Why do you need to eat three times a day. Why is it dangerous to have one or two meals a day? Principles of fractional nutrition

How much, often and what exactly we eat is influenced by many factors - from the traditions of the family and country, to genetics. Recent studies point to a partial genetic influence on individual meal frequency.

How many times a day should you eat, according to scientists?

Statistics unemotionally broadcasts: among adults US over 20 years old 65% have overweight or obesity and there are no signs of significant improvement in this situation. In Russia, this figure is not much better - about 51% of people(data: 2010) we weigh more than we need and the dynamics are also not happy.

List obvious harms from excess weight will not be included in this text. Let's focus on one of the frequently discussed topics - how weight and body composition change with the frequency of meals.

(Here and below, we will cite as an example studies mainly of Americans, since Russian people in fact - exactly the same, only the braces are slightly different, and there are practically no data and studies on Russia).

How many times a day do people eat?

Children show a natural need to eat small portions ("peck" food) throughout the day. However, after reaching a certain age, the child gets used to eating food in a certain way.

How much, often and what exactly we eat is influenced by many factors - from the traditions of the family and country, to genetics. Recent studies point to a partial genetic influence on individual meal frequency.

According to the National Food Consumption Survey ( Nationwide Food Consumption Survey - NFCS, 1987 - 1988), the average frequency of meals among 3182 American adults was 3.47 times a day - this is when all snacks are taken into account, including high-calorie drinks.

If we discard intermediate meals up to 70 kcal (for example, tea, coffee, drinks), then the number of meals decreased to 3.12 per day.

Actually, this fact confirms the traditional widespread 3 meals a day: the same breakfast, lunch and dinner. Despite the fact that nutritionists and trainers often advise eating both small meals and more often throughout the day to get metabolic benefits, people are in no hurry to follow them.

Some scientists believe that if you eat infrequently, but in large portions, then the risk of obesity increases, by increasing the synthesis and storage (lipogenesis or "deposition" of fat) after eating.

However, scientists have not come to a consensus: the discussion continues, as research data are contradictory.

How many times a day to eat: does the frequency of meals affect your body?

In the past few years, researchers have been evaluating the effect of meal frequency. Here are the results of some of the more interesting ones.

In some early research featuring people published about 50 years ago, evaluated the effect of meal frequency on weight and body composition.

In some experiments, a similar relationship was found. Others refute the effect of increasing the number of meals on weight and body composition.

Some research shows an inverse relationship between meal frequency and body composition/weight - i.e. the more meals, the less weight(ceteris paribus - for example, with the same number of calories).

However, these data are called into question: in addition to the obvious genetic differences of the studied, there are other factors that can affect the result and conclusions.

For example, experiments that use self-collected data to compare total daily energy expenditure often underestimate food intake.

Several studies have found very large underestimations of calorie intake in overweight and obese people, as well as in older people, who tend to underestimate what they eat.

The source notes rather positive influence more frequent meals on body weight and composition, even considering the possibility of underestimating food restricting/dieting people. However, this difference is insignificant and is not confirmed by many other studies.

Confounding factors aside, most studies show that increasing meal frequency does not play a significant role in weight loss/body composition changes.

Experimental studies: there is no difference in the number of meals for ordinary people

Most experimental studies involve overweight and obese people.

One study found: when total daily calories are the same(but at the same time with a lack of calories - for weight loss), there is no difference in weight loss, even when the frequency of meals per day is increased from one to nine.

Roughly speaking, you can eat your own, for example, 1500 kcal at least in one meal, at least divide it into 9 meals - there will be no difference - you will lose weight equally.

In 2010, scientist Cameron and his colleagues evaluated the effect of an 8-week low-calorie (low-calorie - for weight loss) diet on obese men and women.One group of subjects consumed food 3 times a day (low frequency of food), the other - did 3 main and 3 additional snacks (high frequency of food). In both groups, calorie restriction was similar (minus 700 kcal/day from normal).

As a result, a similar decrease in body weight (about 5% of the original), dry mass, fat and total BMI was recorded. There were no significant differences between groups with different frequency of eating in any sign of obesity.

In addition to experiments with fat people, several studies have been conducted with people of normal body weight. In terms of optimizing weight and body composition, the results were similar to those obtained in people with overweight/ obese: increasing the frequency of meals does not provide any benefits.

