Abstract
It seems that very few women are entirely happy with their size or shape: they believe that they are too fat or too thin, or that the acceptable present state can only be preserved by strict attention to diet. Yet the body does not necessarily need close supervision, for the mechanisms controlling food intake are incredibly sensitive and precise, as a little calculation shows. Thus, an average woman gains about 11 kg between the ages of 25 and 65. During this period she eats roughly 20 tons of food, and yet her weight increase corresponds to an average daily error of only 350 mg (about 1/100 oz) over the amount needed for energy balance (Hervey, 1969). That represents a very high order of accuracy, particularly when the variables introduced by meal size, meal length, inter-meal interval, the selection of a balanced diet from the nutrients available, the influence of food palatability, dietary preferences and religious taboos are taken into account.
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© 1988 Bernard T. Donovan
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Donovan, B.T. (1988). Eating and Drinking. In: Humors, Hormones and the Mind. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19025-6_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19025-6_13
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