The postabsorptive phase is the relatively brief period (usually a few hours) between meals in well-fed animals.

It is charac­terized by short-term changes that mobilize nutrients from storage pools to maintain fuel availability for metabolically active tissue. Figure 32-11 illustrates the general scheme of postabsorptive metabolism.

More on the topic The postabsorptive phase is the relatively brief period (usually a few hours) between meals in well-fed animals.: