Long meal gaps lead to obesity and other serious problems

As all we can see that fast moving life makes us busy every day in office meetings, travelling, teaching and back to back coming challenging tasks. Generally, most of the people keep their profession first and forget that health comes first. They start skipping their meals due to lack of enough time for eating. On the other hand, some people want to lose weight but not getting enough time to make a routine and they also starting skipping meals in regards to weight loss. If you are doing it regularly, it will definitely have adverse effects on your body. You might feel low instead of getting energized, you might feel bloated instead of feeling light. Also you will be facing micronutrient deficiency. So all we should know that our body has tendency to store fats for some future emergencies or conditions like starvation (when you are hungry and got nothing to eat) but fat does not depend on work style and exercise patterns, it mainly depends the type of food you eat and how often you eat. When the duration between the meals increases then body is compelled to store it as a fat. There are two types of chemical works in the body first one is involved in breaking down proteins, fats and carbohydrates while second one tends to preserve all of them. If you disturb your regular eating cycle or keep a long gap between your meals which is almost similar to starvation, in that condition the body releases chemicals that are breaking up all the fat from the peripheries i.e. arms and legs. What happens when you eat your meal after a long gap, body starts getting energy from the food and unfortunately this immobilized fat has to get stored in your belly (abdominal area) which leads to obesity. Belly fat is defined as visceral fat, which is found deep in the stomach that surrounds the internal organs. Visceral fat poses more of a threat to health, as it lies closer to the organs and is associated with some health risk like diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. When you keep longs gaps in meals, this may lead to many metabolic changes in the body given below:

Stomach ulcers

Whenever you skip your meals or keeping a long gap between the meals, acidity occurs. Suppose you have to lunch at particular time around 1’o clock, acid gets produced in your stomach at the same time because our body organs work as per its timings. But if we did not get our meal or we skip that meal, the acid content continues to be produced and production of acid without food in the stomach may burn the lining of stomach which causes ulcers in stomach. Also, when the acid comes up the food pipe causes heart burn as well.

Diabetes

Normally, insulin is produced to balance blood glucose levels in your body, so skipping meals is not a good idea for anyone as it imbalances the levels of glucose and insulin in blood. Under these conditions, you have more chances to become a diabetic patient. If you skip a meal, your blood sugar levels drop which definitely affects the functioning of your body organs. In the state of hunger, you would not be able to eat something like salads as it takes longer time to chew then you will end up eating some processed food which has less fiber or high sugar. Not only this, you would also crave for sweets because your blood sugar becomes down due to long gaps in meal and having sweet food items will make you feel good instantly. Once your brain realizes that your stomach is full, you would load your stomach with these unhealthy food items. This high sugar food may cause insulin hormone imbalance in your body which may further lead to diabetes after several years.

Low brain functioning

As everyone knows that glucose is the main source of energy for brain and whenever you skip a meal, your brain will receive less glucose (energy). As a result, you will suffer with tiredness, frustration, mood swings and irritation which interfere with your ability to concentrate and affect your performance & productivity. Most of the people who are trying to lose weight, they generally started skipping eats which is completely wrong. Also, they choose to compensate for a heavy meal by skipping another meal when you are actually hungry. In that condition, your body weakens and your brain can’t function actively, this results loosing focus when you need it the most.

Hypoglycaemia

It also known as “low blood sugar” or “low blood glucose”. Hypoglycemia another effect of skipping meals, it occurs when blood glucose drops below normal levels. When we left it untreated, hypoglycemia can cause confusion, clumsiness, or fainting. It can lead to seizures, coma, and even death.

Weak thyroid

The thyroid gland is located in our neck part of your body, it is a very small in size and powerhouse of all your body functions. The main function of this gland is to calculate the energy burn. So basically when you don’t consume your meal on time, your thyroid gland would slow down all metabolic functions in your body. This will lead to slow digestion, constipation, dry skin, hair fall and other health related issues. In fact when you are suffering with hypothyroidism, you are going to end up with a slow-functioning thyroid and that causes you to store fat rather than burn energy. In this situation a person is not able to reduce weight, no matter how hard you are trying to lose extra kilos. That’s why skipping meals may also be the reason of weight gain as it slows down your metabolism.

High blood pressure

When you skip meals, the blood glucose level becomes low which stimulates your body to release hormones to compensate for low glucose levels that causes an increase in your blood pressure levels and narrowing of your arteries in the future. The high blood flow can damage blood vessels in the kidneys, decreasing their ability to work correctly. When the kidney’s blood vessels are damaged, your body can not properly remove waste and extra fluid which raises blood pressure more, causing blood vessels to stretch.

Stress and depression

Skipping meals not only causes metabolic changes but psychological changes also happens in your body. Suppose you are hungry for a longer time, you get irritated and end up spoiling your mood and relationship with workplace, friend and family which lead to depression too. Apart from this, stress can lead to emotional eating and poor dietary choices which is directly associated to weight gain.

Bad breath

When you had a long gap in meal pattern, ketoacidosis happens when your body breaks down fatty acids and reacts chemically with amino. Saliva acts as a mouthwash in addition to helping with the digestion of the food we eat. If you skip meals, your empty stomach produces less saliva and end keeps your mouth dry. A dry mouth is beneficial for growing bacteria that can generate odor from the breath. So always remember that if you are not able to eat your meal make sure you still drink sufficient water because this will help to keep your mouth moist and stimulate saliva production.