Should you Skip Lunch to Get the Most out of your Dinner?

Enjoying a picnic lunch on my 43d birthday, a few hours before birthday tacos dinner.

Is it a good idea to skip lunch in order to get the most out of your dinner at that new restaurant you've been wanting to try for months?

The answer is no! It's not a good idea to skip lunch. 

And I'm going to tell you the single most important reason it's a bad idea to do so (skip lunch). Here it goes...

The Number One Reason You Want to Avoid Skipping Lunch

Because if you skip lunch, chances are your hunger level is going to be PASSED your "pleasant" hunger point (I'll talk about the hunger scale in a minute). 

And when hunger transitions from pleasant to UNpleasant, food satisfaction goes DOWN. 

This means that the hungrier you are when starting your meal, the LESS you'll actually enjoy it. 

So skipping lunch is doing the OPPOSITE of what you intended it to do for your dining experience. It's reducing your meal satisfaction. 

Brief Overview of the Hunger Scale (and why you won't get the most out of your dinner by skipping lunch)

Let me tell you about the hunger scale. If you were to rate your hunger when you are about to eat dinner, 0 being on the "full" end and 10 being "ravenously hungry" (uncomfortable hunger), ideally, you want your hunger level to be between a 7-8. This is considered "pleasant" hunger. You're ready to eat, you feel good, nicely hungry, etc. THIS is the ideal hunger level you want to aim for to get the most (satisfaction) out of your meal, especially when going out to a nice restaurant. 

When you skip lunch (assuming you didn't have an 11:30am bacon and eggs Trucker's breakfast), by the time you get to dinner your hunger level is likely going to have passed that 8, going into the unpleasant territory...which reduces food satisfaction. 

But you WANT TO be hungry at this nice dinner. So you thought that skipping lunch would be the best way to ensure this. Totally get it! Maybe that day isn't the day to have burgers and fries for lunch. 

But you gotta have something! At least a small balanced meal. Lunch and dinner are hours apart. 

And if you're looking forward to a drink, even worse if you're ravenously hungry. Avoid the drink until you've eaten...if this happens. But I know that from now on it won't!  

So there you have it. The single most important reason it's a bad idea to skip lunch when going out for dinner is reduced food satisfaction, which is the opposite of what you want. 

Don't skip lunch!