Health reasons aside (not that you need additional reasons, but still), a study published in Population Health Management determined that people who predominately make unhealthy food choices are two-thirds more likely to be less productive than those who actively make healthy choices.
Thatās why plenty of people (and experts) focus on meal timing.
Like me. I eat a number of small meals throughout the day. Decades ago (Iām old), plenty of fitness experts said eating smaller meals throughout the day helped you absorb more protein, under the premise that your body could only handle 30 grams or so of protein at a time, and at the same time ensuring a steady supply of nutrients. Plenty of nutritionists said eating five or six small meals a day helped to boost metabolism and control hunger. (Youāre less likely to feel really hungry when you know your next meal is right around the corner.)
So, thatās what I did. Thatās what I still do. It works for me.
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But not because of the real, or imagined, underlying science.
In a study published in Journal of Nutrition, participants were placed in two groups. While both consumed the same number of calories and macronutrients, one group at three meals a day, the other six. The groups then swapped eating patterns.
The result? There was no difference in nutritional benefit, or on participant appetite.
Meal frequency also had no impact on grehlin, the hunger hormone that increases appetite and food intake, or on leptin, the hormone that signals fullness and suppresses appetite. (An imbalance in those hormones can naturally contribute to weight gain or loss.) Meal frequency also had no impact on inflammation. (Chronic inflammation can contribute to various health problems including heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers.
Add it all up, and my habit of eating five or six smaller meals a day? It isnāt necessarily optimal (if such a thing exists), but it also isnāt sub-optimal.
Someone elseās intermittent fasting? It isnāt necessarily optimal, or sub-optimal. Someone elseās three balanced meals a day? It isnāt necessarily optimal, or sub-optimal.
What matters, if youāre trying to maintain a healthy weight, is how much you eat. What matters, if youāre trying to be healthy, is what you eat. (Check out Inc. colleague Jessica Stillmanās post on Harvardās AHEI diet.)
Not when, or how often, you eat.
Granted, research shows taking in most of your calories earlier in the day is could be linked to lower odds of being overweight or obese. Research also shows eating close to bedtime can interfere with sleep and increase the risk of weight gain and metabolic issues. (Feeling too full when I go to bed definitely messes with my nightās sleep.) If when you eat affects how well you sleep, that will also affect your weight. A study published in Sleep found that reduced sleep leads to a significant increase in eating. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found lack of sleep causes increased activity in your brainās reward centers specific to food, and affects some of the hormones that signal when youāre full.
So yeah: on the extreme end of the literal (and figurative) scale, when you eat can sometimes matter.
But what always matters more is whether when, and how often, you eat works for you. Eating five or six small meals a day works for me. My weight hasnāt fluctuated more than five or six pounds for the past 30 years.
Intermittent fasting may work for you. Three balanced meals a day may work for you.
The best eating scheduleālike the best exercise routine, or morning routine, or any other routineāisnāt the one thatās trendy, or Andrew Huberman-approved, or even scientifically optimal.
The best eating schedule is the one you can stick with. Pretend intermittent fasting truly is the best way to eat; if you canāt stick to that routine, ābestā is irrelevant. An eighty percent solution, followed consistently, always outperforms a 100 percent solution that you canāt actually do.
The key is to determine a kind of routine that works, and that you prefer, and embrace that.
Because when and how often you eat really doesnāt matter, as long as it works for you.
There are well-established times for these things, but yes, every person has some variance.
When and how you makes a world of difference, the key is to understand some basic biological things: how long it takes to metabolize different things.
You simply canāt escape the time elements, this is basic diabetes research realm.
Driving glucose levels by eating too much high-glycemic foods will spike glucose, which forces insulin release, which then stores the excess glucose as fat (while also causing damage to the cardiovascular system).
Do this all the time and you have significant increase in cholesterol plaques on arteries, increasing artery stiffness, requiring higher blood pressure to maintain blood flow, and increasing risk of stroke.
The general guideline of smaller meals more often still holds. Not I didnāt give exact numbers of meals or size - thatās the per-person variance.
Reads like a bit of a cop out; seems like itās saying eat what makes you healthy because not being able to do so means you may not stay healthy.
Agreed, bc one I know literally considers every single food we eat unhealthy, as if we are eating poison; they only eat dates and a sort of soup they sometimes make, they only eat a very small amount and maybe once or twice a day, they are very thin, their body cells are probably burnt already, we spoke to them many times, but you know metalheadsā¦
So the point is yes, itās not necessarily about what you eat, but how and when. Food varies which is a nice thing to change what you eat at your desire and needs, but anything can become negative once it exceeds its limits.
Metalheads as inā¦ People who enjoy metal music? Because thatās me, and yes Iām slender, but thatās because I work out. I eat whatever, whenever. Your friend almost certainly has an eating disorder, and if so they need professional help to recover.
As well, what a person eats is extremely important. A body has to get enough nutrients, and not eating food that contains those nutrients will at best be a disadvantage and at worst slowly deadly (slowly, but still faster than time alone).
