Ask Your Trainer: Starvation Mode

I encourage my clients to post questions they have on health, fitness, and diet. This one has come up lots in the last few weeks:  "I feel like I go too long without food durning the day. How long is too long?"

This is a great question. Many well-intentioned people think that they should eat less when trying to lose weight. The truth is, if you're eating the right type of foods, you probably need to eat more food and eat more often than you do.

But it's the quality that counts. In fact, if you eat good nutrient dense foods, going too long without food puts you on starvation mode. This squanders your fat burning potential.

I see too many people trying to lose weight and doing one of two major blunders. 1) skipping breakfast – nothing is worse for your metabolism than waking up and facing the day hungry. 2) going through the whole afternoon, from 12-6 or longer, without a substantial snack.

When you're talking frequency, you shouldn't go longer than 3 hours without eating. And, always choosing nutrient dense food is the way to go. The most nutrient dense foods are whole organic produce. So the tip for the week: Eat more frequently, choose whole foods, and never skip breakfast.

Dedicated to your health, David Beares