14 DAY TRIAL // Even if we’re dieting and we’re steering clear from many foods that we’d indulge in otherwise, there is one golden rule we should always bear in mind: it’s best to eat more but smaller meals than stick to the three or two large meals a day. Experts say for Shape magazine that this is practically the easiest way to ensure we lose weight, even if we don’t change anything about our diet, and figures can prove it.
Eating five or six times a day so that we never feel as if we’re about to faint from hunger is the ideal way to avoid overeating. If we sit down at the table when we feel only a slight pang of hunger, as opposed to being famished, chances of us eating whatever we lay our eyes upon until we can hardly breathe and / or stand up go considerably down, nutritionists say. Switching to more meals a day will also help us appreciate food better, which, again, will improve the quality of our life and change our relationship with food.
“By eating more often, you’re less likely to get ravenous and scarf down everything in sight. When you eat a midmorning and midafternoon snack, you’re not starving at lunchtime or after work, so you won’t come home and binge. For each meal or snack, eat both protein and carbs, such as cereal with milk, an apple with peanut butter or a turkey sandwich. Protein takes longer to digest than carbs, so you’ll stay satisfied longer. A small Yale study showed that when women had a high-protein lunch, they ate 31 percent fewer calories at dinner than when they had a high-carb lunch. Tip: Try adding 2-3 ounces of fish or chicken breast to your lunch.” Shape magazine recommends.
Switching to six meals a day of 300 or 400 calories also has benefits beyond weight control. Since we no longer feel famished, our attention span improves, as also does our concentration, which, in turn, translates into increased productivity and an overall better mood at all times. “By eating more often you will keep up your energy, concentration and alertness levels – and you’ll ward off the late-afternoon energy drain that’s common among women. Plus, you are likely to eat more nutritiously because you won’t be bingeing and loading up on empty calories.” experts state for the same magazine.
Nevertheless, this is not the first time that nutritionists and dieticians underline the importance of eating more often. Most celebrities who are willing to speak out on their diet admit to having already embraced this approach – still, women continue to believe the secret to staying slim is eating as little as possible, with some of them even reducing their food intake to as little as one small meal a day.