Pleasure for Thought

I was reading some literature on obesity today and the question came to me: Why do people eat so much. At first, the question may stun people. Eating is a natural process in which the body receives energy. This is how it has been done for years. But really. If one can gain all the energy it needs by simply eating, why then do people eat more than they need?

I found the answer in asking this question to myself: I eat a lot because it tastes good. That's it. food tastes good. Food can bring out sensations and emotions that can be matched by no other action. This is partly the reason for restaurants: people want to experience something that they can not make for themselves.

It is these sensations that give us pleasure. If they were not pleasureful sensations, people would not eat, they would find ulterior motives to gain energy. So now can see that people eat because they find pleasure form it. Still, why do people eat so much? obviously, they gain a lot of pleasure from it. In fact, they gain so much that they are not able to bring themselves to stop until their body tells them to do so by giving the command "I AM FULL!!!"

From there the person stops eating and then is so full, he/she finds themselves incapacitated for the next half hour. So from that train of thought, people eat so much because they lack self control. They are so happy and content with the food they are experiencing, that they don't want it to stop. Only when they are physically incapable of eating more do they finish.

Now this is not true of all over eaters. Nor is this true as to why people are obese. Everyone's body is different (or at least that's what I learned in kindergarten) and so different things happen. Lack of control is only one reason as to why people often overeat. I myself am guilty of overeating. The true test is how you deal with it.

So next time you think "Dude. I'm sooo hungry right now. I want some food", what you're really saying is "Dude. I want to feel good." Feeling good means finding pleasure. And that is something we all want: to find pleasure.