Posted by Healthy Bitch Daily on Mar 4, 2013
You would think we would have nutrition science down by now.
After all, we’ve been gathering damn berries and hunting hairy beasts since the cave women days. But alas, there are still so many theories, research studies and diet books that all cover the same topic - nutrition - yet they're all diametrically opposed.
Take snacking, for example. Should you eat frequent small meals, essentially snacking all day long, or, should you eat three well-balanced meals? Frustratingly, you can actually find real research studies to support both. But not all data is created equal, (remember when smoking was promoted by doctors?) so let me break it down for you...
The Claim: Eat frequently to keep your metabolism fired up
Fact: While the “eat more to weigh less” headline is often thrown around in the media, there is little evidence that solely the number of times a day you eat has an effect on your weight. There are, however, many conclusive studies that state otherwise, like this one published in the British Journal of Medicine, which found that when the same amount of calories were consumed, an increase in meal frequency did not offer any weight loss benefits.
Bottom line: Only eat when you are hungry, dummy. Don't force yourself to eat a certain amount of times a day, especially if you find it hard to stop once you start. It's better to eat three nutrient-dense, high-fiber meals to keep you satiated throughout the day, and, only if you need it, have a snack between lunch and dinner (martini olives at happy hour don't count).
The Claim: Snacking helps you eat less at meal times
Fact: Well, that depends entirely on what you are snacking on. If you’re snacking on empty calories, they won't curb your hunger or make you feel satiated, so it’s quite likely that you'll actually end up eating the same as you normally would at meals, leading to consuming more calories overall. There are studies that promote snacking, but the part that some people miss is that snacking has only been found to be beneficial when it consists of nutrient and water-dense foods. Duh.
Bottom Line: The quality of your snack food will determine whether your snacking habit will help you lose or gain weight. If you are hungry for a snack, choose nutrient-dense, high-fiber or water-dense foods, like a large handful of nuts, fresh veggies with guacamole or fresh fruit. These should fill you up, so you will indeed end up being less hungry at meal times and you won't stuff your face.
The claim: Eating frequently gives you more energy
Fact: Eating frequently can actually zap your energy, by forcing your body to constantly expend energy on digestion, when it can be expending it somewhere else. When you are constantly eating throughout the day, say every 2-3 hours, your stomach is not able to finish digesting one meal before something new is thrown down the shoot.
Let me paint a picture for you. Pretend you are cooking rice. You boil a pot of water and pour in a cup of rice. 10 minutes later, you pour in another cup of rice. And 10 minutes after that, you pour in a third cup. Nothing will cook evenly, right? Now think of your stomach as that pot. When you eat something it takes about 2-6 hours for your stomach to digest and prepare your food to send it on to your intestines. By snacking consistently, before your stomach is finished digesting your last meal, you could be lengthening digestion time (and energy expenditure), as new food added to the stomach will delay the movement of it to the next phase of digestion in the intestines.
Bottom line: Grazing throughout the day can actually zap you of energy, compared to eating fewer larger meals. It is believed that the high energy levels people experience when juice fasting comes from the fact that the body doesn’t have to exert so much energy to digest.
Double bottom line: Refrain from snacking, and definitely don’t graze all day long. That being said, if you’re tummy is rumbling, there’s no need to starve until dinner, as that can backfire and cause you to become ravenous. Make sure your three main meals consist of nutrient-dense, high-fiber, and water-dense foods, and you will find your snack craving wane. If you do get hungry, one snack midway between lunch and dinner is fine, as long as it meets those three criteria (no 100-calorie Oreo snack packs, missy).
Comment below with your questions on snacking!
Image courtesy of Grant Cochrane/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Maria Guadagno, Certified Health Coach
Maria is the founder of The Bombshell Blueprint, a 6-month, one-on-one coaching program designed specifically for women to help them achieve ultimate wellness and beauty. Clients receive a personally tailored diet and manageable steps to help them lose weight, get glowing skin, and improve their overall health, for good! Maria is trained in raw and natural food preparation from the Natural Gourmet Institute, and in holistic nutrition from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. So, she loves to explain why you are what you eat. Find her on: Facebook: The Bombshell Blueprint, Twitter: @MariaGuadagno, Blog: www.thebombshelldiet.com
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