In recent years, the concept of "skipping lunch without food" has become very popular on the Internet, and many people have begun to try this method in order to maintain health and lose weight.
Uncle Liu also "keeps up with the trend", 63 years old this year, he was found to be atherosclerosis in the examination half a year ago, and has the problem of high blood lipids, and the doctor prescribed him relevant drugs to take.
But Uncle Liu was still not very relieved, and after going back, he not only checked on the Internet, but also asked his friends if there was a good way to soften blood vessels and lower blood lipids. The neighbor told him that the best way was to eat less, and Uncle Liu himself saw a lot of beneficiaries who did not eat lunch on the Internet, so he gritted his teeth and did not eat dinner for the sake of his vascular health.
After persisting for half a year, Uncle Liu returned to the hospital for a re-examination and found that not only did his blood lipids not drop, but he had a stomach ulcer. What's going on?
It turned out that Uncle Liu didn't eat dinner at night until the next day, and he would eat several big steamed buns and a few bowls of rice at every meal. Coupled with irregular eating habits, the health of the stomach is impaired, causing gastric ulcers to occur.
This result is difficult for Uncle Liu to accept, he has been hungry for so long, and the result is counterproductive?
1. Can skipping dinner really remove plaque and soften blood vessels?
Vascular plaque actually refers to atherosclerotic plaque, which is a yellowish-white lump with a texture like porridge embedded in the inner layer of the blood vessel wall, and it is like limescale attached to the wall of a water pipe.
Vascular endothelium, which is the innermost layer of the blood vessel wall, is the innermost layer of the blood vessel wall, and when affected by factors such as hypertension, obesity, diabetes, smoking, alcoholism, etc., LDL cholesterol enters the damaged endothelium and is deposited.
These deposited lipid substances attract immune cells, which engulf lipid substances. Over time, plaques also develop gradually.
From the perspective of the mechanism of plaque formation, in order to delay or "eliminate" plaque, it is important to control LDL cholesterol levels.
Many people feel that the reason why skipping dinner can lower blood lipids is because skipping dinner means that calorie intake is reduced, weight is lost in the short term, and the body will consume body fat as an energy source, but this does not mean that skipping dinner can lower blood lipids, and if the diet structure is not reasonable, even if you skip dinner, blood lipids will not be effectively controlled.
In addition, hardening of the arteries is associated with a variety of factors. Skipping dinner does not directly soften blood vessels, but is prone to malnutrition, affecting blood vessel health.
2. What are the dangers to the body of skipping dinner for a long time?
Skipping dinner not only doesn't soften blood vessels, but it may also bring some additional harm to your health, which I believe you don't want to see.
1. Easy to gain weight
Skipping meals at night causes the body to not get the energy it needs, and can only slow down the metabolism to reduce energy expenditure. Muscles consume a lot of energy, and the body can only remove fat from muscles in order to maintain normal functioning.
When muscle mass is reduced, the metabolism slows down further, creating a vicious circle. The body also prioritizes storing fat the next time you eat, making you fatter and fatter.
2. Hurts the stomach and gallbladder
Skipping dinner will make the body fasting for too long, and stomach acid can easily damage the gastric mucosa, increasing the risk of gastritis and gastric ulcers. In addition, long-term fasting will prolong the time of bile concentration, which will increase the risk of gallstones.
3. Malnutrition
Studies have found that prolonged starvation not only does not reduce appetite, but also increases the body's craving for carbohydrates. Skipping dinner is easy to overdose carbohydrates in brunch, but insufficient intake of vitamins, dietary fiber and protein provided by fruits, vegetables, dairy products, etc., will lead to malnutrition for a long time.
4. Affect sleep
Being hungry can make it difficult to fall asleep, and even barely asleep can lead to poor sleep quality. Especially for some people who don't have good sleep quality, it's even worse.
Dinner should not only be eaten, but also eaten healthily, these few details are important.
Eat "less": Dinner should not be too much or too full, otherwise it will stimulate insulin secretion, increase the burden of the body's pancreatic islets, and easily cause diabetes. And it will overburden the digestive system, which is easy to cause indigestion and other problems, and the energy consumption itself at night is relatively small, which can easily lead to obesity.
Eat "early": It is recommended to keep the time for dinner at 6~7 p.m., and try not to exceed 8 p.m. People who eat dinner too late have higher blood sugar levels and burn less fat, making them more likely to become obese.
Eat "whole": dinner is more of a day to check and fill in the gaps, such as insufficient vegetable intake during the day, you can eat more at dinner, and the staple food is recommended to be coarse grains.
3. Try to eat less of the 4 foods that accelerate the blockage of blood vessels
There is a big relationship between blood vessel blockage and diet, and if you want to improve the health of your blood vessels, you are advised not to eat these foods as much as possible.
1. High-sugar foods
Excessive intake of sugar will be converted into fat and accumulated in the body, which will not only easily cause blood sugar problems, but also aggravate vascular endothelial damage and easily cause cardiovascular diseases. Common high-sugar foods include biscuits, desserts, sugary drinks, etc., and it is recommended to eat as little as possible.
2. High-salt food
Excessive intake of high-salt foods will make the body dehydrated, and will also affect the normal metabolism, resulting in a decrease in the dilatation of blood vessels, which is easy to induce high blood pressure. Common high-salt foods include salted fish, pickles and other pickled foods, soy sauce, oyster sauce, chicken essence, bean paste, tomato sauce and other condiments, takeaway, dried fruits such as plum, etc.
3. High-cholesterol foods
Excessive intake of foods such as animal offal, braised pork, pork belly, shellfish, crab roe, etc., will cause the level of bad cholesterol in the body to rise, accelerating the rate of arteriosclerosis.
4. Fried food
Foods such as fried chicken, fries, and fried dough sticks are many people's favorites, and these foods produce trans fats during the frying process, and long-term intake will increase LDL cholesterol levels in the body, posing a threat to vascular health.
Eating a healthy diet is directly related to the health of blood vessels, and if you want to protect your blood vessels, you need to change your diet first!
Resources:
[1] Causes and Prevention of Vascular Plaque. Department of Ultrasound Medicine, Rehabilitation Hospital of Nanchang University, September 26, 2024
[2] "What happened to people who didn't eat dinner for a long time?" These 6 consequences are terrifying! 》. Popular Science China 2023-03-01
[3] "Alert! Eating more of these 3 foods is most likely to clog blood vessels, and no matter how much you love to eat, you have to keep your mouth shut. Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical University 2023-09-22
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