There is a type of seagull that has a little red mark on its beak so that its chicks can peck and receive food from their mother.
But do you know what animal psychologists discovered?
That when they were offered a wooden knitting needle with its tip painted red, those same chicks pecked more and chose the knitting needle instead of their mother.
That is
a suprastimulus
: a stimulus that is inevitable, irresistible.
And of which not only animals are prey.
It happens with humans too: anything that is exaggerated attracts our attention.
What does pornography do?
It makes the private public, and shows huge breasts and members.
The same thing happens with food.
What would you do if you had the choice between
a three-bun burger
and a green salad in front of you?
You're probably going to the hamburger because it acts as a super or suprastimulus, which works by hijacking natural systems that humans develop to survive.
Video
Nutritionist Mónica Katz tells you how to combat excesses when it comes to eating.
We are
"completer monkeys"
: in ancient times, millions of years ago, food was scarce and we needed to eat what was available, everything, for when there was none.
But today we don't need a triple hamburger and, nevertheless, between choosing one that fits in our mouth without much effort, we choose the giant one.
We live in times of
food porn
or food pornography.
Without a doubt, the calories contained in giant plates or containers have contributed to the obesity epidemic.
Portion volume distortion is universal.
It is verified in supermarkets, restaurants, in our homes, the plates, cups and glasses that we use.
This trend increased over the years: for example, in the 2006 edition of the North American magazine
Joy of Cooking
, the portion sizes of recipes suggested for appetizers increased 42% compared to the first edition, in 1931.
If people could stop after eating two cookies, the world would not be plagued by this obesity epidemic.
We are
scheduled to finish the entire package
and for more or less 40 years the portions offered by the market have seen gargantuan increases.
"Serving volume distortion is universal," says Katz.
Photo Shutterstock.
Until not too long ago, medicine believed that only obese people underestimated their portions, and that that is why they overeated.
Today we know that, although the phenomenon is more pronounced in them, the distortion of the volume of what we eat
affects us all
(except people with some pathologies, such as anorexia nervosa).
We are in an obesity pandemic and no one regulates portions.
Everyone tries to sell you big
.
Restaurants that serve gigantic portions and companies that sell huge packages are consolidating our natural inclination to finish what we start, even if the portions belong to Gulliver's Land.
What can we do?
It is not about living without suprastimuli.
Surely there will continue to exist the teddy bear that is not the same as our real pet, or the always perfect K-pop star.
But we certainly
don't need buckets of popcorn at the cinema
, five-bread hamburgers at the fast food restaurant.
The time will come when governments regulate portions.
In the meantime, remember that you are free: if you can't resist that huge burger, don't go into the place that sells it.
If you can't resist the giant package of cookies, don't go through the gondola.
Humans, unlike animals, have the possibility of being free.
And don't forget: we are what we do with what they made of us.
***
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