What Happens To Your Body When You Pig Out?
Find out what really happens to your body after you stuff yourself silly.Playlist
You pigged out at the holiday office party, or your friendís tree trimming. Hereís what happens to your body when faced with a feast:
- In the first minute, your taste buds are going crazy, sending pleasure signals to your brain saying "eat, eat!"
- Within 5 minutes, your stomach is frantically working to dissolve food and shuttle it into the small intestine. Once there, nutrients will be transferred to your blood stream.
- By the 15 minute mark into a feast, your stomach will alert your brain that itís at capacity. But if youíve hoovered in your meal, your brain wonít get the memo until after youíve loaded your plate with seconds.
- If your meal was particularly salty, within 30 minutes, your blood vessels will become stiffer. If your diet is always packed with salty food, that stiffening becomes a risk factor for heart disease.
- An hour after you gorge yourself, youíll feel drowsy. Thatísí because your gut sent a signal to your brain to ďrest and digest.Ē In return, your brain directed all available energy toward digestion.
- As far as your stomach is concerned, itís stretched out like a balloon. If you feel achy or nauseous, thatís because itís stretched so big itís pushing on your other organs.
Now, chances are, you shoveled in twice as much as your body needs. So what happens to the excess, that isnít converted into energy? It turns into fat. And why are you hungry again 2 hours after gorging yourself? Because you probably ate a bunch of refined carbohydrates and foods with high sugar and fat content. They burn up quickly in your system and you feel hungry again. The fix? Eat foods that digest more slowly, things with protein, fiber and complex carbohydrates.