Most people's daily eating habits consist of three meals: a big breakfast, a big lunch and a big dinner, with a few snacks sometimes dotted in between. But eating smaller meals more frequently will make you healthier, thinner and more energized. Eating this way helps you lose weight by stimulating metabolism, balancing blood sugar, regulating appetite and making sure your body does not waste any nutrients. These meals must be healthy and balanced.
Significance
To lose weight, you must burn more calories than you take in throughout the day. Your metabolism burns off calories by turning what you eat into energy, and eating frequent meals boosts your metabolism. If you leave long gaps between your meals, your body will stop burning calories after a couple of hours and will not start again until your next big meal. You will grow tired because your body is depleted in protein, carbohydrates and glucose, and you will have less energy to burn off calories. When you eat regular, small meals your body constantly burns off calories, so your metabolism is working hard throughout the day. When you eat a big meal, your blood sugar level rises significantly and this promotes fat storage. It also produces insulin, which makes you hungry. Eating regularly makes your body feel more satisfied and combats the hunger that often leads to binge eating.
Time Frame
Instead of three square meals, you should eat six smaller meals throughout the day to lose fat and shed pounds, according to bodybuildingforyou.com. Eat your first meal at 8 a.m., and then eat at two hour intervals thereafter. This takes discipline and may require you to make lifestyle changes to fit in all these meals. The U.S. National Institute of Health recommends you lose no more than a pound or two per week. Even after you have reached your target weight, there is no reason to stop eating frequent, smaller meals; simply eat bigger portions.
Foods
If you eat junk food frequently, you will never lose weight. Saturated fat, found in candy, soda, potato chips, butter, fatty cuts of meat and French fries, burns very slowly and the majority is stored as fat on your body. Refined carbohydrates, found in white bread and candy, also burn slowly because your body cannot break them up. Complex carbohydrates, found in whole grain cereals, brown bread and wild rice, burn far quicker: 20 percent of their calories will burn off during digestion. Your body burns off 30 percent of the calories found in fish and lean meats such as turkey and chicken through digestion, which is 10 times more than fatty foods. Eat fruit or vegetables as part of each meal and drink at least 10 glasses of water throughout the day.
Benefits
To function properly, your body needs the correct amount of nutrients, vitamins and minerals. You can achieve this by eating a balanced diet of fruit, vegetables, high-protein foods, fat, carbohydrates and fiber. Instead of cramming this all into three big meals, you can spread it out over six meals and are less likely to miss essential nutrients and will end up with more varied meals.
Considerations
Eating frequent meals may lead to more bile being produced in your body, and this could enhance risk of colon cancer. Speak to your doctor about changing your diet.
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