What will happen to people who don’t eat dinner for a long time?

Many people imagine that skipping dinner will help them lose weight, but in reality, it is very difficult to lose weight by skipping dinner, and you may even gain weight. A retrospective population study in Japan found that the risk of obesity among boys and girls who skipped dinner within three years increased by 74% and 68%, respectively. So what will happen if you skip dinner?

What happens if you skip dinner?

01 Damage to the stomach

The food people eat enters the stomach and needs to be digested and absorbed by gastric juice.

Gastric juice is extremely corrosive. If you often skip dinner at night and your stomach is empty, without food to neutralize the stomach acid, the stomach acid will erode the gastric mucosa, which may lead to gastric ulcers in the long run.

02 Weak immunity

The premise of a healthy body is to have a regular life and maintain a balanced nutrition, so that the human body can achieve a virtuous cycle and the organs can function normally. If you often skip dinner, the body cannot take in nutrients in time, and the immune system will be the most damaged. People who often skip dinner have lower immunity and are more likely to get sick.

03 Hypoglycemia

Affecting brain function: If you often skip dinner, you are likely to experience dizziness, trembling limbs, palpitations and other problems. In severe cases, you may also experience nausea, vomiting and sweating.

If you lie down to sleep without eating dinner at night, there will be no food in your stomach to digest, which can easily lead to hypoglycemia. Brain cells mainly rely on blood glucose for energy. If you don't eat dinner for a long time, brain cells will have no nutrition supply and will suffer from hypoxia. Once the hypoxia lasts for more than 6 hours, it will cause irreversible damage.

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04. Poor sleep quality

Not eating dinner at night will also affect the quality of sleep. Since there is no food in the stomach to digest, it will bring a feeling of extreme hunger, and you will be unable to sleep due to hunger, which will affect the quality of sleep.

Poor sleep for a long time will affect the mental state, make it difficult for the body's organs to maintain normal function, and easily cause endocrine disorders in the body.

In what situations can you skip dinner? Of course

Don’t generalize

If you encounter the following 4 special situations

You don’t have to eat dinner!

01. Eating too much for lunch

If you eat a full day's worth of food at lunch and don't have the opportunity to exercise, consider skipping dinner.

02 I ate too much in the afternoon snack

Many people eat and drink without restraint during afternoon tea! If you accidentally overeat fruits, biscuits, and cakes, you can consider skipping dinner.

03Get used to going to bed early

Dinner and bedtime should be separated by about 3 hours to prevent sleep from being affected by being too full.

For those who go to bed around 11 o'clock or even later, dinner is crucial. If you go to bed at 8 or 9 o'clock in the evening, you can consider eating two meals a day and delaying lunch.

04Severe obesity

For people who are severely obese, even brisk walking may feel like a huge burden, and they are completely unable to do higher-intensity exercise.

In this case, in the early stages of weight loss, you can choose to eat small meals frequently, or eat less or even skip dinner.

After 1 to 2 months, reduce your body weight to an appropriate range, start increasing the intensity of exercise, and resume some dinner in moderation.

How should I eat dinner?

The "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents" states that three meals a day should ensure a variety of foods, eat more fruits and vegetables, milk, soybeans, and grains, and eat fish, poultry, eggs, and lean meat in moderation.

Less salt, less oil, control sugar and limit alcohol

In general

Dinner energy should not exceed 30% of the total daily dietary energy

But it varies from person to person

If you are used to exercising at night, you can eat a little more

Not just dinner—all three meals a day

Follow the principle of balanced diet, less oil and less salt

Move regularly every day

I believe you can say goodbye to obesity

Say hi to health

Source: Chongqing Tianji Network Co., Ltd.

This article is compiled from: Daily Health Nutrition Knowledge, Run Run Shaw Hospital, Tencent Medical Dictionary

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