Even on a low-calorie diet or when calorie intake helps maintain current body weight, increasing meal frequency from 1 to 5 or from 1 to 3 did not improve weight loss.

How many times a day to eat: exceptions to the rule - children and athletes

An exception is the work of Fabry et al. The researchers showed that the increase in skinfold thickness in 10- to 16-year-old boys and girls was significantly greater with 3 meals compared with 5 or 7 meals. At the same time, no significant differences were found between girls and boys aged 6-11 years.

Interestingly, many of the reports of improved body composition with increased meal frequency have been received when the experimental group consisted of athletes.

Thus, based on this limited information, it can be hypothesized that increasing meal frequency in athletes may improve body composition.

Not a large number of Studies in athletes have demonstrated these benefits of increasing meal frequency: reduced lean muscle loss with a hypocaloric (calorie deficient) diet, a significant increase in lean muscle mass and anaerobic power, a significant increase in "fat burning".

The frequency of meals and the effect on cholesterol, pressure, insulin in the body

There are far fewer reports in the scientific literature regarding the effect of changes in eating frequency on "health markers" such as blood lipids and glucose, blood pressure, hormone levels, and cholesterol.

Gwinup and colleagues were among the first to undertake several descriptive studies assessing in humans food influence is similar to "herbivores" (often and few) compared to "carnivores" (rare and many).

Five inpatient males and females were prescribed a low-calorie diet for 14 days in a cross-over method according to the following scheme:

one big meal a day

10 doses per day, every 2 hours,

Three meals a day.

Meals are like predators (one meal per day) resulted in an increase in serum lipids compared to 3 meals a day. Nutrition by type herbivores (10 times a day) caused a decrease in serum lipids: phospholipids, esterified fatty acids and cholesterol.

More recently, studies involving both obese and non-obese people have also noted significant improvements in total cholesterol when a low-calorie meal was consumed 8 times compared to one meal and 17 snacks compared to 3 meals.

In a crossover study that included 6,890 men and 7,776 women aged 45-75 years, in the general population, mean cholesterol levels decreased significantly with increasing meal frequency, even after adjusting for confounding variables: obesity, age, physical activity and food ration.

After adjusting for these variables, total and LDL cholesterol levels were about 5% lower in people who ate more than 6 meals a day, as opposed to those who ate once or twice a day. Similar results have been obtained by other researchers.

A recent cross-sectional study of the impact of meal frequency on health outcomes in humans compared the traditional 3 meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and eating all of those meals in one serving. Each subject followed one of the diets for 8 weeks with an 11-week break. When eating once a day, there was also a significant increase in total blood pressure..

Scientists reported that increasing the frequency of meals has a positive effect on glucose tolerance. Specifically, when subjects consumed 4 small servings at 40-minute intervals rather than one large serving containing exactly the same number of calories, lower insulin secretion and glucose levels were observed.

When comparing the consumption of low-calorie diets of 17 small meals per day (versus 3 per day), serum insulin levels were lower by 27.9%.

However, there are several experiments involving healthy men, healthy women, and overweight women that have shown no benefit for cholesterol and triglycerides.

Despite the mixed results of research on health markers such as total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and glucose tolerance, it appears that increasing meal frequency has a POSITIVE impact.

However, it is noted that the experiments that showed benefits of increased frequency were relatively short-lived, and it is not known whether such a positive adaptation will occur in a long-term study.

How many times a day to eat: protein is better absorbed with a more even distribution in the diet

It is widely believed that the body can absorb only a limited amount of protein at one meal and that it is necessary to distribute their intake throughout the day for the best effect, for example, when enhanced protein nutrition is needed for muscle growth. And there are scientific reasons for this.

Based on recent research,muscle protein synthesis in response to a serving of food is optimal when consuming 20-30 grams of high-quality protein or 10-15 grams of essential amino acids - that is, such an amount is absorbed as efficiently as possible in one meal.

Studies have shown that the typical American diet distributes protein intake inappropriately, for example, the amount of protein at breakfast is low (about 10-14 grams), the bulk is at dinner (about 29-42 grams). Thus, the diet of Americans optimizes protein synthesis only once a day - during dinner.

