Unhealthy to Skip lunch?

[vejichan]

Any dangers in eating 2x a day? most people i know are skipping breakfast ..at most a cup of coffee and eating a huge lunch and dinner...i have eaten 3x a day (breakfast,lunch and dinner) for the past 20 years and noticed that i tend to feel sleepy after lunch which was bad since i needed to stay focused when i get back to work. I since last year...trying to save money started eating only 2 meals a day.. a huge breakfast and dinner...and drink lots of water all day long. I have noticed i am not sleepy at work and able to maintain my energy level thru out the day. Btw foods i am eating for breakfast are chicken, nuts, eggs, vegs and fruit, rice. I am able to somewhat maintain my bodyweight and best of all save money ...is this diet bad? thoughts or advise?

 

[budda]

Ask your doctor to get you an appointment with a dietician.

In my experience its best to eat when you are hungry.

 

[jaxadam]

What are your goals? If your goal is to not eat lunch that is a solid plan.

 

[Grindspine]

Ask your doctor to get you an appointment with a dietician.

In my experience its best to eat when you are hungry.

Screw asking a doctor about it. If you feel healthier eating twice a day, stick with it.

Asking a doctor will be a waste of time on this question unless you are having some type of side effects, such as malnutrition or low blood sugar. Both of those, however, would have some symptoms.

So again, if it feels healthier, stick to it.

(note: I work in health care, and my family doctor pissed me off today.)

 

[budda]

I'd argue feeling healthier doesn't necessarily mean you are scientifically/certifiably healthier.

 

[Seabeast2000]

It is very rarely unhealthy to skip a meal.

 

[jaxadam]

This girl goes to the doctor and say “doc, I wanna lose some weight”. He says, “well, why don’t you eat one day, and skip a day”. So she comes back a month later and has lost a ton of weight. She says “doc, I’ve lost a lot of weight, but I’m exhausted!” He said “why, from not eating?” And she says “no, from all of that skipping!”

 

[odibrom]

If you feel sleepy after a meal, you're either eating too much or eating heavy food for your stomach to process, or both. Feeling sleepy is the blood running out of your head and into your stomach. Most people drink coffee, but coffee (caffeine) acts on the nervous system, so people are doing 2 wrongs at the same time. A meal is supposed to deliver energy to the body, not take it from it. One should feel energized after a meal, not sleepy. At the end of the day, eat less, heavy meals at supper won't help you sleep nor rest, which is fundamental to feel energetic and have more overall resistance.

My advice is to eat less at lunch and have small snacks for the day until supper AND eat healthier: more vegies and less animal processed food.

Any processed food will have a heavy digestion, animal processed food more so. Grilled / fried cheese is pure junk, sorry to say this, but is.

Raw and fresh vegies and fruits deliver lots of vitamines and more or less energy that can be added with grains/nuts. Carrots can be used as snacks and last a day without going sour.

A few other suggestions:
- Have a bottle of spring water (preferably, clean, no sparkles nor added sugar or whatever) by your side do drink whenever you want, dehydration causes fatigue (among other problems obviously) and most don't know it.
- Do prioritize whole foods to processed ones.
- Do prioritize organic foods to non organic and massive farming productions.
- Do prioritize complete grains (brown rice, for example) to white ones.
- Avoid GMOs like the devil running from the cross.
- Ditch sugar added food and sodas (processed salsa, industrial cookies and bread, all that shit), the sooner the better you'll feel.
- Stop going to McDonald, Burguer King and all that shit, those do no go to anyone except their CEOs to get richer. Once a week is still too much.

Not directly related (but is), do have some sort of physical activity besides with the lady (or whatever your choice is) at least twice per week. One needs to sweat to get the toxins out and clean the body.
- BTT (all terrain / of road cycling) is a nice sport due to refreshing landscape and air, it doesn't have strong impact on one's joints like running has on the knees, it makes one feel accomplished faster (I think), can be done alone or in group, etc...
- Non competitive martial arts (Tai Chi, Aikido, some Kung Fu styles, it depends a lot on the teacher...) and/or physical yoga (there is the posture standing style and the choreography style, don't go for the meditation crap) are great. On Yoga, go with classic and not for trends like "Hot Yoga" and similar shit. The Iyengar method (wikipedia link) is great. Pilates is also functional.

...yeah, I derailed a bit, sorry...

 

[Grindspine]

I'd argue feeling healthier doesn't necessarily mean you are scientifically/certifiably healthier.

I hate to say this, but scientifically and certifiably are very variable. There are so-called experts who will attest that one is automatically unhealthy unless they eat a big breakfast and wake early in the day. Even among registered dieticians, not all opinions are agreed upon.

On my note about my family doctor, she has told both my wife and I that we need to make sure we do not eat too much red meat. I haven't eaten red meat in ten years. She also said that I need to watch the salt intake, after I told her three times that I do not have a high salt diet, as scientifically/certifiably shown by my blood tests. Even professionals will sometimes just reiterate the same ideas without holistically looking at an individual's lifestyle.

So, really, with the little information that the OP has given us. The fact that he feels healthier not eating lunches is the most prominent information that we have on his lifestyle and eating habits. So, unless you are a registered dietician who has details about his life that the rest of us don't....

