Everything about Eating totally explained
In general terms,
eating (formally,
ingestion) is the process of consuming nutrition, for example
food, for the purpose of providing for the
nutritional needs of an
animal, particularly their
energy requirements and to
grow. All animals must eat other
organisms in order to survive:
carnivores eat other animals,
herbivores eat
plants, and
omnivores consume a mixture of both.
While the process of eating varies from species to species, in
humans eating is performed by placing food in the
mouth,
chewing and then
swallowing it. Eaten food is then
digested.
Manners are an important aspect of social eating in almost all human societies.
Eating practices
Many homes have a separate
kitchen room or outside (in the tropics) kitchen area devoted to preparation of
meals and food, and many also have a
dining room or another designated area for eating.
Dishware,
silverware,
drinkware for eating and
cookware and other implements for cooking come in an almost infinite array of forms and sizes. Most societies also have
restaurants and food vendors, so that people may eat when away from home, lack the time to prepare food, or wish to use eating as a social occasion. Occasionally, such as at
potlucks and
food festivals, eating is in fact the primary purpose of the social gathering.
Most individuals have fairly regular meals, formally known as daily patterns of eating, and commonly most eating occurs during two to three meals per day, with
snacks consisting of smaller amounts of food being consumed in between. The issue of
healthy eating has long been an important concern to individuals and cultures. Among other practices,
fasting,
dieting, and
vegetarianism are all techniques employed by individuals and encouraged by societies to increase longevity and health. Some religions promote vegetarianism, considering it wrong to consume animals. Leading nutritionists believe that instead of indulging oneself in three large meals each day, it's much healthier and easier on the metabolism to eat five smaller meals each day (for example better digestion, easier on the lower intestine to deposit wastes; whereas larger meals are tougher on the digestive tract and may call for the use of
laxatives). However, psychiatrists with Yale Medical School have found that people who suffer from Binge Eating Disorder (BED) and consume three meals per day weigh less than those who have more frequent meals. Eating can also be a way of making money (see
competitive eating). Pie and sometimes cheese eating contests are one of these competitions. Sometimes people eat on
picnics with family or friends.
It is an
urban legend that eating fast will make you fat. Studies has disproved the theory that the body can't keep up with the pace of the food going into the digestive tract, and thus will store the food that it can't process as fats or energy stores. This is unscientific, as all food that enters via the mouth must pass through the entire digestive system and be broken down into simpler, usable forms that the body can make use of. However, since it takes time (up to 30 minutes) for the brain to get a signal from stomach that it's full, eating fast may cause someone to eat more thereby consuming more calories than if they ate slower, leading to weight gain.
Disorders
Physiologically, eating is generally triggered by
hunger, but there are numerous physical and psychological conditions that can affect
appetite and disrupt normal eating patterns. These include
depression, food
allergies, ingestion of certain chemicals,
bulimia,
anorexia nervosa,
pituitary gland misfunction and other
endocrine problems, and numerous other
illnesses and
eating disorders.
A chronic lack of
nutritious food can cause various illnesses, and will eventually lead to
starvation. When this happens in a locality on a massive scale it's considered a
famine.
If eating and
drinking isn't possible, as is often the case when recovering from
surgery, alternatives are
enteral nutrition and
parenteral nutrition.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Eating'.
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