Question

Why would a person’s stomach feel uncomfortably full several hours after eating a bacon–topped double cheeseburger, a large serving of French fries, and a milkshake?

Answer 1

Digestion involves the process of breaking down of the larger food components into smaller food components. These components are the nutrients present in the food taken. Intake of food is called as ingestion, breakdown of larger food components to smaller ones is called as digestion, and absorption of these nutrients into the blood, is called as absorption.

The parts of the digestive system include mouth, esophagus, stomach, small and large intestines. Altogether, it is called as the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). When compared to all other nutrients digestion, fat is slowly digested in the body. Fats have comparatively larger and complex food components, so it takes time to get digested in the body. Carbohydrates do not take much time in digestion process, unlike digestion of fats. There are 4 calories present in a gram of carbohydrate, whereas 9 calories are present in a gram of fat.

Satiety means the state of fullness. It is opposite of being hungry. Foods having highest satiety value mean those foods that take longer time to digest and remain in the stomach for much more time. So, after consumption of high fat content foods, the satiety feel will be high leading to the uncomfortable feel in the stomach, even after several hours of intake.

In the given condition, intake of highly fat content foods like bacon – topped double cheeseburger, large serving of French fries, and a milkshake, led to the feeling of higher satiety and so, the person feels uncomfortable in the stomach and this fullness feel continues after several hours of consumption (due to high content of fat, which means high satiety feel, and fat is digested slowly in the body).