In contemporary society, slimming has gradually evolved into a symbolic pursuit of female beauty. This excessive pursuit of weight loss has had a significant impact on the physical and mental health of women.
Many women resort to extreme weight loss methods in pursuit of a slender figure. Among them, skipping dinner has become a popular weight loss tactic. Many women believe that skipping dinner can help achieve weight loss goals.
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Why does skipping dinner lead to weight loss?
Dinner, as the last main meal of the day, if the consumed calories are not promptly burned, they will be converted into body fat and stored, leading to weight gain over time.
Firstly, when we choose to skip dinner, we effectively reduce the total calorie intake for the day. This is like setting a lower “baseline” for the battle between energy consumption and storage in the body. After burning the calories consumed during other times of the day, the body is forced to draw energy from existing fat reserves, promoting fat burning and ultimately achieving weight loss.
Furthermore, skipping dinner helps adjust our eating habits and biological clock. The prolonged fasting period after dinner allows the body to adapt to this new eating pattern, reducing cravings for food and unnecessary calorie intake like late-night snacks. Additionally, regular eating and sleeping patterns help regulate hormones, promote metabolism, and further accelerate the weight loss process.
However, it is important to note that skipping dinner is not suitable for everyone, especially for those with existing health issues or poor dietary habits. Blindly skipping dinner may lead to various side effects. Therefore, before deciding to adopt this weight loss method, it is advisable to consult with professionals to ensure health and safety.
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Doctors admit: People who skip dinner long-term not only lose weight but also improve these 4 issues
1. In terms of blood sugar management, dinner is when many people consume the most concentrated calories of the day. Skipping dinner can effectively reduce the rapid fluctuation of nighttime blood sugar, helping stabilize blood sugar levels throughout the day, which is particularly important for diabetes patients or individuals with significant blood sugar fluctuations.
2. Skipping dinner plays a positive role in slowing down aging. By reducing the intake of food at night, the body can better repair and detoxify during the night, reducing oxidative stress caused by food digestion and delaying cell aging. Moreover, reducing evening food intake also helps maintain a healthy weight, further slowing down the aging process.
3. Skipping dinner contributes to promoting digestive health. After dinner, many people immediately rest, causing the food to stay in the stomach for an extended period, increasing the burden on digestion.
Skipping dinner allows the digestive system more time to rest, enabling thorough repair and detoxification during the night, maintaining optimal functionality.
4. Skipping dinner significantly enhances sleep quality. Overeating or having dinner late can lead to discomfort in the stomach at night, affecting sleep quality. Skipping dinner reduces the gastrointestinal burden, making it easier to enter deep sleep, improving sleep quality, and promoting overall physical and mental health.
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Eating dinner until 70% full reduces cardiovascular disease risk
It is often said that “dinner should be light,” and this is not baseless but has solid scientific basis. When dinner involves excessive food intake, the intestines have to work harder for digestion, undoubtedly increasing their burden.
More significantly, overeating dinner affects sleep quality. Moreover, overeating dinner can have long-term health effects.
Critical health indicators like blood pressure, blood sugar, and weight could become imbalanced, with the heart being particularly affected, suffering significant harm.
Research findings presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Conference serve as a reminder: Excessive calorie intake after 8 pm raises the risk of cardiovascular diseases significantly in women.
For diabetic patients, dinner portion size is a matter of life and death. Studies in the Journal of Diabetes Care have revealed that patients with large differences in energy intake between dinner and breakfast have a substantially increased risk of death from diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
A simple habit change – transferring 5% of the total dinner calories to breakfast – can reduce the risk of diabetes-related death by 4% and cardiovascular-related death by 5%.
Thus, controlling the calorie intake during dinner is crucial. We recommend that dinner should generally account for 30% to 35% of the total daily calories, and eating until 70% full, meaning no feeling of bloating or burden in the stomach while appetite diminishes, is the ideal state.
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How to eat dinner to maximize weight loss? Remember these 4 principles
On the path to achieving a slim figure, dinner choices are especially crucial. Let’s remember these four principles together and make dinner your effective companion on your weight loss journey.
Firstly, dinner should be “lightweight.” This means choosing ingredients that are light and low in calories, avoiding greasy and heavy-flavored foods.
Vegetables, fruits, lean meats, and fish are excellent choices. They not only fulfill the body’s nutritional needs but also avoid burdening the body excessively.
Secondly, dinner should be “proportionate to expenditure.” This means deciding on dinner’s amount based on one’s body condition and activity level.
Avoid binge eating and aim to keep dinner calorie intake at around one-third of the total daily intake. This not only reduces fat accumulation but also helps maintain the body’s healthy state.
Furthermore, dinner should be “timely and measured.” It would be best to keep dinner times consistent each day to establish a regular biological clock. Additionally, do not purposely reduce dinner calorie intake for weight loss, as this can lead to feelings of hunger and consequent binge eating.
Lastly, dinner should be “chewed slowly.” This not only aids in food digestion and absorption but also reduces food intake. While relishing the flavors, allow sufficient time for the body to sense satiety, preventing overeating.
