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When should I eat my first meal?
Meals during the day are best planned based on the hours of sleep and after taking into account individual issues such as health, well-being and the way of the day. According to many recommendations, the optimal time to consume breakfast is the first hour after getting out of bed. But are you sure? What about people who start their day early, at 4 or 5 in the morning? It all depends on the morning feeling of hunger. If we wake up in the morning with rumbling in the stomach, we should not delay the breakfast hour. If you feel full, you can easily postpone the first meal.
Is it possible to skip breakfast?
However, it is worth considering why we do not feel hunger in the morning. Perhaps we ate dinner too late or was it too plentiful? This is a mistake that should be eliminated, since excessive load on the gastrointestinal tract before rest is associated with a negative effect on the quality of sleep and interferes with the recovery of the body.
However, if, despite the correct time of the last meal, we do not feel hungry in the morning, for example until noon, You may want to skip the typical breakfast. There are many studies on the effect of the first meal on body weight. Some reported that people who ate breakfast had a lower BMI, while others reported that those who skipped the first meal consumed fewer calories throughout the day.
You can also come across analyzes indicating that the effect of skipping breakfast is worse appetite control. Perhaps it is this factor that causes our wolf appetite in the evening? It's worth taking a look at.
How many meals a day?
You've probably come across the recommendation to eat 5 meals a day — 3 main meals and 2 snacks. For many people, this will be a good solution, but it will not work for everyone. In a study by Heden and colleagues, it was shown that in obese women, eating 3 meals, compared to 6 per day, resulted in lower insulin and triglyceride levels. However, many people feel better by eating “less and more often”. This also applies to people who find it difficult to realize their caloric needs - a larger number of dishes makes this task easier.
How often?
Surely you have also heard that an important factor in the process of losing weight is maintaining the regularity of meals. This seems extremely important due to post-meal thermogenesis or insulin concentration in the blood.
To maintain regularity, the next meals should be eaten at intervals of 3-4 hours, depending on how many of them will be targeted. If you want to adjust the number of dishes, it is necessary to determine what time you go to bed and remember Maintain a 2- or 3-hour break between dinner and rest. Therefore, if we eat breakfast at 7 o'clock and go to bed at about 22-23, then dinner should be eaten no later than about 8 p.m., and all other meals should fit in the interval between these hours.
According to the state of health
The number of meals individually adjusted to the mode of the day can be set by a healthy person. The matter becomes more complicated when health problems arise. Then it is necessary to think about what distribution of meals during the day will not negatively affect the course of the disease. For example, in case of reflux problems, the patient should eat 5-6 small meals in volume, so as not to stimulate excessive secretion of gastric juices, as this can lead to exacerbation of symptoms. The situation is similar for patients with stomach ulcers. Also, people with metabolic disorders such as diabetes, insulin resistance or reactive hypoglycemia should match the number and distribution of meals to the test results. Not always little and often will be a good solution.
Food window
It would seem that getting up early promotes a healthy lifestyle - and it is, as long as it is not accompanied by going to bed late. In this case, it is more difficult to schedule regular meals throughout the day. But a solution can be found for this too.
An interesting method that allows you to plan meals and times of their consumption is the use of the so-called “food window”. It assumes time intervals in which you can eat. The most popular option is an 8-hour “window” for meals, interspersed with a 16-hour fasting period. For those starting the adventure with the food window, it is worth starting with the proportions: 10 hours of eating and 14 not eating.
This way of eating allows you to increase the time without eating, which is aimed at relieving the digestive system. Unfortunately, this will not be the optimal solution for everyone - in case of health problems, it is worth consulting this method with your doctor.
For health
Keeping your meals regular helps to better control your appetite and make rational food choices. Properly selected number and hours of meals support the maintenance of normal body weight, better concentration and help to avoid post-meal drowsiness. The result — better health and a prettier figure.
Bibliography:
- Gawęcki J. (ed.): Human nutrition, the basics of nutrition science. PWN Scientific Publishing House, Warsaw,2012
- Schoenfeld B., Aragon A., Krieger J., Effects of meal frequency on weight loss and body composition: a meta-analysis. Nutrition Reviews, Volume 73, Issue 2, February 1, 2015, Pages 69—82.
- Jakubowicz D, et al High caloric intake at breakfast vs. dinner differentially influences weight loss in overweight and obese women. Obesity (Silver Spring). (2013)
- Pereira MA, Erickson E, McKee P, Schrankler K, Raatz SK, Lytle LA, Pellegrini AD. Breakfast frequency and quality affect glycemia and appetite in adults and children.J Nutr. 2011 Jan; 141 (1) :163-8
- Farshchi HR, Taylor MA, Macdonald IA. Beneficial metabolic effects of regular meal frequency on dietary thermogenesis, insulin sensitivity, and fasting lipid profiles in healthy obese women. Am J Clin Nutr. 2005 Jan; 81 (1) :16-24
- Heden TD, Liu Y, Sims LJ, Whaley-Connell AT, Chockalingam A, Dellsperger KC, Kanaley JA.: Meal frequency differentially alters postprandial triacylglycerol and insulin concentrations in obese women. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2013 Jan; 21 (1) :123-9
