What purpose does rationing food serve when eating it normally would provide the same amount of nutrients anyway? Doesn’t rationing make it more likely for food to spoil?

Question

What purpose does rationing food serve when eating it normally would provide the same amount of nutrients anyway? Doesn’t rationing make it more likely for food to spoil?

In: Other

Answer 1

The other 2 responses so far don’t answer your question.

Basically, if you eat less food, your body does 2 things; (1) increase nutrient extraction efficiency, and (2) lower the metabolic rate.

(1) the idea is that if you eat 1000 calories worth of food in 1 day, your body will likely extract over 990 calories worth of energy out of it. If you eat 10,000 calories worth of food in a day, your body might only extract 6000 calories of energy, which is wasteful if food is scarce.

(2) if your body is starving, it will shut down non-essential processes and conserve energy wherever it can, thereby lowering your calorie requirement. This is why cheat meals are very important in dieting