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November 25, 2025<\/p>\n
4 min read<\/p>\n
\u2018Saving Room\u2019 for a Big Thanksgiving Dinner Can Be Bad for Gut Health<\/p>\n
Skipping meals before a big holiday feast probably isn\u2019t the best idea for gut health, experts say. Here\u2019s how to prevent overeating on an empty stomach\u2014and tips for if you do<\/p>\n
By Lauren J. Young edited by Tanya Lewis<\/span><\/p>\n Jonathan Knowles\/Getty Images<\/p>\n To savor every delectable Thanksgiving dish, it might be tempting to \u201csave room\u201d in your stomach before the big event by skipping breakfast or lunch. But gut health experts say eating little to nothing all day and then consuming a massive meal\u2014particularly a rich and heavy one\u2014can be taxing on the tummy.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very common that people talk about saving room for special meals or holiday meals, and certainly on Thanksgiving,\u201d says Kathryn Tomasino, a psychologist who specializes in gastrointestinal health at Northwestern University. But fasting before a hefty meal \u201ccan have some negative consequences, both for people with gastrointestinal conditions and general digestion.\u201d<\/p>\n \n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n Scientists can glean some insight into what happens to the gut during these big meals by extrapolating data from fasting research. Normally when people eat regular meals throughout the day, consuming food triggers a cascade of different hormones that signal hunger, aid digestion, manage blood sugar levels and cause satiety or fullness.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a beautifully orchestrated system,\u201d says Janice Jin Hwang, chief of the division of endocrinology and metabolism at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.<\/p>\n True fasting, which many researchers define as 10 hours or more of not eating anything, causes shifts in that process. Hwang explains that the fasting body essentially prepares to take in more nutrients once you resume eating again: The gut may experience systemic pains\u2014better known as \u201chunger pangs.\u201d Gastric muscle movements increase to help move and digest food faster. Brain circuits involved with desire and motivation for food become activated, ultimately influencing the way people approach their next meal behaviorally and psychologically, Tomasino says.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you are fasting all day and then you go to have a big meal, you may feel like your eyes are bigger than your stomach,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n People may build their plates differently as a result. They\u2019re more likely to choose highly palatable foods that have more fat and sugar. After a day without eating, the brain is more drawn to these kinds of energy-rich foods, Tomasino explains. It\u2019s also common to eat more quickly on an emptier stomach, which can cause people to ingest more air and become bloated. And eating quickly might mean chewing less thoroughly, leading to larger chunks of food that are more difficult to digest.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re also not taking the time to allow those digestive processes to send signals to the brain the way they typically would because everything\u2019s happening so quickly, so it\u2019s very easy to become overly full,\u201d Tomasino says. \u201cYou know\u2014that \u2018got to unbuckle my belt\u2019 feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n Being stuffed is not only physically uncomfortable; too great a volume of food in the gut can lead to gastric reflux and regurgitation. Down the line, being overly full can cause poor sleep, abdominal pain and disrupted bowel movements. Skipping meals in an attempt to be more calorie- or weight-conscious also tends to backfire because of this overeating behavior, Tomasino adds.<\/p>\n Hwang suspects most healthy people can likely adapt to the occasional big swing between fasting and eating a large meal. But suddenly devouring a massive meal that\u2019s high in carbohydrates might cause issues for people with diabetes or obesity, however. \u201cSometimes there can be a little bit of a mismatch, and your body might produce more insulin than it needs or less,\u201d which could lead to dangerously low or high blood sugar levels, respectively, Hwang says.<\/p>\n Tomasino generally doesn\u2019t recommend the practice of fasting before a feast for anyone, regardless of health status.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom a health perspective, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a great choice to skip meals in lieu of having a really big meal later, because you\u2019re not actually \u2018saving room,\u2019\u201d Tomasino says. \u201cIf you\u2019re eating breakfast, most of that food is going to leave your stomach well before you\u2019re going to have another meal four to five hours later.\u201d<\/p>\n Tomasino and Hwang do have some tips to protect your gut health while still allowing people to enjoy a delicious spread. Research has shown that the order in which you eat the foods on your plate can influence how your body processes the meal, Hwang says. A small 2015 study in Diabetes Care found that when people with type 2 diabetes ate the same meal twice on different days, eating the carbs first resulted in higher glucose levels than eating the protein and vegetables first.<\/p>\n \u201cSo if you haven\u2019t eaten in a while and all of a sudden you eat a lot of carbs, that\u2019s going to be broken up much more quickly into glucose and stimulate more insulin than if you eat a meal that has more fat or more protein or more fiber that\u2019ll be digested a little bit more slowly,\u201d Hwang says.<\/p>\n If you do wind up gobbling up too much turkey and pumpkin pie after not eating all day\u2014perhaps by forgetting to eat during the preparation or festivities\u2014Tomasino and Hwang say to try not to stress or feel ashamed. Tomasino recommends aiding digestion with some physical activity, such as cleaning up or going on a walk with family.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you do overindulge, try not to beat yourself up,\u201d Tomasino says. \u201cGive yourself that grace to have a little bit of fun on Thanksgiving.\u201d<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American<\/span> has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American<\/span> subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm <\/span>always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.<\/p>\n If you subscribe to Scientific American<\/span>, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.<\/p>\n In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.<\/p>\n There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" November 25, 2025 4 min read \u2018Saving Room\u2019 for a Big Thanksgiving Dinner Can Be Bad for Gut Health Skipping meals before a big holiday feast probably isn\u2019t the best idea for gut health, experts say. Here\u2019s how to prevent overeating on an empty stomach\u2014and tips for if you do By Lauren J. Young edited<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[1295,4456,2761,37,6023,9867,18657],"class_list":{"0":"post-35244","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-bad","9":"tag-dinner","10":"tag-gut","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-meals","13":"tag-skipping","14":"tag-thanksgiving"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/35245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
How Fasting Affects Gut Hormones<\/h2>\n
Eating Holiday Meals Mindfully<\/h2>\n
It\u2019s Time to Stand Up for Science<\/h2>\n