Many Advantages of Eating Six Meals a Day

Let LIVE

Nuren

Jul 24 2008 |14:09

I was planning to write an article on ‘How to make it a habit of eating six meals a day’. Then I thought, ‘Wait a minute, let me first focus on WHY should anyone eat six meals a day at all?’ Before I bombard you with practical and realistic solutions of how to make this a habit, first I want to give you some very good reasons for eating six meals a day.

It was about three years ago, I realized that I was not eating right. Fried white rice, pizzas, potato chips, cheese sandwiches to name a few that gives a sample outlook of what my overall diet would be at that time. I used to eat 3 times a day with about 6 hours in between the meals.

What would be the result? Well, to name a few:
•    Eating 3 meals a day will not provide steady supply of nutrients to the body.
•    We eat more than we should, because our stomach realizes it is full only after 20 minutes or so. That means, more food is stored as fat after the required food is used for maintaining our body. This is because our body can only use certain amount of energy at a time and the excess calories may get stored as fat.
•    If we miss one of these meals by any chance (for example, breakfast), our body would go into starvation mode and may burn muscle for energy or try to store any incoming food as fat!
•    We will be filled with energy only for the first 2 hours or so and start feeling duller later until our next meal.
•    Drowsy afternoons!

I have done this research by reading various nutrition books that are written by famous nutrition experts. I inquired fitness experts and personal trainers about better eating habits in the gym I go
to; Bally’s total fitness. I contacted health gurus about the best foods. (My friend and roommate Mangal also gave me good company on a few occasions helping me to maintain regular gym schedule). To reduce it to a few lines, I have done the base-work and here is the summary of advantages of eating six meals a day.

•    Steady supply of nutrients to our body.
•    It is anabolic and prevents muscle break down.
•    A healthy metabolism (with high thermic effect) and that implies a good fat burning rate.
•    We feel energetic all over the day.
•    If we eat only 2-3 times a day, we often tend to eat more than what is required and it stretches your belly. Eating six times a day won’t stretch your belly because we will not eat more at any time due to less cravings since the last meal was only a few hours ago.
•    We don’t feel much hungry i.e we will have fewer cravings so it prevents us from eating junk food.
•    It not only prevents weight gain but helps with weight loss.
•    No more drowsy afternoons.
•    More efficient utilization of vitamins and minerals.
•    Scientifically proven benefits including steady blood sugar level

Now we know that eating six meals a day is better than eating two to three meals but what about the foods itself? Does eating fried rice six times a day help? Not likely...Then what will help? Well, here are a few good eating habits from my experience:
•    Foods containing fruits and sugar should go early in the morning.
•    Complex carbs like pasta, beans and brown rice can be eaten for lunch or early in the evenings.
•    Fibrous vegetables and lean protein should go at night.

We will get into that later. But keep in mind that just by following this habit of eating six meals a day will increase your energy levels starting tomorrow itself!

Nuren
	Nuren likes writing, teaching, people, nature and many kinds of creative work such as photography, design, studying articles related to astronomy and science. He is positive, dedicated, open-minded and always looking for a way to learn something new. One of Nuren's favorite quotes is "How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been: how gloriously different are the saints" (by C. S. Lewis). Read More >>

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