Eating often...why?

[Gem]

Can someone explain to me why we should eat small meals every few hours rather than 3 meals per day. I know that it helps maintain a higher metabolism, so does this mean that you can actually take in more calories in a day?

 

[diamonddiceclay]

no-the aim is to eat frequent SMALL MEALS to keep metabolism fast

 

[new@gettinbig]

Eating only 3 times a day slows your metabolism down..you need to eat every few hours to keep your metabolism up!! 5-6 small meals a day...clean food...good protein and complex carbs...and lots of water..

 

[wilson6]

So you're not always hungry.

W6

 

[MS]

Yeah, as usual what Wilson6 said. If you're bulking then many smaller meals a day helps keep a steady supply of nutrients, but is not absolutely necessary. When restricting calories, frequent small meals controls appetite better. There is no evidence that eating more frequently has any direct ability to increase metabolism. Smaller meals also offer better glycemic control for folks with NIDDM.

 

[Gladiola]

Eating 1200 cals wrong is more fattening than eating 1800 cals right.

Oh yeah, I am walking proof of this! Taking just 200 cal of junk out of my diet (sweets) even when every other cal but that 200 was clean, and replacing it with 300-400 or more clean (depending on how much I worked out) leaves me TOTALLY leaner after just a week or 2 - it's amazing.

The best analogy I heard for eating multiple small meals a day is that your body & metabolism are like a furnace - you must keep fueling the fire to keep it burning.

Spatts - interesting fact about the industrial revolution! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Gladiola]

So you're not always hungry.

p.s. I just wanted to also add --- personally if I go too long without eating, it's that much harder to resist junk food & sweets. If I keep having clean stuff *as-soon-as* I'm hungry, I don't get cravings!!! (of course I track what I eat to make sure it doesn't get too much, but it rarely does anyway).

 

[FyreWomanGoddess]

I eat six small meals a day. It helps keep me energized. I'm hypoglycemic, if I skip a meal I get real sick.

 

[Sassy69]

I understood that protein is processed most optimally every 2-3 hours so provide as much as is optimal to process at one time (<= 40 g protein) and then resupply after it has been metabolized.

 

[wilson6]

Sass,

Please post a lit citation on that protein processing limit (i.e. 40g).

W6