An animal study showed that an equivalent distribution of protein between three meals (16% protein per serving) resulted in greater total protein synthesis and muscle mass, compared with a suboptimal intake (8%) for breakfast and lunch and more than optimum (27%) during the dinner. That is, protein is supposed to be absorbed better if it is consumed more evenly throughout the day.

To observe a true relationship between meal frequency and protein status, it is necessary to use experimental models in which protein synthesis is optimized by eating 5-6 rather than three servings.

This was demonstrated by Paddon-Jones and colleagues, who found that mixed protein synthesis was about 23% higher when three large 800-calorie meals (containing about 23 g protein, 127 g carbohydrate, 30 g fat) were consumed, supplemented by three small meals. servings of 180 kcal for 15 g of essential amino acids, compared with consumption three big servings of 850 kcal.

Combining the results of several studies, it can be concluded that in the case of optimization of protein synthesis, an increase in the frequency of meals can positively affect protein digestibility.

In addition, experiments with meal times show the importance of protein intake before, during and after physical activity.

CONCLUSIONS

For ordinary people who are not burdened with sports achievements and activities, for overweight people, the frequency of meals does not matter. You can eat 1 time per day, you can eat 9 times a day - the result will be the same, it all depends on the number of calories consumed per day, and not on the number of meals.

However, an increase in the frequency of meals still has a positive effect on the normalization of pressure, cholesterol levels and jumps in blood glucose and insulin levels.

An increase in the frequency of meals (more precisely, a more even and frequent distribution of protein over meals) also has a positive effect on the digestibility of protein, which is required in an increased amount, for example, for muscle growth.

Some studies have shown the positive effect of increasing the frequency of meals on the quality of the body of athletes: a decrease in the loss of dry muscle mass during "drying" (hypocaloric diet), a significant increase in dry muscle mass and anaerobic power, a significant increase in "fat burning".

P.S. And remember, just by changing your consciousness - together we change the world! © econet

Eating right is more than just eating healthy foods. For proper nutrition What matters is how often a person eats. How many times a day should you eat? Is diet dependent on age? physical activity What are the differences for those who want to lose weight and gain weight?

Many people think that you need to eat 5-6 times a day. Is it so? And what are the advantages and disadvantages of dietary regimens?

How many times a day do you eat - three or five?

IN modern civilization It is customary to eat three times a day. At the same time, most diets practice dividing the daily portion by 5-6 times. Where is the truth?

Three meals a day

Three meals a day looks like this:

• breakfast at 7 am;
• lunch at 13:00;
• dinner at 19:00.

Or give or take an hour. The break between meals is six hours. This schedule is tied to an eight-hour workday.

Pros:

• convenient for working people;
• there is an opinion that 6 hours is the minimum break for the proper functioning of the stomach.

Proponents of eating three times a day make such arguments. The stomach digests food within 6 hours. Adding a new portion of food during this period means interfering with digestion. After the stomach, the contents move to small intestine, where the process of assimilation of nutrients lasts up to 10 - 14 hours. In case of six-hour breaks digestive tract gets enough time to rest and recover.

Fractional nutrition

Another opinion: long intervals are harmful. During periods of hunger, the metabolism slows down, and after overeating, fat builds up. Hence the disadvantages of three meals a day:

• during breaks there is a feeling of hunger;
• hunger leads to subsequent overeating.

To prevent this from happening, food is taken every 2 to 3 hours. During the day, you need to do three main meals and three snacks. In this mode, the body evenly receives energy.

Pros:

• small portions are easier to digest, go into energy, not fat;
• sufficient energy levels are maintained throughout the day;
• there is no feeling of hunger, no overeating.

Minuses:

• spending time snacking.

If you eat the daily norm not in three doses, but in six, then the person does not have time to get hungry. But it is not always the case. With a low daily calorie intake, the opposite effect may occur - a person does not eat up a small portion and does not satisfy hunger. This is usually true for women who are trying to lose weight without significant physical exertion.

How many times a day do you need to eat to lose weight

Experiments show that for weight loss, six meals a day compared to three meals a day have no particular advantages. The subjects followed the prescribed diet for two months. The results were the same in both groups - all participants in the experiment lost weight.

A calorie deficit is essential for weight loss. Eat once a day or nine - it doesn't matter.

