There are many reasons why people skip meals. They are too busy in the morning to eat breakfast. They get caught up in a task or activity and forget to eat. They forget their lunch at home and don’t have good takeout options near their workplace. They don’t have strong signs of hunger. They have meetings or a million emails to answer at lunchtime. They do intermittent fasting. They diet and try to compensate for a “too big” meal earlier. They have an eating disorder.
Missing a meal occasionally—perhaps you’re sick, or traveling, or dealing with an emergency and the meal must go on—isn’t a big deal, generally. But when skipping meals happens frequently, even habitually, there are some real risks.
Your food and mood
One is the negative effect on mood. When you go too long without food, your body produces extra cortisol, a stress hormone. It does this to try to regulate your blood sugar drop, but it also increases the body’s stress levels. (If you’re ever hungry, this can make a lot of sense.)
Over time, skipping meals or simply not eating enough can make you feel more stressed and anxious. If you struggle with depression, it could worsen these symptoms as well.
This is why eating enough is so important in eating disorder recovery — a hungry brain is a stiffer and more anxious brain.
Food provides energy, so when you don’t eat enough, your brain and body don’t get the fuel they need to function optimally. It’s no coincidence that my eating disorder clients tell me how much better they feel and how much more present they are with friends, family, colleagues, when they start eating more (even if eating more is still difficult).
Craving, hunger and fullness
Your body needs food at regular intervals and tries to tell you this through hunger cues. When you ignore these signals by skipping meals, your body can stop sending them. It’s like your body is saying, “Why bother…they never listen anymore.”
When my client tells me they don’t eat breakfast because they don’t feel hungry in the morning, once we do a little masking, the truth often comes out – they don’t feel hungry because they skip breakfast for so long. Sometimes for years.
But dead hunger signs don’t mean you don’t need to eat. Your body still needs fuel. And in the interest of trying to protect you, your body will fight back. He can do this with slowing down your metabolismbut first he will try to get you to eat.
Skipping meals and undereating can also cause cravings and other disturbing thoughts about food, also known as “eating noise.” Not only can this be annoying and overwhelming, but it takes up mental space that you could otherwise devote to other things. It makes your world smaller.
Finally, your hunger, whether dormant or simply ignored, can build and grow to the point where it becomes primal. You’ll want to eat anything that isn’t spiked. Because you’re so hungry, because you feel like you have that empty empty pit in your stomach, it is very easy to quickly eat past the point of comfortable fullness. Possibly to the point of feeling out of control.
So not only can skipping meals cause you to lose touch with your hunger cues, you can also lose touch with your fullness cues.
Circadian rhythms and chronic disease
From a broader health perspective, skipping breakfast can contribute to misalignment of your circadian rhythms (internal clocks). Emerging research strongly suggests that this misalignment can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other health conditions, and that when we eat plays a role. Why? Because Our bodies are designed to eat and be active during the day and fast and rest at night.
When you wake up in the morning, your heart, liver and other organs start working harder for you. That means they need fuel. Because of this, your body uses calories and carbohydrates more efficiently earlier in the day, which helps maintain stable blood sugar levels. This is one reason why skipping breakfast can disrupt circadian rhythms.
That’s another thing while exposure to light is the most powerful factor in synchronizing your body with its environment — resets the clock in your brain, then that clock sends signals to help reset the clocks in your organs — when we eat is a second factor.
In studies where researchers force the misalignment of these timing signals—participants are exposed to light and then eat 12 hours later—they find that some organs get confused because they sense both signals and pull in opposite directions.
Let’s say you skip breakfast and lunch and then eat dinner at 8 or 9 p.m. Your brain will still be synchronized to the light-dark cycle, but many of the peripheral clocks in your organs will be out of sync. If you eat at the wrong time of day, these clocks will ignore the light signal to some extent and instead reset the food intake pattern. This is a big problem, because now you have an internal misalignment of your biological clocks.
2023 study It found that eating fewer than three meals a day and overnight fasting of less than 10 hours or more than 14 hours were associated with an increased risk of premature death from cardiovascular and other causes. Why? Because…
- Participants with longer fasts tended to eat their last meal of the day earlier, which could be positive, but they also tended to eat their first meal later, which could be detrimental.
- Those who had a short overnight fast ate an early breakfast and a late dinner.
- Participants who ate fewer than three meals a day tended to have irregular meal times, which could make it harder for the body to prepare for incoming nutrients.
So, no, skipping meals, whether on purpose or accidentally (because you forgot to eat), is not benign behavior.
Need more help regulating your eating and improving your relationship with food and your body image? Click here to schedule a free 20-minute Discovery Call to talk about your concerns and whether you would benefit from nutritional therapy.
Disclaimer: All information provided here is general in nature and provided for educational purposes only. This information should not be taken as medical or other health advice related to an individual’s specific health or medical condition. You agree that use of this information is at your own risk.
Hi, I’m Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, a weight that includes registered dietitian, nutritionist and body image consultant. I offer compassionate, personalized care for adults of all ages, shapes, sizes and genders who want to break free from eating disorders, disordered eating or years of dieting. If you need to learn how to management of IBS symptoms with food, or improve your eating and lifestyle habits to help manage a current health concern or just supporting your overall health and wellness, helping people with that too.
Need 1-on-1 help with your nutrition, food or body image concerns? Schedule a free 20-minute Discovery Call let’s talk about how I can help you and explore if we’re a good fit! I am in network with Regence BCBS, FirstChoice Health and Providence Health Plan and can bill Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield insurance in many states. If I don’t get your insurance, I can help you claim compensation yourself. To learn more, explore our insurance and service areas page.
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