Skipping dinner for an entire month is a drastic dietary change that can have significant impacts on your body and overall health.
This practice, sometimes referred to as time-restricted eating or intermittent fasting, has gained attention in recent years for its potential weight loss and metabolic benefits. However, eliminating an entire meal from your daily routine can also lead to unexpected changes in your body’s functioning and may not be suitable for everyone.
Immediate physiological changes that occur in the body
Dr Twincy Ann Sunil, clinical dietician and nutritionist at Apollo Spectra Hospital, Bangalore, says, “The body experiences several changes instantly when you stop having dinner. By skipping dinner, you further decrease your daily food intake, thus calorie deficit and possible weight loss.”
She adds, “Glycogen, the stored glucose, also decreases as the body relies on it for energy when food is not available and the blood sugar concentration goes down, resulting in dizziness, irritability and fatigue.”
Specifically, ghrelin which triggers the hunger signal surges, and the prolonged blocking of hunger stimuli can compromise your natural feeding mechanism. Also, you might experience your metabolism decreasing when your body adjusts to consuming fewer calories to provide for its essential needs.
Long-term health consequences
While skipping dinner might offer short-term benefits like weight loss, Dr Sunil says, it can also lead to several long-term health issues:
Nutritional Deficiencies: Skipping a meal implies that one is not able to take numerous nutrients required by the body and may end up having a poor diet. This can impact the immune system and the total energy levels of the body.
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Muscle Loss: If the recommended daily intake of protein is not taken, the body will start burning muscle to generate energy resulting in muscle loss in the long run.
Metabolic Slowdown: Dieting or calorie restriction over the long term has a negative effect of reducing the BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) and therefore making it difficult to lose weight or easy to gain it back when one is off the diet.
Disordered Eating Patterns: Regular missed meals can lead to poor eating habits including episodes of binge eating or an eating disorder.
By skipping dinner, you further decrease your daily food intake, thus calorie deficit and possible weight loss (Source: Freepik)
Impact on metabolism, energy levels, and overall daily functioning
According to Dr Sunil, skipping dinner results in the reduction of metabolic rate, energy level, and productivity for the rest of the day as follows. It may cause the metabolism to slow down and your body to store more fat which will result in weight gain when the usual eating habits are resumed. This is because your body becomes more efficient at storing fat when it perceives the availability of food to be low.
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She notes, “If you skip the evening meal, you may also feel lousy and lethargic throughout the day and possibly unable to do regular activities or partake in other forms of exercise. Skipping dinner can also have consequences on cerebral activity, it becomes more difficult to concentrate, memorise information or make decisions.”
Who should avoid skipping dinner
Dr Sunil cautions children, elderly persons, diabetes and hypoglycemic patients, as well as athletes to avoid skipping dinners.
“Individuals are advised to consult a doctor when making large dietary changes and eating well-balanced meals during the day is important for a person’s health and receiving proper nutrition,” she tells indianexpress.com.
