Supposedly, you should eat more often, but smaller portions to keep your body slim. It's best to eat 5 meals a day, some argue, adding that the worst situation is for people who eat less often during the day, but eat larger meals. However, it turns out to be a myth that has already been dispelled by many scientists.

They say you should eat more frequent but smaller meals. Preferably 5 meals a day, every 3-4 hours. However, is this the most appropriate feeding model? Scientists, based on numerous studies, noticeably cut off the trend of proposing "he althy" 5 meals a day. The vast majority of research studies show the advantages of other nutrition models, especially those assuming the introduction of fewer meals eaten at regular times of the day. The currently known ancient maxim "eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a beggar" in the light of current reports is gaining strength. This is especially interesting for overweight and obese people who have tried to lose weight before but have proved unsuccessful.

Who should eat more frequent but smaller meals and who shouldn't?

At the beginning, it should be noted that not always eating more often but smaller meals will have negative consequences. The model of nutrition consisting in the consumption of 5 or more meals a day will benefit people who are very physically active, such as professional athletes. For some conditions, smaller and more frequent meals are also recommended. We can mention here, for example, problems with reflux, liver or pancreatic diseases, and bariatric procedures. Moreover, such a model of nutrition is recommended for children and adolescents during intensive growth and development. However, after this period, further support for building processes (the so-called anabolic environment) with insufficient physical activity will result in the development of only adipose tissue, and thus progressive obesity.

Eating more frequent but smaller meals may increase your risk of being overweight and obese

The mere fact of eating more meals can also be problematic due to lack of time, as more meals can mean longer time spent planning, buying and preparing food. Also, by eating 5 times a day, it is much easier to lose control of the amountcalories consumed. I know from dietary practice that it is much more difficult to find valuable, quick products that provide a balanced amount of proteins and fats. Unhe althy, quick snacks are more common then. We are talking about bars, cookies, sweet rolls, yoghurts or drinks. They are rich in simple sugars that stimulate the secretion of insulin - a hormone without which lipogenesis will not take place, i.e. the basic mechanism responsible for the storage of adipose tissue.

Insulin supplies the muscles and the liver with energy. If the muscles are "full", then insulin stores the valuable energy obtained from food in the form of adipose tissue.

Insulin takes a sufficient amount of time to drop to baseline levels. When its secretion is stimulated too often, by eating, for example, high-carbohydrate snacks, there is no chance of returning to normal blood insulin levels. Soon the cells get used to this condition and are no longer sensitive to insulin. The gradual development of insulin resistance begins. Energy cannot be properly distributed to working tissues and muscles, but it is still very easily stored as adipose tissue. High insulin levels can be manifested by chronic fatigue, but also by an increased desire for snacks, especially those containing large amounts of sugar.

Eat less often, but larger meals - you will not gain weight

In 2014, a study was conducted involving 219 overweight people with diagnosed type II diabetes, which was divided into two groups. Group A consumed 6 meals a day, while in group B only two - breakfast and lunch. Both groups were following a caloric deficit diet. It turned out that group B, despite having the same caloric content as group A, had greater weight loss, better glucose tolerance (improved insulin sensitivity) and less fatty liver compared to group A, eating less and more often. In addition, the hormonal profile in group B also improved.1

In a newer and equally interesting study conducted on a group of over 50,000 participants, it was shown that some habits are conducive to maintaining a low body weight, and some support its gradual growth.

What habits are conducive to maintaining a low body weight?

  • eating one or two meals a day
  • refraining from eating for up to 18 hours a day (with one meal it was almost 24 hours)
  • not skipping breakfast
  • eating breakfast or lunch as your biggest meals (eating a bigger breakfast hadeven better results)

What eating habits determined the greater body weight?

  • eating more than 3 times a day (each snack or sweet drink was counted as a separate meal)
  • dinner as the biggest meal of the day

The conclusion of the study was the statement - "An effective method to prevent weight gain is to eat less often, eat a lot of breakfast and get more calories in the first part of the day."2It is worth noting that lower body weight is associated with an increase in life expectancy, better he alth and a lower incidence of non-communicable diseases. People with lower body weight maintain both mental and physical fitness for longer.

What happens to your body when you only eat 2 large meals a day?

