Why Is Skipping Meals Bad for Our Health?

Our body is a complex organism, functioning in accordance with its own inner clock. We do not have to give orders to digest food, breathe, or secrete hormones. Body’s inner clock works perfectly and our task is to adapt ourselves to its optimal functioning. Since our body has its own time optimal for consuming food, very often we disturb this natural rhythm by skipping meals for many reasons. All the reasons group around two main causes: to lose weight and not have enough time to eat. Many times we have heard the common excuses like not feeling hungry, have a lot work to do, getting up too late, coming late at home, etc. If we are accustomed to skipping breakfast or lunch, we can really feel no hunger at all at these mealtimes. The reason for this is quite simple: during the years we continually suppressed our feelings of hunger and now, for this repression, we think that we are not hungry. Another factor that contributes significantly to masking a hunger is stress. Stress triggers hormones that decrease our sense of hunger and hold us too focused on our daily activities, thus preventing us to acknowledge our body needs. The article “The Importance of Frequent Meals” describes what happens in our body when we skip a meal.

• The muscle glycogen storage deposits in muscle and liver become depleted.
• As the glucose levels drop the body looks for other sources of fuel. Since the brain and nerves prefer energy from glucose, protein tissues (muscle) are
broken down. (Not good if your aim is to build muscle).
• The effort to preserve the remaining protein, the body starts to metabolise fat for energy in the form of ketone bodies (acetoacetic acid).
• Decrease in T3 thyroid hormone, the longer the period between meals the greater the reduction inT3.
• Negative effect on insulin levels which causes increased insulin spikes which in turn leads to fat storage

The same article continues further with listing the common effects that skipping meals can have on our body and health.

The process of using ketone bodies as fuel is called ketosis. This process can cause the following negative effects on the body:

• Nausea
• Fatigue
• Constipation
• Lowered blood pressure
• Elevated risks of kidney disease (uric acid)
• Stale breath
• Fetal harm/stillbirth in pregnant women.

Effects of skipping meals:

• Decreased energy expenditure
• Decreased metabolic rate
• Weight gain
• Increased preference of fat in the diet (Satiety)
• Decrease in strength
• Increase in injury rates
• Decreased bone density
• Decreased body temperature
• Decreased performance
• Decreased resistance to disease
• Impaired thermal regulation
• Decreased testosterone levels
• Mood swings

If we want to feel energetic and enthusiastic during our waking time and do many of our activities more effectively, we have to eat high-quality meals at regular mealtimes. Very often we do not have much time to sit down and eat, but eating a salad, sandwich, spaghetti, or some other fast meal can be a good way to provide our body with healthy nutrients when it is really needed. In this way we can increase our immunity, prevent many diseases, such as diabetes, heart diseases, depression, etc., and feel more motivated for our daily tasks and life in general.