When following a strict diet, there is more of a psychological aspect. It is easier for someone to tolerate restrictions with frequent meals, and for another person it is easier to regularly skip one or two meals.

How many times a day do you need to eat to gain weight

It also doesn't matter how many times a day you eat to gain weight. The main thing is the number of calories and products. Another point is that people whose diet contains a lot of calories quickly fill up. In this case, frequent snacking will help you eat more.

Studies done on athletes show that body composition improves with frequent meals. Protein is well absorbed in the amount of 20 - 30 g at a time. And a large amount of calories is difficult to fit into three servings of food.

To gain muscle mass, practice 6 meals a day at intervals of 2 to 3 hours. The main meal is breakfast and before training. After the load - a restorative meal, dinner is light.

Advantages:

• with a low-calorie diet, less lean muscle mass is lost;
• anaerobic power increases;
• improved fat utilization.

The impact of food intake on health

In this direction, short-term (lasting two to three months) studies were carried out. Their results speak to the benefits of frequent meals for people with health problems.

carbohydrate metabolism

Frequent snacking lowers insulin levels and blood sugar levels. More pronounced results were obtained in subjects whose diet was dominated by complex carbohydrates.

Cholesterol

A single meal leads to an increase in serum lipids (phospholipids, esterified fatty acids and cholesterol). When dividing the daily portion of food by 8-10 times, their decrease was noted.

In general, the level of "bad" cholesterol is 5% lower in people who eat 5 to 6 times a day.

Hypertension

According to the therapeutic diet (No. 10), with hypertension, it is recommended to eat up to 4-5 times a day in small portions. Fractional power allows you to reduce the load on cardiovascular system and the digestive tract.

To each his own

All people are different and there is no single diet for all. Each theory has its supporters and opponents. Scientists also have not come to a consensus on how many times a day you need to eat, since research data is often contradictory.

The Indian approach to nutrition is interesting. Ayurveda says that there are people of the elements of fire, air, water and earth. Each type has its own digestion speed. Those who belong to the sign of fire need to eat after 2 - 3 hours. It is recommended for people of the elements of air to take food after 3-4 hours, water - after 4-5 hours. The slowest digestion is in the earth sign. This type of people need to eat only 1 - 2 times a day, taking breaks between meals for at least 5 - 6 hours.

We draw conclusions! The multiplicity of meals is important for athletes and children. For the rest - according to needs and lifestyle. It does not affect the health of an adult in any way, he eats once a day or six.

If a person eats two or three times a day, feels good, his weight is normal, there is no hunger between meals, then such a diet suits him. In case of diseases of the digestive system, the presence of excess weight, a tendency to overeat, you should try other systems.

How Many Times a Day Should You Eat? Fractional nutrition or Volumetric. Detailed analysis.

Fat people often eat only 2 times a day, and sincerely do not understand why the weight does not move. Some with this lifestyle even gain weight, especially if the second, last meal falls in the evening. Let's see what the error is.

Why is eating rarely bad?

The secret lies in the fact that the habit of eating rarely, but a lot, makes you gain more calories than you would gain from several more frequent snacks, when you manage to maintain a constant feeling of satiety in the body.

It is known that the feeling of hunger directly depends on the level of sugar in the blood. If you eat infrequently, your blood sugar drops, you feel unwell, lack of energy, and, as soon as the opportunity arises, you pounce on food to satisfy your hunger, and besides, you eat quickly enough. Since the feeling of fullness appears only 15-20 minutes after the start of the meal, you eat much more than you should, as you swallow pieces.

Losing weight should try to maintain the same level of sugar in the blood during the day, to prevent severe hunger when sucking in the spoon. The metabolic rate slows down after 4-6 hours after eating. That is why when losing weight, it is important to eat often and in small portions, at least 4-6 times a day. It would also be good to count calories when losing weight so as not to overeat. Food must be thoroughly chewed, trying to eat slowly, this is important so that you get as little food as possible before you feel full.

Which is better 3 or 7 meals?

What diet fits your lifestyle? Do you eat rarely and thoroughly, or a little, but often?

If you are trying to lose weight and are familiar with famous diets, then you probably know that many of them are designed for three meals a day. American nutritionists conducted an experiment: they offered those who want to lose weight a seven-time meal plan. The portions were made very small. Wild animals eat this way, which, by the way, do not suffer from excess weight at all.

