Kingman Diet Tip of the Week: Eating every meal is a good habit | Kingman Daily Miner

What about fasting? Hi, this is Eunice at Diet Center.

A study done with 1,000 men and women showed that 22% of women and 17% of men practice unhealthy weight-loss methods. Such methods included skipping meals and fasting. Skipping meals can work against weight-loss efforts in several ways. For some, skipping meals results in snacking throughout the day. Often, the snacks end up being higher in calories than a normal meal. For others, the body may think it’s “starving,” so it becomes more efficient at burning calories. People who skip meals routinely burn calories 7% to 10% more slowly than people who consume regular meals. There are also people who skip meals and then overeat, which changes their metabolism so that it becomes difficult to burn calories.

Many people have the misconception that fasting can help with weight loss. For example, if someone slips up one day, he or she may think that fasting the next day will make up for the slip. While some may see a loss in pounds from fasting, this is mostly a result of water loss. Furthermore, a total fast may result in fat loss, but it may result in a considerable amount of lean muscle loss as well. Please remember that muscle burns calories. Fasting beyond a day or two may also endanger one’s health. Fasting more than a day or two is starvation. Fasting can cause fatigue, nausea, headaches, low blood pressure and heart problems. Don’t forget our heart is one big muscle and…