Benefits of eating regular meals with snacks
It’s important to eat regular meals to ensure your body gets the energy it needs to perform. To prevent big hunger pangs between meals and overindulging at main meal times, spread your food intake over five to six smaller meals and snacks, rather than eating three large main meals a day. This can benefit your metabolism and help you to achieve your weight goals quicker.
Why Eat Regularly?
Protection Against Heart Disease
Eating regular meals and snacks has been associated with lower levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, which raises the risk of heart disease and stroke. In addition, a consistent eating pattern reduces the amount of insulin secreted in response to food. Lower levels of insulin in the long term would be expected to protect against obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
Appetite Control
The longer you wait to eat between meals, the hungrier you get, which makes you more likely to overeat when you finally get the chance to have a meal. If you start off your day with breakfast, and then continue eating every 3 to 4 hours, you’ll provide your body and brain with a steady stream of nutrients and energy so you don’t go overboard at mealtime. This will lower your chances of obesity and place less stress on your body as a whole.
Increased Concentration
When we’re hungry, we find it far more difficult to concentrate. It’s harder to get your mind to focus when you’re thinking about food, and when your mind is not being provided with nutrients. Having regular meals throughout the day and light, healthy snacks in between will see you benefit from increase concentration and, in turn, productivity. That’s bound to keep the boss happy!
Increased Energy Levels
Heavy and infrequent meals make you inactive and lethargic. You might have had the experience of feeling like resting after a heavy meal during Christmas time. You have to be as active as possible during the entire day for weight loss results to really become visible and for your health and fitness to improve. For this, small meals will be very helpful, as you won’t ever feel stuffed and your body will be supplied with steady energy sources throughout the day.
Blood Sugar Control
When your blood sugar levels increase, you have less craving for food. Eating frequent small meals keeps sugar levels constantly at a high level, leading you to eat less. Low blood sugar levels are accompanied by hunger, causing you to rush to the nearest vending machine for that soft drink filled with high-fructose corn syrup which is turned right to fat, just adding to your weight.
Start Eating
Skipping meals or eating too little too infrequently is not a solution to your weight problem. In fact, its unhealthy, as it encourages your body to hold on to its fat content. If you eat smaller meals of the right type more frequently, your body burns more fat or more calories than it takes in, resulting in a net loss. Start planning for smaller, frequent meals next time you're in the supermarket or ordering a meal delivery online.