they will secretly eat solid food even at the risk of pain or vomiting.

Appetite's alter ego is aversion. When aversion and hunger conflict, aversion often wins. We won't eat a breakfast that doesn't appeal to us. We lose weight traveling in a country with unfamiliar food. We pass up the appetizer that has a strange texture or smell...

Like many emotions, aversion can go straight to the stomach. If you once suffered food poisoning after a tuna sandwich, you may reject tuna for a long time. You may feel sick eating something you define as disgusting or morally wrong....Cannibalism is not a common response to hunger or famine. The majority of us will die before we eat human flesh. People with anorexia nervosa are paying more attention to their emotional needs than their body's hunger. Although they may feel hunger acutely, their appetite, their aversion is more important....

To be hungry is to be uncomfortable, and most of us experience hunger in the same ways we experience pain, as a signal to do something" (pgs 24-26).

Now here's the point to ponder: what happens for those that don't feel hunger the same way? What happens for those that don't connect the gnawing pain in the stomach with eating? What happens with those that have no feeling of hunger at all? What of those who cannot understand satiety signals from the body? Do we take into account the child or adult with an eosinophilic disorder that has tasted food, that has an appetite for pizza and ice cream yet those foods can no longer pass their lips? What of the psychological impact?