| Do you hectically work through lunch, rushing | | | | That's right: Adding insult to injury, we tend to |
| around with no time to refuel? Do you think you | | | | make up for the meals we skip later on in the |
| are fine because you don't feel miserable? What | | | | day by eating empty calorie foods. Eventually, |
| people don't realize is that they need to give their | | | | giving in to hunger leads to grabbing the first food |
| system more energy every four to five hours. | | | | we see--often something from a vending machine |
| When extremely busy, an adrenaline rush may | | | | like a bag of chips or a candy bar. |
| mask hunger signals. But the body will start to | | | | Obviously, skipping a meal means skipping any |
| suffer with no immediate source of glucose, which | | | | nutrition you would have eaten at that meal. It's |
| many of the body's cells need to function | | | | hard enough to get in all our servings of fruit, |
| normally (most importantly, the brain!) It's | | | | vegetables, dairy, etc--if you skip a meal how are |
| comparable to not getting enough sleep and | | | | you ever going to fit all those nutrient-dense |
| believing it's fine: When you are so used to feeling | | | | foods in later in the day?! |
| the way you feel, you can't imagine how much | | | | Another part of missing a meal means you are |
| better you would feel if you were well-rested and | | | | missing fluids needed for hydration. It's so |
| well-fed! | | | | important to get enough water in each |
| In reality, skipping a meal will eventually slow your | | | | day--whether you consciously realize it or not. |
| body's metabolism. Our physiology still reacts as | | | | You might not feel thirsty but your body still |
| we did in the caveman days--if there is not a | | | | needs about eight glasses of water each day to |
| source of food, we burn energy more slowly in | | | | keep you adequately hydrated. |
| order to conserve it. As a result, people who are | | | | The bottom line is, people who are rushing to |
| overweight may be skipping meals and then | | | | meetings, glued to their computer or telephone, |
| expecting to lose weight. But this does not | | | | not leaving their desks--are not making time for a |
| happen because you end up burning fewer | | | | break to re-energize. They are missing the |
| calories to conserve energy, as well as making up | | | | opportunity to rehydrate and refuel their body, |
| for the calories later on in the day. | | | | and missing out on needed nutrients. |