First of all, it is a natural model for the human body. Only recently, the amount of food available allows you to eat more often. The surveyed centenarians usually eat two full meals a day. Additionally, by eating less often, you can eat large portions and still be on a caloric deficit. It's easy. If the daily energy balance is set at 1800 kcal, then two meals of 900 kcal each come out of it. That's a lot, especially if the meal includes low-energy vegetables. Such a solution usually allows you to eat to your heart's content, and this translates into positive psycho-dietary aspects. Satisfaction increases by eating a larger meal, which translates into better long-term results.

Besides, time is saved for food preparation. By avoiding snacks and sugary drinks, you can control your caloric intake more effectively. However, it is important to pay special attention to the composition and quality of food in order to avoid shortages. Each meal should provide the right amount of protein, fats and carbohydrates, as well as vegetables and fruits that provide fiber, vitamins and a whole range of antioxidant polyphenols.

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Is coffee with milk a meal?

The body does not recognize what product ends up in the stomach. If it is a source of calories, the same sequence of reactions is triggered in all casesmetabolic. For this reason, drinks that contain sugar (milk is also a source of sugar) are treated as another meal. However, can you feel full after a can of sweet drink?

Periodic fasting and slimming

The word fast can evoke negative feelings in many people, because it is associated with all-day fasting. However, if dinner is eaten at 7.00 p.m. and breakfast is eaten at 7.00 a.m., then there is a 12-hour overnight fasting period. And that's a lot! Simply maintaining a 12-hour fast during the day has positive effects, such as an increase in insulin sensitivity.

Periodic fasting involves eating at certain times during the day and refraining from eating at other times.

However, by shifting the fasting limit to 18 hours a day and an additional 6-hour break between meals during the day, you gain a model that, according to current knowledge, provides benefits such as improved metabolism and repair functions of the body, effective detoxification, inflammation, improvement of blood lipid parameters, improvement of brain function or improvement of the aforementioned sugar balance (lowering glucose level and sensitizing cells to insulin).

Daily rhythm

It is an extremely important factor for the overall functioning of the body. Often completely overlooked. On the other hand, living in a natural environment at a given latitude, as living organisms, we are related to the circadian rhythm. This has a direct impact on the functioning of the endocrine economy. In the evening, the brain produces greater amounts of melatonin, which has a calming and calming effect on the entire body, including the digestive system and, most likely, the metabolism. An interesting study shows that you can burn more body fat by eating meals in the morning than by eating the same amount of food in the morning and evening. There are more and more such reports. In addition, another study - carried out on rats - shows that the rodents, while eating during the first part of the day, were definitely more active than the other groups fed the same but at different times during the day. Additionally, rats fed in the morning had a greater reduction in body fat compared to the group fed more times, despite the same caloric content of the food.

Worth knowing

Summary

1. Eating for the first part of the day helps keep you weight down 2. Eating 2 meals may be preferable to 4-5. 3. Every dose of sugar consumed, even in the form of juice, is recognized by the body as a meal. Usefasting periods during the day improves he alth and reduces body fat. 5. Regardless of the eating pattern, caloric intake is the key. 6. Eat less but better quality products.

About the authorMikołaj Choroszyński, nutritionist and gastrocoach Master of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, Psycho-dietician, Youtuber. Author of the first book on the Polish market about a diet counteracting neurodegenerative diseases "MIND Diet. A Way for a Long Life". He fulfills himself professionally, running his Bdieta diet clinic, because nutrition has always been his passion. She helps her patients by telling them what to eat to stay he althy and look good.

Bibliography:

1) Kahleova H, Belinova L, Malinska H, ​​et al. "Eating two larger meals a day (breakfast and lunch) is more effective than six smaller meals in a reduced-energy regimen for patients with type 2 diabetes : a randomized crossover study "Diabetologia. 2014 Aug; 572) Kahleová H, Lloren JI, Mashchak A, Hill M, Fraser G. "Frequency and timing of meals and changes in body mass index: Analysis of the data from the Adventist He alth Study-2" Vnitr Lek. 2016 .3) University of Alabama at Birmingham. "Time-restricted feeding study shows promise in helping people shed body fat." ScienceDaily, 6 January 2022.4) Victoria A. Acosta-Rodríguez, Marleen H.M. de Groot, Filipa Rijo-Ferreira, Carla B. Green, Joseph S. Takahashi. "Mice under Caloric Restriction Self-Impose a Temporal Restriction of Food Intake as Revealed by an Automated Feeder System" Cell Metabolism, 2022

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Slimming