Hello, this is Monica Reinagle, and you're listening to the nutrition diva, quick and dirty tips for eating well and feeling fabulous.

In last week's show, I debunked the myth that eating more frequently keeps your metabolism revved up.

Not only does skipping meals not shut down your metabolism, but there may be some benefits to going a bit longer between meals.

I'll have all the details for you after a quick word from the sponsor that made today's show possible.

As I explained in last week's show, going for four or five hours or even longer between meals

will not affect your metabolism one wit. In fact, there are some good reasons to go longer than just a few

hours between meals. It takes about three hours for your body to

finish digesting a meal. So if you eat every two or three hours, as many

experts now advise, your body will constantly be in what nutritionists call the Fed state.

This simply means that you are always in the process of digesting food.

If, on the other hand, you don't eat again,

you'll go into something that we call the post-absorptive state after about three hours.

Now several interesting things happen in the post-absorptive state, which continues for another

12 to 18 hours if you don't eat again. First, you begin tapping into your body's

stored energy reserves to run your engine. Your hormone levels adjust to shift

your body out of fat storage mode and into fat burning mode.

Hanging out in the post-absorptive state

also reduces free radical damage and inflammation,

increases the production of anti-aging hormones

and promotes tissue repair.

And just to reinforce what we talked about last week,

your metabolic rate remains unchanged.

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