Eating with our eyes: From visual hunger to digital satiation
Have you ever found yourself scrolling through Instagram at 11 PM, mesmerized by a video of a cheese-pull or a perfectly glazed donut, only to realize you’re suddenly starving—despite having finished dinner just an hour ago? You’re experiencing . Visual Hunger
: You might experience increased salivation, a rise in heart rate, and even a release of insulin in anticipation of sugar. Eating with our eyes: From visual hunger to
This "digital grazing" isn't harmless fun. It can have significant consequences for our eating habits: This "digital grazing" isn't harmless fun
Our brains evolved in environments where food was scarce. For our ancestors, seeing food was a rare, vital signal that energy was nearby.
Coined by gastrophysicist Charles Spence, refers to our natural urge to look at images of food and the subsequent neurological and physiological responses that follow.
: The sight of food triggered a "reward" in the brain, ensuring we would forage and eat enough to survive another day.