Everybody eats. Which is why people are so willing to throw in their
two cents when it comes to any nutrition debate. One thorny issue has
to do with meal frequency and weight control. There are those who ‘just
say no’ to snacking – the ones who restrict themselves to three meals a
day, period. In their view, snacking is simply a bad habit that can
pile on the pounds. In the opposite corner are those who say that
small, frequent meals will help control hunger, so it’s better to eat
five or six times a day.
Is one strategy better than the other? Research has yet to give us a definitive answer, leading one to conclude that whether you eat three times a day or six, “the
question of whether there is a health benefit … will ultimately depend
on how much energy is consumed, as opposed to how often or how
regularly one eats” (italics mine). In other words, if it’s weight loss
you’re after, the bottom line is keeping your calorie intake in check.
Snacking in and of itself isn’t bad, unless it’s pushing your calorie
intake past the tipping point.
If you look at what many people consider ‘snack foods’ – greasy,
salty, sugary packaged snacks like chips, cookies and candy – it’s easy
to see why they’d adopt the ‘no snacking’ approach to weight
management. If snacking = junk food, then yes, processed goodies can
dump a lot of calories into your system in no time. Some people avoid
snacking because they find it hard enough to just to curb their calories
at mealtimes. If they find it hard to control what they eat at
breakfast, lunch or dinner, they figure snacks will just add insult to
injury.
Of course, there are plenty of healthy foods to snack on, too – which
is just one reason that I side with the small, frequent meal approach.
It’s a practical issue – the more often you eat, the more opportunities
you have to meet your nutritional needs.
Let’s say you’re trying to get 7 to 10 fruit and vegetable servings a
day, a couple of servings of dairy, and you have protein needs to meet,
too. That might be hard to do if you try to distribute all that food
over just three meals. But if you use snacks as an opportunity to work
in more healthy fruits and vegetables, or maybe some calcium-rich
yogurt, or an additional portion of protein, it’s a lot easier to hit
your daily nutritional targets.
Here’s another thing: people who eat less frequently can convince
themselves that they’ve ‘hardly eaten all day’ – giving themselves
license to do pretty much whatever they want when mealtimes roll
around. Or, they assume that eating huge – but less frequent – meals
will ‘hold them’ longer. That rarely happens. They usually end up
snacking anyway.
Frequent feedings can really help with portion control. If you know
you’ll be eating more often, you can teach yourself to be satisfied with
less every time you eat, since you know you’ll be eating again in a few
hours.
That’s the beauty of eating healthfully. High fiber fruits, veggies
and whole grains have relatively few calories per bite, and low-fat
protein foods help to satisfy hunger. That means you can eat every few
hours, and still have quantity and quality – without spending huge amounts of calories.
Copyright Healthy Weight Loss for
Life 2012
Thank you.
John
Cardinal
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