Can Skipping A Meal Help Us?

Intermittent fasting, which basically involves following a very strict regimen of skipping meals, may be very useful for your health. Research has shown that overweight individuals who do so exhibit lower levels of cholesterol, inflammation, and oxidative stress. Antioxidant levels were also found to increase.

Often, after fasting, you may be inclined to eat a little extra during the next meal in order to compensate for the lost calories during the previously skipped meal. However, when considered on an overall basis, it actually results in a lower calorie intake than what you would probably have had normally, even in a span as small as two days.

Routinely skipping breakfast may be troublesome for both men and women in a number of ways. A study has shown that skipping breakfast regularly may increase, by as much as 20%, the risk of problems like Type II Diabetes, insulin resistance, and even heart disease.

Many arguments suggest that intermittent fasting can force your body to go into what is known as 'starvation mode', which leads to a slower metabolic rate and thus, lesser fat-burning. On the contrary, however, quite the reverse happens. Short-term fasting can actually increase metabolic rate, due to an increase in the levels of nor-epinephrine or nor-adrenaline, which stimulates breaking down of body fat by the fat cells.