The Truth About 3 Meals Per Day
Why Switching To Little & Often Will Change Your Life (and Jean Size) in Days…
Article By Simon Lovell
Author of The Lunch Box Diet
Expert to Marie Claire, Women’s Fitness, The BBC
Are you finding yourself full and tired all the time, the weight not dropping off?
It’s probably just about time for a meal wherever you are reading this. But… if you’ve planned it right then it may even be meal number 4 or 6 in your day. Sound too good to be true?Well if you learn these important concepts then you will be eating more often but gaining beneficial results because of it! Oh and you won’t feel hungry when you’re losing fat too, this is massive when it comes to sustaining a healthy eating plan for life.
We are conditioned early on in our lives for many aspects of our lives. When it comes to eating habits we most likely develop them early on. They are shaped by our parents who have much to do with the guidance and beliefs that we carry with us. We are told to eat all of our vegetables and that’s a good lesson. We also hear that we should clean our plates and stick to our three square meals a day. Not such a good lesson!
This is where things start to take a bad turn because this is conditioning us for bad habits in our future. If you stick with these then you are inevitably eating improperly and likely on your way to weight gain or the inability to properly lose weight. So let’s take a look at how the square three meals are likely to be adding to your weight, zapping your energy and as a result stealing any motivation you had to exercise or take part in healthy activity. A vicious cycle you might think? It’s true…
Setting Yourself up for Failure and Hunger
Here’s the problem when you focus your efforts on three meals a day you are setting yourself up for overeating. Chances are that these meals would include a quick and likely unhealthy and small breakfast on the way out the door. Then you gulp down a fast lunch at work or on the go, usually void of any nutritional value. Then comes dinner and you feel famished and consume probably more than your necessary calorie intake at just one meal. These meals are not keeping you in good shape and they are contributing to your weight problem.
Though many people find it counterintuitive, the reality is that if you want to lose weight you need to be focused on eating smaller meals more frequently throughout the day. This is how you keep your blood sugar levels regulated and how you ensure that you never feel so hungry that you will overindulge.
When you eat smaller meals on a more frequent basis throughout the day you are far less likely to overeat at any one sitting. You are keeping that full feeling and are refueling every so often so that you never have to feel too hungry. This means that you are far more likely to consume appropriate calories throughout the entire day.
Combinations Work Best
When we say that you should eat more frequently that doesn’t mean that you should eat large meals but rather smaller ones. You should be eating something a little bit larger than a small snack and combinations work best. Any time that you can get in fresh fruits and vegetables that’s a surefire winner as well as lean meats and herbs and spices to increase the taste sensation!
Most people fall of the healthy eating wagon when they are: bored of what they’re eating, they’re hugry, there’s no fun, variety and they notice side affects. Oh and there’s hurdles in the way like calorie counting etc.
Imagine a mouth watering combination of Spinach, Plum Tomatoes, Sugar Snap Peas, Beetroot with Peppered Steak, Pine Nuts, Olives and Sundried Tomatoes. Get creative and plan ahead as that will help dramatically with your ability to eat smaller meals more often.
When you focus solely on three meals per day they are bound to be bigger and full of far more calories. This introduces too much to your body at once and is almost a certainty that you are going to eat more than you really need. This is the type of habit that we are used to but which often contributes to weight gain.
So change your mindset and focus instead on powerful combinations of smaller meals at more frequent intervals throughout the day. Your body will thank you, your waistline will thank you, and overall you will feel far better in the long run with better eating habits!
Tips to Change Up Your Three Meal a Day Habit:
- Prepare in advance. If you plan what you’re going to be eating tomorrow, you’re far more likely to succeed than resisting foods in an unplanned day.
- Keep a log at the beginning. If you aren’t used to eating this way then write down what you are eating and when. This will get you into a routine and become habit rather than just another way of eating. The Lunch Box Diet System comes with a 90 day tracker and using this alone can increase your changes of success by a massive 50%.
- Come up with new and exciting lunch box combinations. If you keep it interesting then you are more likely to look forward to the foods that you have packed. Try a new fruit each week or think of a more creative way to use hummus. Keep it interesting and you will change your eating habits overnight!