Is it really reliable to skip dinner in order to lose weight?

Is it really reliable to skip dinner to lose weight? This article teaches you how to lose weight correctly

Obesity refers to people with a body mass index (BMI) ≥ 28 kg/m², where BMI = weight (kg) / [height (m)]², and the normal value of BMI is 18.5-24.0 kg/m². Due to the improvement of people's living standards, changes in dietary structure, and sedentary and inactive factors, my country's obese population has jumped to the top of the world. It is reported that in the past 10 years, the number of obese men in China has increased from 700,000 to 43.2 million; the number of obese women has increased from 1.7 million to 46.4 million. The proportion of abdominal obesity among Chinese diabetics is as high as 45.4%, which is a serious problem that cannot be ignored.

Clinical practice has proven that obesity is a risk factor for many diseases. The higher the degree of obesity, the greater the risk of developing atherosclerosis, hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, hyperuricemia, fatty liver, osteoarthritis and even tumors. "The longer the belt, the shorter the life" is no longer just an alarmist warning. Staying away from obesity and reducing diseases is urgent.

How does obesity lead to these diseases?

Most obese people have high blood lipids. Long-term high blood lipids can cause atherosclerosis, leading to hypertension, coronary heart disease, and stroke. It can also cause hyperuricemia and fatty liver due to metabolic disorders. Obesity not only reduces insulin sensitivity and increases insulin resistance, becoming a major cause of type 2 diabetes, but also makes diabetes difficult to control.

Statistics show that obese people are more likely to suffer from breast cancer, uterine cancer, esophageal cancer, pancreatic cancer, liver cancer, and colorectal cancer than people of normal weight. Therefore, reducing obesity can reduce the occurrence of many diseases.

Losing weight is imperative, but some people skip dinner to lose weight. Is this reliable?

This method of weight loss is naturally not advisable.

The correct healthy diet should be: three meals a day, eat a good breakfast, eat a full lunch, and eat less for dinner. Eating less for dinner is because it is almost time to go to bed after dinner. Eating less can reduce the burden on the digestive system and protect the functions of digestive organs such as the stomach, intestines, and pancreas; on the other hand, it can avoid obesity. However, eating less for dinner does not mean not eating. This is because food can not only provide us with nutrition and energy to avoid hunger, but also neutralize and dilute gastric acid to avoid the invasion and destruction of gastric mucosal barrier by "attack factors" such as gastric acid and pepsin. As we all know, pH (acidity) 7 is neutral, pH 5-7 is weakly acidic, and the pH of gastric acid is 1.8-3.5, which is strongly acidic and has a strong invasion and destruction effect on the gastric mucosal barrier. People who do not eat dinner for a long time will not only affect their sleep due to the hunger contraction of the stomach, but also damage the gastric mucosal barrier, thereby inducing diseases such as gastritis and gastric ulcers.

In addition, after falling asleep at night, the excitability of the vagus nerve increases, and the secretion of gastric acid and pepsin increases, which makes it easier to damage the gastric mucosal barrier. Therefore, in order to lose weight, you must not skip dinner. The correct approach is to eat less dinner, not too rich, and eat foods that are easy to digest and rich in multiple vitamins. This can not only help you lose weight, but also avoid the damaging effects of "attack factors" on the gastric mucosa.

Finally, I would like to remind everyone: From a medical point of view, weight loss requires that the body's catabolism is greater than anabolism, and that you should eat less at dinner and eat until you are 70% to 80% full for breakfast and lunch; you should exercise during the day and do more work within your ability, so that you will consume more energy and lose weight. In addition, you can eat some foods that help you lose weight, such as cucumbers and green tea.