We know it matters what you eat. Does it matter when you eat?

Absolutely!

When you skip a meal, your autopilot gets the message from the stomach, “Hey, we are out of business here.  Where is the fuel?”

“I don’t know what is up,” the autopilot signals back. “I’ve passed on your message to the conscious pilot, but so far nothing has happened. I’ll bump up the signal strength and try to get through.  In the meantime, I’ll send the message to the rest of the body to slow down and conserve fuel. We might be starting a famine.”

The body gets the message and the organs shift into low gear.  The metabolism slows down to a crawl.

Finally you are feeling weak and think you are starving to death, so you give in and eat.  And eat. And eat.  Because by this time your stomach has been hammering you with the hormone ghrehlin which is your hunger signal.  It takes awhile for the message to fade out of your system, so you eat until you are stuffed.

Then the autopilot gets back on the horn.  “Famine is over for now,” he announces. “We know that starvation could come again at any time, so we better prepare.  Hang on to the reserves.”

You have just cued your body NOT to lose any weight.  Your skipped meal did not help at all.

Instead, try to space your food so that you are eating three small to moderate meals a day with a couple of snacks.  Make wise, nutritious choices, and your body will cooperate and you won’t feel weak and hungry.

Your body is listening to the messages you give it. Make sure you are sending the right signals!

Eating to live and living for Christ,
Susan Jordan Brown