 

[LostTheTone]

There aren't any obvious risks to eating twice per day, assuming you are otherwise healthy. Be open to eating if you are genuinely hungry, but if you aren't then don't, simples. The key is just not to be too strict, and listen to your body. It'll tell you if it's hungry.

 

[TedEH]

Even professionals will sometimes just reiterate the same ideas without holistically looking at an individual's lifestyle.

Super tangential, but sort of relevant - a friend of mine is convinced that when she dies, she'll need to have printed on her grave stone: "I'd like a second opinion".

We've spent a good amount of time in hospitals etc. in the last couple of years, and health is just as susceptible as any other field to the idea that being professional doesn't automatically mean being correct.

My own experience has been that I feel better when I eat smaller meals more regularly and allow myself to snack in between. Skipped meals = don't feel as good, and overeating in one shot = don't feel as good. I never skip breakfast just because breakfast tends to be the best foods. Lots of greens, lots of fresh stuff, sometimes too much bread but always decent whole grain bread and no more of that cake-y white sandwich bread. Lots of coffee (which has it's own issues), lots of water, but rarely any soda or alcohol anymore. It's not based on any real advice, it's just what works for me.

Realistically the biggest two things I changed for the better about my diet have been: stopping drinking coke almost entirely (I used to drink it like water) and learning to cook some simple decent meals so that it wasn't just fast food or quick/lazy/college-style food all the time. Living on soda, pasta, and hot dogs is a great way to feel like garbage.

Oh and short walks. Walking is great for all kinds of reasons. IMO if you need something and it's any less than a 20-30 minute walk away, you're doing yourself a disservice by driving there unless you really have to.

 

[jaxadam]

I haven't eaten red meat in ten years.

Bro...

 

[odibrom]

(...)

My own experience has been that I feel better when I eat smaller meals more regularly and allow myself to snack in between. (...) It's not based on any real advice, it's just what works for me.

Realistically the biggest two things I changed for the better about my diet have been: stopping drinking coke almost entirely (I used to drink it like water) and learning to cook some simple decent meals so that it wasn't just fast food or quick/lazy/college-style food all the time. Living on soda, pasta, and hot dogs is a great way to feel like garbage.

Oh and short walks. Walking is great for all kinds of reasons. IMO if you need something and it's any less than a 20-30 minute walk away, you're doing yourself a disservice by driving there unless you really have to.

THIS IS THE WAY, all of this... and going plant based meals as well, but that is the next step... just saying...

 

[Mathemagician]

Assuming you’re a healthy adult you need about 2,000 calories a day. Doesn’t matter too much when you get them. Just that you do.

People who do intermittent fasting will eat within a specific window of day 6, 8, or 12 hours. But they are getting their daily required calories.

You may need more/less based on your fitness goals. But that’s the short version.

Protein, vegetables, whole grains, and some fruit.

 

[RevDrucifer]

When I was 100% plant-based/whole foods I was only eating once a day and it was the best I’ve ever felt in life. I’m slowly working my way back to it.

What ya put in the gas tank is far more important than how often you do it. I fell off the plant-based (I won’t say the “v” word) wagon last July and tried doing the same thing, eating once a day, but when it’s a fuckin’ pepperoni pizza you just end up feeling like dog shit and/or starving within a few hours.

And the shits…..oh man, I miss those ever-so-efficient V-shits so much.

 

[jaxadam]

And the shits…..oh man, I miss those ever-so-efficient V-shits so much.

That’s not efficient…. I’ve been searching for 100% conversion, no waste! I tried photosynthesizing for a little while but that got rough.

 

[Hollowway]

I can’t speak for what is good or bad for you, but I usually have a super small lunch (like a handful of almonds) or skip lunch entirely. I essentially just eat dinner, and that’s it. No breakfast, and no snacking.

 

[Seabeast2000]

That’s not efficient…. I’ve been searching for 100% conversion, no waste! I tried photosynthesizing for a little while but that got rough.

you can upcycle AF if you live in Vegas and get on the slop routes.

 

[Heretick]

I can’t speak for what is good or bad for you, but I usually have a super small lunch (like a handful of almonds) or skip lunch entirely. I essentially just eat dinner, and that’s it. No breakfast, and no snacking.

One meal gang rise up

 

[bostjan]

Say you used to eat three meals. If you switch to eating two meals that add up to the same amount of food, you're ultimately just stretching out your stomach more. I guess you might save yourself some insignificant amount of time eating and maybe some significant amount of time preparing your meals (depends on how you are preparing them, this could be mitigated if you prepare a larger dinner and then just save some for lunch the following day...). In terms of overall health, I don't see what the advantage would be. Your body would possibly be spending more time converting your larger meals into stored energy (fat) just to break that down later when you don't eat. It could result in making you feel more tired as a result, but maybe it could also boost your metabolism. It depends on what you are eating and what you are doing all day to burn energy.

So, long story short, maybe, maybe not, it depends. Either way, I don't think it's going to likely be a huge difference one way or the other, but there could be some circumstances that make this more or less dangerous to do. If your body tells you that it doesn't like your dietary behaviours, you should probably try changing them.