Food Addiction and Intermittent Fasting

Abstract

Food can be defined as “any nutritious substance that people or animals eat or drink, or that plant absorb in order to maintain life and growth is called as food”. Cell is the functional unit of our body and each cell of our body in order to function properly requires food. Food provides energy, however there is a limit of energy production in living beings. Since “Food” is described as Prana in Vedas, the minute we are born we need food to sustain life, not only this, the day a female conceives the developing embryo needs food. The type and source of the food varies from developing stage of the embryo to after birth till death. Food (which really includes many types of drinks too – such as milk, juices and cola – but not water) is made up of nutrients. The one who has born on this planet needs food to grow [1]. In other words food is essential for growth and sustenance of life. To some extant every living being is addicted to food, this compulsive behaviour may be in response to an emotion, such as stress, sadness, or anger [2]. Food is a epigenetic factor and influence on gene expression and personality of the person [3, 4]. The human body needs food to function, but food addiction is when a person becomes dependent on certain types of foods only [5]. Our sense organs give clues for the presence of the food which we like, from these clues endocrine glands start working, sending messages through neurones to brain and we feel hungry. Hunger may be 2 types viz (A) True and (B) False.