Everyone pigs out now and then. Just a month's worth of pigging out has long-term effects on your metabolism and, consequently, your health, Drugs.com says. Pigging out affects your basal metabolic rate, or BMR. BMR is the rate at which your body converts the calories in food into energy while you are at rest. Because pigging out often involves bingeing on high-caloric foods, it can have potentially catastrophic effects on your overall health.
Pigging Out, Exercise and Metabolism
People tend to think of metabolism along simple terms, but the process is quite complex. Serving size, eating frequency and overall caloric content of the food you eat all affect your BMR. Lifestyle choices such as how much and how often you exercise also affect your metabolism. Obese people generally have lower BMRs than people that are physically fit because they generally eat large quantities of high-caloric food and rarely get any physical exercise, the Nemours Foundation's Kids Health website says. Overeating for as little as four weeks changes your BMR and causes a 20 percent to 24 percent increase in fat mass, Drugs.com notes. The problem with a lower BMR is that even if you lose weight and eat less, you will still have a tendency to gain weight. In fact, the consequences of this shift are such that over two years after pigging out for a month you are still likely to gain weight even after switching to healthier eating habits.
Factors That Cause Overeating
To avoid pigging out, you must first understand the factors that influence your eating habits. Frequency and regularity are factors that influence your eating habits. Your endocrine system releases hormones that regulate your metabolism and your hunger pangs, according to Kids Health. But how frequently and regularly you eat affects how much you tend to eat. People who eat more frequently at regular intervals will have an easier time eating smaller portions. Your psychological and emotional state also influence your eating habits, MayoClinic.com explains. People who suffer from eating disorders such as binge eating use eating as a means of managing anxiety. Overeating also stems from passive eating. People who eat while engaging in other activities that encourage passive eating, such as watching television, have a tendency to overeat. Avoiding such situations will help you lower your chances of overeating.
Complications of Pigging Out
According to a 2009 article in "Molecular Medicine," pigging out for as little as a month elevates your risk of developing serious health conditions such as type 2 diabetes. Pigging out on fast food for a month causes you to develop moderate insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is closely associated with type 2 diabetes. So pigging out causes changes in your metabolism that elevate your risk of long-lasting health problems.
Healthy Eating
Healthy eating means eating less junk and choosing healthier eating options, such as fruits and vegetables. Consider using the DASH eating plan as a template for your eating habits, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. DASH, or Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, is a specific diet that focuses on low sodium intake. The DASH diet specifies the proper amount of vegetables, grains, meat and other foods you should eat to lower blood pressure. Although it originally was developed as a means of lowering hypertension, the DASH eating plan also promotes overall health even in non-hypertensive people.
References
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Healthy Eating for a Healthy Weight; June 2011
- Drugs.com; Short-Term Overeating Could Make Long-Term Weight Loss Tougher; August 2010
- KidsHealth.org; Metabolism; Steven Dowshen; May 2009
- Mayo Clinic; Overeating -- What Causes It?; May 2009
- "Molecular Medicine"; Short-Term Overeating Induces Insulin Resistance in Fat Cells in Lean Human Subjects; Danielsson A., et. al; April 2009
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