Are you the one who savours frequent meals or is just get satisfied with two full meals a day?
Both are good options, depending on your eating habits, metabolic system, and health mechanism. In recent times, particularly during and after Covid 19, people are majorly working from home. Staying indoors has made us addicted to food. Consuming food at regular intervals is not harmful, but not exercising or walking enough can harm your body.
In fact, it is quite beneficial to consume frequent meals but there has to be a system attached to it. If you are binging, mindlessly, then you need to watch out for it. Mini meals are becoming a norm these days as these aid in satisfying the appetite, stabilizing blood sugar levels, and providing nutrients to the body throughout the day. Smaller, more frequent meals in your daily eating patterns also can aid in a more efficient metabolism compared to a slower metabolism when meals are skipped.
While working from home or sitting long hours in the office, eating 5-6 smaller meals in a day with a time gap of 3 hours keeps your appetite under control. It would help if you also took care of what you are eating. The foods should be wholesome, healthy, and nutritious, and should surely include fruits and vegetables. This will keep you away from binge eating and cravings.
Here are a few major benefits of eating 5-6 times a day:
- More energy
- Less hunger
- Reduced food cravings.
- Control blood sugar levels & insulin production.
- Reduce body fat storage.
- Maintain & increase lean muscle mass.
What are the other benefits of eating small meals?
The benefit of eating small, frequent meals suggests that this eating pattern can: improve satiety, or feeling full after a meal. Not only this, but it also increases metabolism and body composition and prevents dips in energy. To maintain a healthy lifestyle and regulate functions such as digestion, metabolism, and glucose levels, it is important to keep your habits in form. This includes eating your food on time and in a specific manner.
What makes these mini-meals important?
Big feasts and too many treats don’t just pack on extra pounds. Research finds that overeating can also change your metabolism – meaning how the cells in your body process the food you consume – and that can lead to chronic health problems including diabetes.
What should you do to make your mini meals more effective?
To achieve the optimum benefit, you should eat small meals and that too chewing slowly. Smaller meals after regular intervals are the key to preventing any problems related to diet and fitness. The more you chew, the less work your stomach has to do, so this habit can relax you internally as well. And, when you eat too quickly, there are chances of swallowing air, which can develop gas pockets in your belly.
Even if you are feeling very hungry or in a hurry, then also you should try and eat small bites and chew properly for proper digestion. You should try and eat small portions of food. Taking small and frequent meals is much better than filling your void of hunger with huge meals. This habit will not only make you mentally alert but also keep your blood sugar and energy levels balanced.
God forbid, if you are facing medical conditions like diabetes or Blood Pressure then taking care of your meals is even more important.
In such a condition, mini meals enable you to stabilize blood sugar levels as eating small and frequent meals is controlling and balancing blood sugar levels. You can keep your blood sugar levels balanced and controlled by eating smaller and more frequent meals. Small meals have less glucose than larger meals and cause blood sugar to increase at a regular rate. Therefore, diabetic or hypoglycemic patients are also suggested to eat small and frequent meals for this benefit.
If you are otherwise healthy and want to remain healthy forever, mini meals boost your metabolism and improve your digestion. Eating frequent meals and that too at regular intervals even helps in boosting your metabolism, and decreases the chances of you starving for food. When you do not eat anything for a few hours at a time, your body reacts quickly slowing down its metabolic rate to save energy. Eating food with long gaps can slow down your metabolism gradually on a long-term basis. It is important to eat something both before bed and after waking up to keep your metabolism boosted. Moreover, eating small and frequent meals at regular intervals also helps in promoting digestion.
Another benefit of having small frequent meals is that it helps in regulating and boosts your energy levels. If you are taking an irregular diet, hence a disturbed pattern of meals, it can lead to an increase in blood sugar levels. And on the other hand, eating small and regular meals 5-6 times a day contributes towards blood sugar level control. And this further helps in regulating your energy levels throughout the entire day and also keeps you away from sugar cravings.
Last but not the least, it leads to weight loss and manages appetite particularly when you are on a weight loss journey, then eating small and frequent meals is also an aid for losing weight more healthily and quickly. It is one of the best ways to less calorie intake and sugary foods per meal. This helps in keeping you full for longer hours, with fewer chances of overeating, hence a lot of motivation to maintain yourself.
Isn’t it going to make you happy? So eat happily, spread happiness, and HappyHo!
