Popular diets recommend eating little but often. It is believed to help regulate appetite and weight. However, recent studies show the opposite — the more often we eat, the higher the risk of obesity. So how do you eat right?
The modern rhythm forces us to eat «on the go» and when we can. It turned out that eating when necessary, we disrupt the work of the “biological clock” (circadian rhythms) of the body.1. This conclusion was reached by Gerda Pot, a specialist in diabetology and nutritional sciences from King’s College London. “Many processes related to digestion, metabolism, appetite, depend on circadian rhythms,” she says. “Eating out of the clock increases the risk of developing what is called the metabolic syndrome (a combination of obesity, hypertension and high blood sugar), which in turn is associated with an increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.”
Even if you snack often and a little bit, as many nutritionists advise, this will not help you lose weight, on the contrary, it will contribute to obesity.
The standard mode — 3 times a day — also does not help to lose weight if you eat too high-calorie foods.
Inona àry no tokony hatao?
Three principles of good nutrition
Gerda Pot and her colleagues, having studied popular diets, came to the conclusion that in order to lose weight, it is enough to follow three rules. This requires some effort. But it is not something impossible.
Eat on a scheduleand not when I had a free minute. Make it a rule to have breakfast, lunch and snacks at the same time every day. Try not to eat before bed and avoid high-calorie foods and fast carbohydrates in the evening.
Keep track of your calories. You must consume less than you spend. If every day at the same time there are pasta and flour and sit at the office all day at the table, this will not save you from excess weight. Dinner should be at least 3 hours before bedtime.
Reduce calorie intake throughout the day. Obese women who consumed more calories at breakfast than at dinner have been shown to lose weight faster and maintain healthier blood sugar levels.
A full meal at the same time is better than frequent meals at different times of the day
A full meal at the same time is better than frequent meals at different times of the day, so the importance of family breakfasts, lunches and dinners cannot be underestimated — they help teach children to eat on a schedule2.
In some countries, this habit is laid down by the culture itself. In France, Spain, Greece, Italy, lunch is especially important, which usually takes place with family or friends. The French most often observe three meals a day. But residents of the UK often skip regular meals, replacing them with ready-made products and fast food.
At the same time, for the British and Americans, in most cases, the amount of calories consumed increases during the day (a light breakfast and a hearty dinner). In France, the opposite situation has historically developed, but in recent years the situation has changed — more and more often the French prefer high-calorie dinners, which has a bad effect on the figures. So the proverb «Eat breakfast yourself, share lunch with a friend, and give dinner to the enemy» mbola manan-danja.
1 G. Pot et al. «Chrono-nutrition: A review of current evidence from observational studies on global trends in time-of-day of energy intake and its association with obesity», Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, June 2016.
2 G. Pot et al. «Meal irregularity and cardio-metabolic consequences: results from observational and intervention studies», Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, June 2016.