Healthy Eating Tips: Why eat 5 times a day
Why should I eat 5 times a day?
Eating 5 times a day will help you stay healtyh and may even help you lose weight. Depending on the choices of food and the portions you are eating you will improve your metabolizm. Our bodys are programmed to store fat. If we don't eat for long periods of time our metabolizm will slow down to store the energy from food because it doesn't know when its next meal is going to happen.
Eating 5 times a day gives your body a consistant schedule and it will use its fuel more efficiently. By eating 3 meals and 2 snacks your body will be constantly in a fat burning state. Your body will learn to go with less calories allowing you to eat the right portions. By doing this for a week or two your body will tell you when its needs some food, trust me.
A consistent eating schedule is important for many reasons. First of all it gives you the control over what you are eating, how much you eat, and how often you eat. Eating five times a day will help assure that:
- You won't overeat at your next meal. Eating regularly you will not be too hungry and will not have the opportunity or desire to splurge at your next meal.
- Your metabolism will actually increase. Skipping meals in hopes of losing weight can cause your metabolism to slow down and store fat rather than burn fat.
Eating Schedule Example
Eating on schedule will be beneficial for many reasons. Aside from giving your metabolism a boost you will have more energy throughout the day. A good rule of thumb for a healthy schedule:
- Eat breakfast within an hour of waking up
- eat a small snack 2-3 hours after breakfast
- Eat lunch about 2-3 hours after the breakfast snack
- One more snack before 2-3 hours before dinner
- And last eat dinner at least 3 hours before going to bed
To ensure that you get the most out of this eating schedule it is important that you eat breakfast every day. Stopping eating 3 hours before you go to bed is also very important. You will likely be hungry before bed, but resist the temptation. Doing this your body will be burning stored fat for energy rather than digesting that last meal. As an added benefit of sleeping hungry, you will be hungry when you wake up. With this you will stay on schedule and eat breakfast as planned!
Maximize Your Workout
Working out to maximize your results also come from the same methodology of going to bed hungry. If you workout with little or no food in your system your body will maximize your workout by burning fat more efficiently. That is the main reason it is not recommended to eat or drink sports drinks or drinks high in carbohydrates, drinking water is key to hydration and fat burning.
Sample Meal
A sample meal to provide a simple look as to what healthy eating should consist of.
- Breakfast - 3 egg white and mushroom omlet, slice of whole wheat toast with real fruit spread, cup of orange juice or skim milk
- Snack - half a granola bar, or piece of fruit
- Lunch - turkey sandwich in 2 slices of whole wheat bread, cup of vegetables, cup of juice
- Snack - handful of raw nuts like almonds, protein bar
- Dinner - salad with lowfat dressing(2 tbsp max), pasta with marinara sauce, chicken breast, and mixed vegetables
