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Why is it better to eat a small portion of meals several times a day rather than big portions once or twice a day?

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Question added by Salma Eid , Dietitian/Nutritionist , Muscle Power Sports, Nutrition Centre
Date Posted: 2017/04/18

Eat several small healthy daily meals, instead of eating three large, high-calorie meals.

Regularly entering food into your body will make your metabolic rate burning, leaving your body in a better position to burn some energy for you. When you eat just one big meal like lunch, your body immediately stores it in the form of fat for fear of hunger.

Eat small, healthy and regular meals at specific times, and after healthy snacks increase your metabolism. The extended time between meals will make the body in starvation mode, resulting in reduced metabolism. Most people generally eat less when they eat small and frequent meals. Regular small meals can support the metabolic process throughout the day to work effectively.

Eat regularly every day, every three to four hours, but with small meals divided in order to increase metabolism, burn fat and eat moderately.

Or by diet.

MUSLIM TAHER ALMUSLIM
by MUSLIM TAHER ALMUSLIM , أختصاصي تغذية , شركة السبعان

Because some food is not simple installation and in order to benefit the body from them correctly and more must be the simplest image to facilitate the stomach as well as the wisdom of God in Ramadan in which the rest of the stomach and eating on the food causes obesity and stress in the diet becomes the initial non-obscure and therefore accumulates and you Greetings.

 

 

MOHD FAISAL KHAN
by MOHD FAISAL KHAN , Fitness Consultant (Specialist in Fitness Nutrition and Personal Trainer) , The Fitness Plan

Its always advisable to eat small portions several times a day (preferably 5-6 meals) e.g every 2-4 hours. Divide your daily calories intake by 5 meals ( example 1500 kcal / 5 = 300kcals), so eat 300kcals per meal of which eat atleast 20-30gms protein, 2 servings of veggies and healthy fat. This will boost your energy as well as your BMR. Will make you full and satisfied! Most important thing is your macro ratios!

Asif Ahmad
by Asif Ahmad , Professor , PMAS-Arid Agriculture University

Adding two points to support eat once a day. Insulin and glycogen storage are the two reasons why eating once a day is preferred over eating several times a day. Eating several times a day keeps insulin circulating through longer hours, which is not desired. Insulin is a fat deposit hormone. If the glucose from frequent meals is not absorbed quickly, it will be deposited as fat. The habit of frequent snacking is increased now a days, the year previous dietary guidelines were published that promoted low fat and high carbohydrates food. This has led to more obesity since 1980. In olden days, people ate just 3 meals a day or two meals a day (long ago). Obesity was not prevalent in those days as much it is today.

Shaik Sayed Md  Rashidul Hossain
by Shaik Sayed Md Rashidul Hossain , Deputy Manager , BRAC

Thanks for inviting me here!

 

Actually there are several benefits of having smaller portions of meal. The regular influx of food with a little-and-often approach keeps our energy level stable and provides us sufficient energy to perform our work more efficiently. Whereas when we take a big meal, the sugar level in our blood rises, but once that meal is digested that blood sugar level falls, and our energy level also decreased accordingly. According to the Medical Research Council's Human Nutrition unit,  the amount of fatty acids in the blood also remain stable when you eat little and often.

عبدالله عايش
by عبدالله عايش , صاحب براءة اختراع (مخترع و مبدع) , كالسيوم بلس

Make the most of the food

Maintain the health of stomach and intestines and the ideal weight

Samyuktha S N
by Samyuktha S N , HR & Admin Manager , Red Event Services LLC

Eating a small portion of healthy meals several times a day is more healthier. This helps us to shed some extra weight gained in a healthier way as it increases our metabolic rate and we will not have the feeling of craving for food which is not healthy.

Hatem Elbendary
by Hatem Elbendary , Personal Trainer , fitness fitness

Compared to the traditional “three squares” approach to eating, the concept of grazing on micro-meals spread throughout the day is popular among weight-loss dieters. Likewise, athletes and bodybuilders hoping to add weight are often told to restrict their calorie intake to larger, more infrequent meals.

