eating smaller meals more frequently

[seedling]

They say if you eat smaller meals and more frequently you will lose weight better because it keeps your metabolism up longer. Is this correct? if so, would it work differently (like work more or less that way) being raw or s.a.d.

[justinesmith]

IMHO the best way to lose weight is to eat only when you are truly hungry whether that is once a day or eight times a ay. Eating out of habit or eating on a schedule is not the way our bodies were designed. I naturally fell into a rhythm while being raw and I do tend to graze throughout the day (but I do have days where I don't eat more than once) but never by the clock and I don't keep track. Good luck and I hope you find what works for you! :D

[subbacultcha]

Snacking on low-cal foods like greens throughout the day will keep your metabolism up and aid weight loss, in my experience.

[klomasius]

Grazing throughout the day means that things like blood your sugar level is kept steady and your metabolism is steadily being fed calories.

I believe we naturally tend toward grazing as a dietary pattern, and eating whenever we need to eat rather than patterning our eating around our modern life (which has only been around for several hundred years).

I'd say that grazing would be more beneficial for weight loss than three large meals, and I seem to recall research to that effect.

Having said that, I do love to sit down to a large meal, but time constraints mean I do the healthier grazing most of the time!

[DavidZaneMason]

Opinion: Yes, it helps you to reduce weight. No - it works the same with raw.

-David Z. Mason

[Coonlie]

I've also read the research on the benefits of "grazing' as opposed to eating larger meals. However, I've also read that we need to give our bodies long periods of time between "feedings" in order for them to rest and repair. If the body is in a food digestion mode all day long, does this not take away from its ability to do other functions that are vital for health?

Any opinions/ideas appreciated.

[jaurequi]

I believe coonlie is correct. Frequent eating and keeping the body constantly working and digesting aids only in increased aging of self and the organs.

Three or two meals a day is best. Give the body a "fast" between meals and eat when truly hungry and not out of a "craving"; this is the same for cooked foods or raw.

Best,

[EZ rider]

I find the small "grazing" meals to be easy on the digestion. When I eat a big meal all the blood seems to go to the stomach and then I feel like laying down and digesting for awhile. When I eat a small meal when signaled by the body by a slight feeling of hunger I eat something small like a single apple for example and I know that the body is ready for it because it just signaled that it would appreciate food now. If I can also read what the body would like I feel extra good about eating as its just on time and just whats needed. How can that be wrong ?

[Nurse in the Raw]

I've also read the research on the benefits of "grazing' as opposed to eating larger meals. However, I've also read that we need to give our bodies long periods of time between "feedings" in order for them to rest and repair. If the body is in a food digestion mode all day long, does this not take away from its ability to do other functions that are vital for health?

Any opinions/ideas appreciated.

Your body is in digestion mode all day long, even if there is minimal food to digest. The only way your bowels truly rest is on a juice or water fast. A great example of this is when you are on a juice fast and still having bowel movements four days later. It takes literally days for food to move through 25 feet of intestines, even raw food. Our bodies have the ability to perform many functions at once. For example, you can think and eat and breathe all at the same time. Also our bodies repair themselves regardless of whether we have food in our stomachs or not.

A lot of food can however overwhelm the Liver and Pancreas so I guess that would be a good argument for grazing.

[raw_danceruk]

I find I alternate between grazing and three meals..or two meals..

I eat when I am truly hungry

this can mean somedays eating fruit from 11-1pm..then not having anything until 7pm when I get in, have a large salad..

or otherdays eating every 3 hours a small fruit meal or fat or greens.. usually at work this happens.. whearas the weekend I am more likely to eat twice..and far apart..when I am doing nothing!!