The human brain is an extremely sophisticated machine that has been evolving for millions of years. People have made incredible achievements thanks to our immense cognitive capacity and have created an enormous and complex civilization that we live in today.
But sometimes, even our own brains may fail us at the most simplest tasks, such as recognizing whether we are hungry or thirsty. It seems like it’s a no brainer (pun intended), but according to science your brain doesn’t seem to differentiate whether you are hungry or thirsty. It has been proven that people, when feeling hungry sometimes are not hungry at all and just experiencing a mild dehydration. Our brain seems to opt for craving food, instead of asking for a simple glass of water, which leads to eating foods you don’t really need, thus ingesting unnecessary calories.
This treacherous behavior of our most reliable ally may be the cause of weight gain and the chronic hardship of keeping it off. Consider this, it has been shown that 75% of North Americans are consistently dehydrated (source). Could that explain the reason in such high numbers of overweight individuals in this part of the world?
In any case, when it comes to keeping extra weight at bay, the solution seems to be rather simple – when you are feeling hungry, have a full glass of water and wait for a few minutes. If the hunger goes away, then you probably needed to bring back some fluids into the body. If your appetite still demanding you to get some food, then it’s time you had a meal (just make sure it’s something healthy).
About the Author: Ana Plenter
