Why Do You Feel Full After a Big Meal?

Have you ever wondered what exactly happens inside your body after you’ve eaten a hearty meal? Why do you feel full? Well one of the reasons why you feel full is because our stomach can only expand up to the capacity of 1 litre. So once you’ve eaten a large pizza or a lot of chicken, which fills the stomach to its capacity, it starts to expand and squeezes other organs, making you feel full.

In addition to this, whenever we open our mouth to eat, we tend to swallow a small puff of air, congesting the stomach even more. The abdomen is pushed to the limits if you are drinking a beer or a soda alongside your meal. The fizz or the gas in your drink takes up even more space than the liquid itself, filling your stomach to the brim, until you burp some of that out.

The next time you experience heartburn, you should know that your body is working really hard to digest the extra amount of food you’ve consumed. The irritation in the food pipe is caused by the excessive hydrochloric acid produced by the stomach to break down food. More the food means more the acid and consequently, more of that burning feeling.

Another reason why you may feel extra full is mental. You see, our body has an excellent internal message delivery system. When you indulge in over-eating, your hormones send a message to the brain, indicating that your body doesn’t need more food at the moment. Hormones react even more strongly to some high calorie meals or the ones that are full of carbohydrates, fats or protein. Next time you pick up that fork to go for the last piece of cake on the table, take a moment or two, see if your body is ready for it or not.