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If your plan for losing weight is skipping meals you might have to reconsider this strategy because the long term effects of fasting then eating, will only predispose your body to easier weight gain and metabolic diseases.
A recently study, published by the Ohio State University was conducted on mice and showed just how important, for a well balanced diet, is the timing of our meals.
Scientists divided the mice into groups of two. One of the groups had absolutely no restriction on food and they were allowed to eat to their heart`s content throughout the day.
The other group, the less fortunate mice, were only permitted one, very large, meal a day.
During the first three days of the study the mice on a restricted diet, only received half the calories that the control group received, but as time went on, the caloric intake of that one single meal was increased so much, that at the end of the day, both groups received the same amount of food.
After following this type of diet for a while, the mice in the restricted group started binge eating to compensate for fasting for a long period of time.
At the end of the study, the group of mice who only ate once a day developed insulin resistance, this means that the insulin secreted by their pancreas did not manage to deliver the message to the liver, that the cells have enough glucose and it needs to stop making more.
Therefore, a high sugar level was noticed in the mice`s blood and, as it is normal, all that extra sugar was stored as fat. That meant that the fat cells started to grow at a really fast rate.
The condition known as insulin resistance is what causes type 2 diabetes, so if you want to stay clear of this disease (which is spreading like an epidemic), you need to keep your glucose level as smooth as possible and avoid the spike that is triggered by a fasting period which is then followed by a very large meal.
Another aspect about weight gain that scientists discovered was that most of the fat that the mice accumulated, was stored around their belly area, a large abdominal circumference amounts to higher cardiovascular disease risk.
In conclusion, skipping meals will not only fail to help you lose weight, but it will also give two of the risk factors for metabolic syndrome.
In order to maintain a healthy weight, you need to eat three balanced meals throughout the day, with two healthy snacks in between.
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