Let's say you slept through breakfast, worked through lunch, or arrived home so sleepy that you headed straight to bed and no longer had the energy to eat dinner. What do you think will be the consequences?
Well, science says that your body's exact reaction to a missed meal generally depends on your age, health, and diet. As they say, the act of skipping any meals can commence a wide range of physiological processes - both good and bad.
Hunger pang and energy drain both bother you and your system.
In your effort to drop a few pounds fast, you consider skipping lunch and forget about dinner, thinking you can ride out the hunger pangs by just drinking water or even having some refreshing fruit water recipes. You also, at times, opt to juice green vegetables or some fresh fruits, believing that these can provide you the nutrients that you really need. Though you may lose some pounds, dealing with hunger pangs and energy drain are just the tip of the iceberg, there are lots of different side effects that you surely don't want to harm you.
You are stuck into starvation.
Skipping meals means no supply of calories and nutrients. Thus, it lets your system shift into starvation mode, slows down your metabolism, makes you feel burnt out, and experiences brain fog and mood swings. Experts warn you that if you keep the meal-skipping thing up, your body might sink your metabolism and sap your strength.
A recent study conducted at the Oregon Research Institute (ORI) found that skipping meals or restricting the number of calories you consume each day can actually make unhealthy food more attractive. When adolescents who willingly curbed their eating habits were shown pictures of unhealthy but appetizing food, brain imaging showed a spike in hyperactivity.
Your risk for some diseases may increase.
"If you routinely skip breakfast, you may be headed for trouble," Leah Cahill, PhD of the Harvard School of Public Health said. One of her previous studies found out that women who skipped breakfast regularly had a 20% increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, coronary diseases, and abnormal weight gain.
"Our bodies need to be fed food regularly in order to maintain healthy levels of blood lipids such as cholesterol, hormones such as insulin, and normal blood pressure," Cahill added.
Now, do you still want to skip a meal? Not anymore, right?
