You may have heard of diets claiming that eating six times will:
• Increase metabolism and more calories will be burned
• Stabilize blood sugar and reduce hunger
• Prevent overeating
Not all of these claims are completely unfounded, but eating six meals a day isn’t exactly as advantageous as we may think. Several studies have found no association between increasing metabolism and meal frequency. Whether calories are spread over six meals a day or three, the net effect (or whether you ate more than you burned) is what determines weight loss or gain. They did find that too many mini-meals can lead to overeating, perhaps because there are so many chances to give into food impulses. On the other hand, leaving yourself without food all day can cause you to binge on one meal.
As for blood sugar, eating smaller meals will produce a smaller insulin response, because the body is not required to produce as much insulin as a large meal; however, blood sugar does not need to be constantly rising over six times in a day. Alternatively, eating one huge meal will cause a bigger surge of insulin than spreading your meals out.
Most importantly, listen to your hunger cues and learn to know when you’re truly hungry or full. Signs of hunger include headache, irritability, dizziness, inability to focus, and rumbling or empty stomach. For a lot of us, we can get distracted from our hunger or we’re not used to recognizing it. In that case, going by the clock may be helpful.
I personally find that eating every four hours or three meals and a small snack like fruit, nuts, or yogurt helps me best. Physically, psychologically, and time wise, I just couldn’t deal with eating something small every two hours. While some may feel it helps control hunger, I felt deprived of a proper meal.
So if you hate eating six times a day, don’t torture yourself. In the end, it doesn’t really make a difference with your metabolism. If you really want to boost weight loss, exercise to burn more calories than you’re eating. The quantity and quality of calories eaten is more important than the frequency.
This is awesome! Thank you for the tips ;)
ReplyDeleteTwo comments:
ReplyDelete1) What is the difference between a smaller insulin response and a big one? How might that affect me? Is there health dangers in either response?
2) I have noticed that in the past I have mistaken hunger for thirst and generally drink some water before deciding if I'm actually hungry or not.
1) When you ingest a meal, the carbohydrates in it break down into glucose. In order for the body to utilize it, a certain amount of insulin, depending on the amount of carbohydrates in a meal, is secreted from the pancreas and guides the glucose into the cells and tissues. The more carbohydrates consumed, the more insulin is required for this process.
ReplyDeleteIt becomes a threat to your health when the body produces too little or too much insulin or the tissues and cells are resistant to it. This is usually the case in diabetes.
As long as you are a healthy individual who is not overweight and is active, you do not really need to worry about the day to day fluctuations in your blood sugar. Diabetics want to avoid sudden rises and drops in their blood sugar and eating regularly helps keep it within a normal range.
2)Making sure you are adequately hydrated is a great way to tell the difference between hunger and thirst!
Thank you so much for your comments!
AY
This blog rules! I'm so glad I stumbled into it. I'm following a similar path to yours. I will be starting a dietetic internship this February. Best of luck to you!
ReplyDeleteAlina
Thanks so much Alina for the encouraging words! Best of luck to you as well!
ReplyDeleteAY