For both groups, the presumption is that the human body is better able to manage a steady trickle of food—as opposed to a sudden deluge of calories.

Along with a library’s-worth of diet books, there’s research to back up these beliefs. Numerous studies have shown your metabolism, appetite, cholesterol levels and blood sugar may all benefit from a slow-and-steady influx of calories, rather than three big blasts.

But the newest and most in-depth science says “phooey.” In terms of weight loss, disease avoidance and lifespan, you should be eating fewer meals—not more. “Even three meals might be too much, Longo, also of Italy’s Institute of Molecular Oncology, is at the vanguard when it comes to the study of meal timing and calorie restriction. He says there’s “no question” your goal should be to eat fewer meals, and the reasons for this are myriad.For one thing, people almost always underestimate how many calories their food contains. “If something’s 500 calories, people guess 250,” Longo says. At the same time, life’s many distractions tend to confound our efforts to keep an eye on how much we’re putting in our mouths. Give yourself six or seven opportunities to eat throughout the day, and that’s six or seven occasions when you’re likely to overeat, Longo There’s also the fact that the most convenient foods tends to be junk foods. Finding or preparing healthy meals is a challenge. So if you’re eating six times a day as opposed to three, you’re going to have a tougher time sticking with good stuff, Longo says.

Hold on a second, you may be saying. Won’t I end up overeating at mealtime if I stick to just three meals? The answer: Yes, but not enough to make up for what you’ve skipped.

A 2013 study from Cornell University found that when people cut out a meal from their eating routine, they consumed an average of 400 fewer calories per day. Research on people who fasted every other day came up with similar results; compared to a group who ate normally, the fasters’ calorie intake was elevated on eating days, but only by about 10% or 15%—not nearly enough to make up for all the calories they’d forgone. Longo says studies that support a grazing approach tend to be flawed in predictable ways. They often look only at the short-term effects of increasing meal frequency. While your appetite, metabolism and blood sugar might at first improve, your system will grow accustomed to your new eating schedule after a month or two. When that happens, your body will start expecting and craving food all day long instead of only around midday or dinnertime.The proof of this is borne out in the way our food consumption habits have evolved. Even three meals a day is excessive in historical terms. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors weren’t eating more than once a day—if they were lucky. And as recently as the mid 1900s, people tended only to eat just twice a day. But by the early 2000s, the average American was eating roughly five times a day. Compared to Americans of the early 1970s, we’re also eating more food—and in particular more energy-dense food—during each of our meals, according to data from the National Institutes of Health. “We’ve gotten used to eating what we want, whenever we want,” Longo says, “which is one reason why obesity rates are so high.”

So what’s the ideal meal frequency? That remains a tough question, and the answer depends in part on your age, health and lots of other factors. But for most adults, two meals and a snack is a good goal, Longo says. “Something light for breakfast—150 calories—a healthy lunch, and a big dinner,” he suggests.

If you can work in a 12-hour period without food—say, finishing dinner by eight, and leaving off breakfast until eight the next morning—that stretch of fasting seems to be beneficial in terms of body weight, disease risk and longevity. But you’ll have to pay closer attention to the nutrients your food contains; fewer meals means fewer opportunities for your body to get all the vitamins and minerals it requires.

“Give yourself two months,” Longo says. While your mood, energy levels and appetite may freak out a bit at first, by the end of those two months your body will have gotten used to your new routine

simon ondolo
by simon ondolo , Director , Fairmont Hotels and Resorts

Small portions of food intake is easily digestible than larger portions

because small portion sizes are easy to digest and regulate metabolism.

shamim Akhtar
by shamim Akhtar , Nursing Lecturer , Ibn Sinah Medical College, Jeddah Kingdom of Saudi Arabi

it is very healther ,if we practice on daily basis to keep us active and healthy.

as many stresses lead to burdon on our health.Eat regularly every day, every three to four hours, but with small meals divided in order to increase metabolism, burn fat and eat moderately.

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