Of course, eating all day and losing weight at the same time is the dream of any girl. But how effective is it in reality? Below we offer you to compare the pros and cons of 2 eating patterns: eating 7 times a day and eating 3 times a day.

Meals five to seven times a day

Of course, eating little and often is good. Thus, you maintain blood sugar levels and do not overeat from hunger.

Positive sides:

• with such frequent nutrition, working capacity increases. Your body is constantly fueled by energy through 5-7 meals a day. The result of this is cheerfulness, activity and high efficiency;
• with seven meals a day, hunger attacks are not tormented. Such a regular meal during the day with a small time interval helps to maintain normal blood sugar levels. As a result, there is no feeling of hunger and you will not be able to eat a lot at a time. This principle helps to lose weight if you eat apples as a snack. So you can develop in your body indifference to sweets;
• improves metabolism. This happens because the digestive organs are constantly working. As a result, more calories are burned.

Negative sides:

• time frame. Sometimes it is difficult to follow such a diet, not every person manages to eat every two hours;
• fats are burned more slowly. Due to the fact that the insulin content is constantly elevated in the blood, the process of burning fat in the cells becomes slower or even practically stops;
• you can overeat if the stomach is distended.

Meals three to four times a day

You do not starve for more than 3-4 hours, the food comes in evenly, there is no overeating. Those are the pros, but what about the cons?

Positive sides:

• fats are burned quickly. Insulin is not produced at the moment when the food is digested. The absence of insulin in the blood leads to the fact that fat is not deposited, the body begins to burn previously accumulated fat deposits;
• good food control. With three meals a day, it is easy to control the number of calories eaten per day;
• hunger "by the clock". The body gets used to a certain schedule, which is why hunger occurs every day at the same specific time.

Negative sides:

• if you do not eat for about 4 hours, then you suffer from bouts of hunger. You may sometimes want to eat before the allotted time. This is due to the fact that when digesting food, a large amount of insulin is spent, so its level in the blood drops;
• nutrients are less well absorbed. In the case when the body with food receives a lot of nutrients and useful substances immediately, often he cannot use them in the best possible way.

Summarize

A three-, four-time meal model is suitable for those who are not able to control the volume of the portion eaten at a time and cannot eat every 2 hours. Five, seven meals a day can be safely recommended to people who have an active lifestyle, who go in for sports. For those who want to constantly eat, you can also try to lose weight this way.

With any eating pattern, it is important to remember that your diet must be balanced. It is necessary to eat often, without overeating. Eat vegetables often, moderate vegetable oils, protein and slow carbohydrates, drink at least 2 liters of water per day and do not fast for more than 3 hours in a row so that your blood sugar does not rise too much, making you want to eat fast carbohydrates. For weight loss, it is much more important not to exceed your calorie content, and it’s up to you to eat 4 or 7 times a day!

Many people are concerned about the question "how to eat right and how many times a day?". This question worries every person who cares about their figure and health. After all, there are a lot of opinions on this subject, and they all differ from each other. Someone is an adherent of the classic three meals a day, some talk about four meals a day, five meals a day and even six meals a day. Some people only need one meal a day. So who is right anyway?

Many modern nutritionists agree that you need to eat four to six times a day. From this it follows that the number of meals for each person is individual. However, four times is the minimum, according to the recommendations of dietitians.

One cannot but agree that nutrition directly depends on the daily routine. A person who wakes up at twelve o'clock in the afternoon simply will not have time to eat six times, agree. And for those who are called early birds, just three meals a day are not enough. Surely many have heard that for weight loss, eating after six in the evening is prohibited. Now, that's wrong. The last meal should take place at least three hours before bedtime. Therefore, you can start dinner at least at eight o'clock, or even at nine in the evening.

How to eat right and how many times a day

So, the key to proper nutrition is adherence to the regime. Do you always have breakfast, lunch, lunch or dinner at the same time every day? If not, get used to this useful habit. Compliance this rule will inevitably lead to an improvement in well-being and will affect appearance. Many people find a variety of excuses, they say, study, work, and so on.

