Is Skipping Meals Really Bad For You? Know The Truth!

We have all skipped meals whether consciously or unconsciously for many reasons. Sometimes with the purpose to shred some ounce or sometimes due to an overload of work, skipping meals has been quite a frequent thing for many.

Skipping a meal or having a very stretched gap between two meals seems like nothing harmful. After all, it is just one meal. Many people will argue that if you miss one meal, it is fine but let us break this to you.

IT IS NOT FINE!

Skipping meals can be very dangerous for your body. If a portion of food your body is expecting at a certain time of the day when isn’t given to it, you might suffer consequences in different-different ways. Some may be short-term while some may be long-lasting. That is why here we will tell you everything your body goes through when you decide to skip a meal. And trust us, this will be an eye-opener for you!

1. Your Blood Sugar And Energy Level Might Fall Down

It is a well-known thing that your body uses the food you consume to release energy in the form of ATPs. The functioning of your brain relies on glucose. Eating at regular intervals of time ensures that the energy levels remain constant throughout. Carbohydrate-rich food is predominately the most important source for the release of energy in our system. When you don’t eat, your body doesn’t have enough glucose for it to supply to your brain. The brain due to this starts giving signals to the body to work on lower energy in order to run throughout the day. This will ultimately make you feel tired after a certain point in time.

When this happens, the very first symptom is you’ll feel tired, you won’t be able to concentrate much on the work you are doing and you’ll feel sluggish. In many severe cases, it could even lead to dizziness and shakiness.

2. Very High Risk Of Nutrient Deficiency

When you skip a meal, you are putting your body at risk of nutrient deficiency. When you don’t eat, you are already not giving your body the essential fuel it needs to work efficiently. In a 2017 study at UMass Medical School, it was found that people who skipped breakfast had lower daily thiamin, niacin and folate intakes, while the people who have their breakfast regularly consume more fibre and less fat and sugar.

3. You Are More Prone To Eating Disorders

Eating disorders can be in many forms. In some, it is observed as binge-eating while in some you frequently eat. They could be due to many reasons but skipping your meal can contribute to them. The reason is that when you skip meals, you are unwillingly impacting your health and well-being negatively. This puts a person in a very vulnerable position. A person who skips meals often leads to a binge-eating disorder, anorexia, bulimia or even orthorexia. That is why skipping meals should be avoided whatsoever.

4. Could Upset Your Digestive System

When you skip meals, there is a chance of upsetting your digestive system. There is often a stigma among people, that skipping meals could lead them to consume fewer calories however, that’s not usually the case. In fact, when you skip a meal it could lead to the feeling of nausea, diarrhoea or even constipation.

This happens because your digestive system is very complex. Your liver, intestines, and pancreas are involved in the process along with many hormones, all working directly or indirectly on the signals of your brain. When you frequently skip meals, you are disturbing the functioning of your digestive system. This leads to nausea or diarrhoea or in some cases constipation. This all arises due to the inability of your digestive system to function well.

5. You May Lose Your Sense Of Your Hunger Cue and Fullness Cue

There is a hormone in your body called leptin which is responsible for your body’s understanding of fullness. It sends a signal to your brain telling you had enough and you do not need more food. It is also called the satiety hormone. And when you are hungry, a hormone called ghrelin comes into light. This hormone gives your brain the signal of hungry and thus you get the urge to eat.

These hormones can get easily disrupted when you skip meals which is literally like you are not listening to their demands. When you don’t fulfil the requirements of these hormones, disruptions take place. And when they are disrupted you lose the sense of hunger and fullness.

6. Can Lead To Anxiety

It may sound strange but when we avoid a meal, we are edging towards anxiety unknowingly. A study in 2018, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, found that adolescents who skipped breakfast were more likely to experience stress and depression than those who regularly ate breakfast.

The result may be surprising as we often believe that skipping a meal a day won’t affect our mental health in any way. However, this is false.

From stretched hours of going without meals to completely missing one, your blood sugar levels drop. The hypothalamus signals the production of cortisol which is commonly known as the stress hormone. The hormone is released in order to help in regulating the dip in blood sugar levels. But, since it is a stress hormone, it will create a stress response in the body.

This is the reason why the feeling of anxiousness or depression crawls up more in people who tend to skip meals more often.

7. You May Have Bad Mood

A very commonly observed thing in many people is that when they are hungry, they are cranky. A grumbling stomach is not the best thing in the world and this could trigger bad moods in many people. This happens primarily because our brain is not getting enough glucose. When we skip meals, as we have told you previously, the amount of glucose required by the brain to function is reduced. When this happens our body works on low energy and the production of cortisol is signalled. This is the reason the feeling of crankiness and irritation arise in people.

On top of that, the feeling of being hungry is not the nicest in the world. This puts us in a very bad mood. And we blame the world for our bad moods!

Our Final Verdict

We have told you why avoiding a meal can be very dangerous for you. You put your body under a lot of stress when you skip that meal thinking it is not going to cause havoc. Always listen to your body and its requirement. Skipping a meal is a bad deal and you should be staying away from that as much as possible.

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