Everyone has a different opinion on how many meals you should be eating each day.
Eating 3 main meals can help reduce snacking, however which is better for your metabolism and keeping you full?
I shared my thoughts on the debate as featured on ninemsn Coach.
Everyone has a different opinion on how many meals you should be eating each day.
Eating 3 main meals can help reduce snacking, however which is better for your metabolism and keeping you full?
I shared my thoughts on the debate as featured on Ninemsn Coach
There’s a lot of debate amongst health punters about how often you should eat. Some espouse the benefits of many small meals to keep in shape, while most of us stick to the old fashioned three main meals a day.
But if you want optimum health and to keep your body fat levels in check, how often should you actually be eating?
The science is not entirely clear, and it seems that different people respond to different eating patterns better.
One study found that people who fasted from 8pm until noon every day – which basically means no late night snacks or breakfast – had reduced waist circumferences. This might sound good in theory, but it could also lead to a population of hangry (hungry-angry) people.
Another study found that a larger number of smaller meals were associated with better diet quality and a lower BMI.
Nutrition and wellbeing specialist Melanie McGrice says she varies her recommendations to clients depending on their lifestyles and personal preferences, but her general rule of thumb is to recommend that people eat every three to five hours.
“It tends to keep people feeling more satisfied and when we eat that helps increase our metabolic rate for a little while,” she told ninemsn Coach.
“Usually when you eat a meal, it takes three to five hours for the stomach to empty and ghrelin, which is our appetite hormone, to be produced.”
This time gap can usually be split between eating breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks but it does depend on what time you wake up and eat.
“If you have breakfast at 9am and lunch at 12.30, you don’t need a morning tea,” McGrice says.
“But if you get up at 5am and have breakfast and then have lunch at 1pm, you will need a morning tea snack to optimise ghrelin. You also want to have protein distributed evenly throughout the day because that is what fills you and keeps you satisfied.”
But people who are prone to snacking and grazing all day on unhealthy foods can benefit from sticking to two or three larger meals per day.
“Three square meals can be beneficial because it reduces the snacking,” McGrice says.
Kara Landau, The Travelling Dietitian, told ninemsn Coach that we all need to get in tune with our hunger signals to help us work out when and what to eat.
“If you are not eating food that is going to sustain you for long enough and you end up having those energy dips and you haven’t got a healthy snack on hand, then you are going to end up over-eating at the next meal,” she points out.
“It comes down to getting in tune with your hunger and fullness cues, and knowing when you are actually hungry or when you are just tempted by something.”
So, like many things in health, it really seems to come down to the individual, and prioritising healthy foods.
“Work out what works for you,” Landau says.
“Take the time to get back in touch with your appetite and begin to understand what is going to keep you full, rather than just looking at a number. It’s up to you if you would prefer to do it as two big meals or three big meals or spread it out.”