But if you carefully plan your diet, it's easy to stick to it. Surely you will have a free minute to snack on an apple or eat a bowl of salad. In addition, this way you will be able to avoid overeating when you come home. Four meals a day and five meals a day involves eating every three hours. Are you used to having breakfast at 8:00 am and going to bed at 10:00 pm? So count the number of meals, taking into account the fact that the difference between meals should be three hours, according to the advice of nutritionists. So, with simple calculations, we go out to four meals. An hour before bedtime, you are allowed to drink a glass of low-fat kefir or eat one apple.

Compliance with the diet and the number of meals is one of the basic rules of proper nutrition, but far from the main thing. And the main component is what exactly you eat. Believe me, if you are used to eating flour products, fast food, fatty foods and sweets, four meals a day will only harm you.

Learn how to properly combine products. What can harm your figure, if it’s really difficult to give up all sorts of goodies, eat up to twelve o’clock. Then you will have time to spend calories. Never go to bed immediately after eating. During sleep, the metabolic process slows down, and this leads to the deposition of fat on your waist. Do a fasting day once a week. Think about when it would be convenient for you to hold it, and feel free to proceed. On this day, eat one product, for example, eat apples or drink kefir. Regular fasting days bring great benefits, unlike any diets there, which can only harm the body.

It is also worth talking about the benefits of water. You need to drink eight glasses of purified water without gas per day. It is especially useful to drink water half an hour before eating. But after eating it is recommended to wait one hour. It is not recommended to drink while eating.

By following the above rules, you will not only transform, but also heal yourself!

Good day, my dear readers. For many, weight loss is associated with a round-the-clock stay in the gym and a hunger strike. Yes, physical exercise have a positive effect on forms. But the most important thing is what you eat and how you cook. Therefore, I decided to talk about what you need to eat in order to lose weight. Proper Diet It will help to say goodbye to excess weight without much difficulty, without harming the body.

I'll tell you a secret - when fighting for a slim figure, a huge number of products are allowed. However, you need to be very serious about the choice of food that you will consume. When losing weight, foods that speed up metabolism are very good. For details on what you can enjoy, read the article "". Here I will briefly talk about each food group.

Cereals

This food group is rich in plant fibers that are beneficial for our digestive system And . Thanks to them, a feeling of fullness quickly sets in and it lasts a long time.

In addition, the consumption of cereals is beneficial in that the body is saturated with valuable elements. These include phosphorus, zinc, magnesium, niacin, iron, selenium, etc. These substances have a beneficial effect on the body. Including, they speed up the metabolism.

• buckwheat;
• rice (brown, black and red are especially good);
• rye;
• oats;
• barley.

Meat and fish

This is a valuable protein, so necessary for building muscle tissue. Refusal of meat during weight loss leads to the accumulation of adipose tissue and the simultaneous loss of muscle. And yet, the body spends a lot of energy on digesting meat. And after such a meal you forget about the feeling of hunger for a long time.

Nutritionists advise giving preference to lean meats - stay beef, rabbit, chicken or turkey. Also add eggs to your diet.

Some weight loss experts believe that the best meat is fish from cold waters. It is rich not only in proteins, but also in iodine and. These elements are important for the normal functioning of the thyroid gland, which is responsible for the speed of metabolic processes. Choose . For example, flounder, tuna, cod, pollock, etc. And don't forget the seafood. Include shrimp and squid in your diet.

When it comes to protein, don't worry about going over 20-30 grams at a time. He'll get used to it later. I recently read an article, so there they offer even more to eat. Include any protein in every meal.

Vegetables

This food group is low in calories. Also, vegetables are rich in fiber, the digestion of which the body spends a large amount of energy. Vegetable fibers improve the functioning of the digestive tract and normalize metabolism. In addition, fiber does not allow the fats that come with food to be completely absorbed.

• cabbage (cauliflower, white cabbage, broccoli);
• tomatoes;
• cucumbers;
• pepper;
• vegetable marrow
• turnip;
• celery (root), etc.

Fruit

Most fruits are low in carbohydrates. Therefore, they do not have much effect on blood glucose levels. And fruits are also rich in fiber, the benefits of which I have already said twice above 🙂

Losing weight can eat:

• grapefruit,
• apples,
• avocado,
• pomegranate,
• pear,
• kiwi,
• peaches,
• pomelo and other fruits.