Skipping Meals before Thanksgiving Dinner Can Be Bad for Gut Health

'Saving Space' for a Big Thanksgiving Dinner May Be Harmful to Your Gut Health

TO Lauren J. Young edited by Lewis asked

In order to enjoy every delicious Thanksgiving meal, it can be tempting to “free up space” in your stomach before the big event by skipping breakfast or lunch. But gut health experts say eating small amounts throughout the day and then eating large meals, especially large and heavy ones, can be taxing on the stomach.

“Very often people talk about saving space for special meals or holiday dinners, and of course around Thanksgiving,” says Katherine Tomasino, a psychologist who specializes in gastrointestinal health at Northwestern University. But fasting before a large meal “may have some negative effects both on people with gastrointestinal conditions and on overall digestion.”

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How does fasting affect gut hormones?

Scientists can gain some insight into what happens to the gut during large meals by extrapolating data fasting test. Typically, when people eat regularly throughout the day, eating food triggers a cascade of various hormones that signal hungeraids digestion, control blood sugar levels and call satiety or fullness.

“It's a beautifully organized system,” says Janice Jin Hwang, director of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

True fasting, which many researchers define as 10 or more hours without food, causes shifts in this process. Hwang explains that body on an empty stomach essentially, it's preparing to take in more nutrients as soon as you resume eating again: the gut may experience systemic pain, better known as “hunger pangs.” The movements of the stomach muscles increase, which helps move and digest food faster. Brain circuits associated with desire and motivation for food are activated, which ultimately influences how people approach their next meal behaviorally and psychologically, Tomasino says.

“If you fast all day and then go out for a big lunch, it can feel like your eyes are bigger than your stomach,” she says.

As a result, people may structure their plates differently. They are more likely to choose tasty foods that are higher in fat and sugar. After a day without food, the brain is more engaged to these types of energy-rich foods, Tomasino explains. It is also common to eat faster on an empty stomach, which can cause people to swallow more air and become bloated. And eating quickly can mean chewing less thoroughly, resulting in larger chunks of food that are harder to digest.

“You also don't take the time to let the digestive processes send signals to the brain like they normally would, because everything happens so quickly that it's very easy to overeat,” Tomasino says. – You know, that feeling of “you need to unbuckle your belt.”

Being a stuffed animal is not only physically uncomfortable; too much food in the intestines may lead to gastric reflux and regurgitation. Ultimately, over-saturation can cause poor sleep, abdominal pain and bowel dysfunction. Tomasino adds that skipping meals in an attempt to better watch calories or weight also backfires due to such overeating.

Hwang suspects that most healthy people can probably adapt to periodic swings between fasting and eating a large meal. However, suddenly eating a large meal high in carbohydrates can cause problems in people with diabetes or obesity. “Sometimes there can be a slight mismatch and your body can produce more insulin than it needs or less,” which can lead to dangerously low or high blood sugar levels, respectively, says Hwang.

Tomasino generally does not recommend fasting before a feast for anyone, regardless of health status.

“From a health standpoint, I don't think it's the best choice to skip meals instead of eating a big meal later because you're not really 'saving space,'” Tomasino says. “If you eat breakfast, most of that food will leave your stomach long before you eat again four to five hours later.”

Consume holiday foods mindfully

Tomasino and Hwang have some tips for protecting gut health while still allowing people to enjoy delicious pasta. Research has shown that order How you put the foods on your plate can affect how your body digests food, says Hwang. A small study from 2015 Diabetes treatment found that when people with type 2 diabetes ate the same meal twice on different days, eating carbohydrates first resulted in higher glucose levels than eating protein and vegetables first.

“So if you haven't eaten for a while and suddenly eat a lot of carbohydrates, they will be broken down into glucose much faster and stimulate the release of more insulin than if you ate a food that has more fat, more protein, or more fiber, which will be digested a little slower,” says Hwang.

If you eat too much turkey and pumpkin pie after they haven't eaten all day (perhaps forgetting to eat while cooking or celebrating), Tomasino and Hwang tell them to try not to eat. stress or shame. Tomasino recommends promoting digestion through some physical activity, such as cleaning or going for a walk with family.

“If you overuse, try not to beat yourself up,” Tomasino says. “Give yourself a chance to have a little fun this Thanksgiving.”

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