A healthy eating plan that comprises of 5 – 6 smaller meals per day instead of 2 – 3 large ones, suggests that the more often you eat, the more probability to burn off those extra calories and control hunger pangs.
The whole idea behind the principle of eating six or more meals a day is to fuel your body adequately and rush you over until your next bites.
Let us accept that weight loss strategies are causing more harm than good. They are interfering with weight loss goals and even gut health.
Let’s look at some of the benefits of eating smaller frequent meals
Weight loss
Eating smaller frequent meals is more successful for weight loss than eating three regular meals. It is a way to ensure you eat lesser calories, sugary foods and fatty foods per meals. This helps in keeping you satiated and lessen the chance of overeating, probably motivating you towards mindful eating.
Manage Appetite
Eating 5-6 smaller meals per day, in an interval of 3 hours is a key task to keep your appetite under control. The choice of foods should come from whole foods like lean protein (meat, dairy, and legumes) fibrous fruits and vegetables and whole grains instead of refined carbs.
This helps you to stay satiated and lessens the chance of developing carb cravings and binges. Instead of eating three meals a day, you may be so ravening that you overeat and end up packing more calories.
Boost the energy levels
Following an irregular diet, the pattern can cause your blood sugar to spike, whereas eating small regular meals 5-6 times a day keeps blood sugar levels under control. This significantly regulates your energy levels throughout the day and help you to stay away from sugar cravings.
Regular intake of food with a little and frequent pattern keeps your energy level stable and makes it easier to carry on with your day to day work.
Metabolism booster
Eating frequently at regular intervals boosts metabolism and keeps it from going into starvation mode. When you don’t eat for several hours at a time, the immediate reaction of the body is to slow its metabolic rate to conserve energy. In the long run, eating infrequently makes your metabolism to slow down. It is essential to eat both before bed and when you wake up to keep the metabolism from entering starvation mode.
Promotes Digestion
Eating small, frequent meals at regular intervals helps in promoting digestion. It simplifies the work of the gut to digest and absorb vitamins and minerals from the food when we go for small frequent meals. It is even advised by physicians to manage digestive conditions like acid reflux, gastritis and heartburn.
Stabilize blood glucose levels
Eating smaller, more frequent meals can help maintain blood glucose levels. Small meals contain less glucose than larger meals and cause blood sugar to increase at a gradual rate. This makes eating smalls meals especially helpful for people with diabetes or hypoglycemia.
