Diet and Nutrition
Get Fit Today UK
The Impact of Meal Frequency
Meal frequency should I skip breakfast? Light Lunch? Small frequent meals? Today you are presented with many different choices as to which diet plan you should follow and what to do.
Looking at the impact of meal frequency in a factual no frills way:
An important but often overlooked factor in weight gain or loss -- in addition to the kinds of foods that are ingested -- is meal frequency. A number of studies on the subject have determined that eating more frequent, smaller meals or “snacks” during the day tends to lower total serum cholesterol levels, improve glucose tolerance, and mute weight gain. Tests conducted on groups participating in this eating approach, often termed “grazing vs. gorging”, show that spreading caloric intake throughout the day instead of compressing it into two or three meals has positive effects on general health as well as on achieving and maintaining ideal weight.
Counteracting this argument, studies have proven eating all your adequate nutrients in one sitting is most beneficial to your health and maintaining an optimal body weight. The human body works and stores food simultaneously. It becomes most efficient when the process of ingesting and digesting food is done over a compressed amount of time. Essential nutrients and fat will store in the body, but this storage operation is unlike what is done when meals are frequently being ingested. Scientists have found that the process of storing fat in the single meal diet is unique to human body; all fat storage is temporary, and consumed for energy almost immediately. Obtaining your caloric intake in a single setting has been proven to increase functional efficiency, provide an alternative to unrealistic dieting, and in the long run ensure a better health.