Why is it better to eat several small meals vs 3 big meals?

Question

I'm just wanting to get a better understanding of this. is eating several small meals aide in tricking your body that it isnt starving?

Answer 1

It has to do with your blood sugar. If you eat say 5 to six small meals you will keep blood sugar stead with out getting you blood sugar too high or too low.
If you eat only three larger meals, you will probably have fairly low blood sugar by the time you eat, this may cause you to over eat. This will raise your blood sugar very high. (Yes, just eating too much can do that).
So keeping you blood sugar stable keeps you from feeling bad and prevents diseases (like diabetes).

Answer 2

this advice goes hand in hand with high carb low fat diet, but there is a reason for it. As a couple of the more knowledgeable people have stated it has something to to do with blood sugars.
Carbohydrates are digested quite quickly in the stomach so this causes a surge in energy supply, which must be quickly used, or stored. Within three or four hours your blood sugars will begin to drop, so you begin to feel hungry and tired.
If you have a balanced diet, with adequate healthy natural fats, these will take longer to digest, giving you a more sustained energy release. They also supply energy through a different route, in the form of chylomicrons, which transport triglycerides to be oxidised by cells requiring energy. This keeps your blood sugar levels stable for longer,allowing you to go longer between meals.
The other factor that comes into play is satiety, or how full you feel. Dietary fats play a big role in this complex issue. When lipids enter the small intestine, a variety of hormones are released that signal the brain that you are full. It appears that chylomicrons also play a role in this as well, so all the while the fats are being digested, which take longer than carbohydrates, you will not have feelings of hunger.
It's only better to eat several small a days if you are on a low fat high carbohydrate diet.
The low fat Nazis will probably give this a thumbs down, but can they prove it wrong?

Answer 3

More smaller meals if one is diabetic.

Eat only when hungry and not more than thrice a day. Nothing other than water in between. Include plenty of uncooked vegetables and fruits in each meal, preferably 50%. Chew each morsel at least 32 times to activate ur body to generate signals of hunger/fullness. Obey these signals.

Take light exercises and brisk walks regularly preferably twice a day.

U will achieve what u have not even dreamt and that too in a reasonable time. Do not be in a hurry.

Answer 4

Not so much tricking the body as providing energy that will be used rather than stored. Calories eaten in a meal are either used or stored. The body doesn't waste energy. If you eat more calories than you need, they will be stored as glycogen (if the stores in the liver are currently low) or fat. Eating small meals frequently gives the body enough to run on, but not enough to store. (Theoretically, and dependent on the amount eaten at a meal, etc.)

Answer 5

Yep. It keeps your metabolism rolling. Breakfast is key. 3 meals with two snacks and not eating 2 hours before bed is the best way to maintain a healthy weight, keep healthy, and lose weight. The FDA has a good site on nutrition and health. Check it out.

Answer 6

It keeps your metabolism going throughout the day and keeps your blood sugar level instead of shooting up and down from three big meals. It is more biologically natural for your body and less of a strain on your digestive system. It also helps you keep a good weight or lose weight.

Answer 7

It depends on the place where you live!

If you are living near equator you should take fewer meals at longer intervals. If you are living in colder parts of the world, you should take more meals at shorter intervals. Quantity of food may depend upon person, place and ones working conditions.

But I feel that overall speaking less food, more times keeps body healthy. Adjusting diet is better than dieting !

-Bapu

Answer 8

eating small meals keeps your body BURNING which is the key to getting ripped - if you eat 2 big meals a day and they are like 6-7 hours apart, you're body is stagnant and is waiting to burn something - if you eat every 3-4 hours, you body becomes more efficient at using your food for fuel because it knows you are constantly providing calories

Answer 9

while you're truly desperate to do this there are techniques, p.c.. little snacks in the previous paintings and faculty ingesting them in the time of the day or circulate to the washing room if this is too difficult to do in front of your boss or instructor. yet commit it to memory's greater substantial to eat healthful meals than to eat in the time of the day. at the start verify you're ingesting total grains, culmination, vedgies, Lean meat, Non-fat dairy products. those are key. additionally while you're with people who eat 3 nutrients an afternoon, purely eat a small element with them and then between your next meal, eat a snack to tide you over.

Answer 10

Noo.... so your body has time to digest small groups of food at a time rather than pigging out at one time because then your body takes way longer to digest that then if you speaded it out into small meals!