Starvation mode, my most hated nutritional myth

I may sound like I'm frothing at the mouth through most of this post, but that's mostly because, of all the nutrition myths, this one is the one that frustrates me to no end.

You've probably heard of the hypothesis that if you skip breakfast your body will go into "starvation mode", or that if you eat Splenda your body will go into the same mode, or if click click bloody click pancakes your body will start eating itself.

NO. Bad. Wrong. You will not go into starvation mode if you skip a meal or eat artificial sweeteners. No, seriously, that won't happen. Do you know how long it really takes before your body begins to actually start to starve? About 72 hours. Three days. And that would be 72 hours of eating ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. And that 72 hours is flexible based on the fatness of the person involved. If you're rail thin and have no body fat, your body will start eating protein for energy quickly; if you have ample body fat, it will take longer because your body has ample fat to eat. And you know what? That's weaksauce starvation. Real starvation starts when your body is completely out of fat to burn and all that's left is muscle. Bear this in mind next time you say, "I'm starving." No you're not.

There's no scientific evidence anywhere near this conversation, but this myth really has legs, doesn't it? Everyone I've ever mentioned it to has at least heard of it. But why? Where does this myth come from? The truth is that there was a scientific test done that came up with lots of information on starving people: The Minnesota Starvation Experiment. You know how long they starved those poor bastards? Six months. They actually fed the guys 1560 calories a day, which doesn't sound that bad till you read the part where they made them walk 22 miles a goddamn day. These guys got to actually starve for six months, fighting off real starvation side effects like depression and hysteria which were so bad one dude chopped off three fingers with an axe and then didn't remember why the hell he did it.

That's what real starvation mode does to people. It eats your body and drives you insane.

So why in the hell do people think skipping breakfast will hurt their diet? The reality is that if you skip breakfast you are more likely to compensate for that hunger later if you're not carefully controlling your food intake. So if your willpower is weak, skipping breakfast will probably not help you. However, if your willpower is strong and you eat the same lunch and dinner with or without breakfast, then cutting out those calories can help you lose weight.

People have a million excuses (very few legitimate, like drugs with side effects), but the evidence is clearly on one side: losing weight is calories in vs. calories out. Everything else is just fads, scams, and noise.