avoiding the skip

This week has been a little crazy for me. I'm in the running for an internship with the American Junior Golf Association and am spending the weekend in Atlanta, Ga., for their intern recruiting weekend.

Since I am not at home and was too busy preparing myself for this weekend, I did not have time to cook. I think that happens a lot. Life gets crazy and one of the first things that we put on the back burner is cooking. We rely on whatever questionable food we find in the refrigerator or maybe skip meals altogether. This is when problems arise.

When you skip a meal, your body goes into what FIT Lauch calls "fasting mode." While in this altered state, your body uses carbs, proteins and fats to for energy. According to FIT Launch, if your body remains in "fasting mode," the glycogen storage deposits found in the liver and muscle become depleted. As the glucose levels drop, the body looks for other sources of fuel. Since the brain and nerves prefer energy from glucose, protein tissues (muscle and liver) are broken down. In efforts to preserve the remaining protein, the body starts to metabolize fat for energy in the form of ketone bodies.

This process of using ketone bodies can bring on a lot of unwanted side effects such as fatigue, nausea and constipation among many others. If this process continues, the body enters "starvation mode," which leads to a slower metabolism because of the muscle loss it is enduring. A slower metabolism, as you may know, means gaining weight just got a whole lot easier (as if it wasn't easy enough).

While occasionally skipping a meal will not have a great effect on you, making a habit of skipping meals will. It's important to take some time to eat a small meal. And it may seem like there just is not enough time in a day to get everything done, sometimes take 15 minutes to eat and clear your head can really help you out when things get out of control.

Have fun and good luck.