How Eating More Often Can Help You Eat Less

Instead of eating three big meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner, at approximate intervals of four to six or seven hours, it is always better to eat four to six smaller meals at shorter intervals, say of two to three hours. You may wonder why eating more often contributes actually to eating less or to weight loss.

Lighten the load

Your digestive system works more efficiently on a lighter load. You overeat, overload the digestive system, and see what happens. It slows down considerably. In addition, if you overload the system frequently, it may result in indigestion, which in turn might lead to other health problems. In other words, your metabolism will work favorably for your weight problem when you eat less more often.

Your energy levels drop when the intervals between meals are too long. If you wish to work continuously at peak energy levels keep supplying the digestive system with small amounts of nutritious food every three hours or so.

Starvation or eating too little too infrequently is not at all a solution to your weight problem. Your body holds on to its fat content in that case. If you eat smaller meals of the right type (food that contains proteins, carbohydrates and even a little fat) more frequently, your body burns more fat or more calories than it takes in, resulting in a net loss. It may seem to be the impossible, but it is true.

Steady does it

When your blood sugar levels increase, you have less craving for food. Eating frequent small meals keeps the sugar levels constantly at a high level and you actually eat less ultimately. Low blood sugar levels are accompanied by hunger and you rush to nearest vending machine for that soft drink or lemonade laden with high-fructose corn syrup or other sugar which are turned right to fat, just adding to your weight.

Heavy and infrequent meals make you inactive and lethargic. You might have had the experience of feeling like resting after a heavy meal. You have to be as active as possible during the entire day for weight loss. For this, small meals will be very helpful, as you won’t ever feel stuffed.

Being busy throughout the day, you may not pay enough attention to eating for long hours. In that case, you will feel the calorie-deficiency, and are likely to feel tired. Stress levels also might rise. When you finally get time for food, you have a great tendency to binge. You might not care much for your diet at that time.

Healthy eating in small quantities more frequently will help lower LDL cholesterol, according to some scientific studies. Remember physical activity and exercise will only add to the beneficial effect of small meals on the bad cholesterol levels.

You will certainly get used to eating less and eating more often, if you make eating more frequently a habit. Perhaps you will then have to make a conscious effort at finding more about nutrition and the various foods you would eat in small quantities for good health. Allotting more time for more frequent meals becomes necessary and that itself gives you an opportunity to focus on important weight and health issues that many people do not make the time for.