How to Eat Six Meals a Day
There is a growing body of research out on the streets these days touting the benefits of this nutrition plan called "grazing" or eating up to six meals a day. Some of the benefits include increased metabolism, higher energy levels, a positive nitrogen balance and blood sugar regulation. This is also a great way to get in your daily fiber requirements along with your fruit and vegetable recommendations. This eating plan does not have to be difficult or intimidating. All it takes is a little bit of planning and organization. After following it for a couple of weeks, it will be second nature. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Mentally prepare yourself. This may sound crazy, but it makes a lot of sense. You have been indoctrinated into believing the "3 square meals a day" theory since you were born. Most likely you have followed this ideology ever since. What you are about to do is completely out of the box and a twist on common knowledge, so you are going to have to make a mental shift and accept the idea. Once you have, you can then make it a reality.
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Write everything down. You can call this your food journal, food log or diary. As long as you have something to look at and refer to, that's all that matters. This journal will include a shopping list, prep time of meals, times you can prepare meals, days you can prepare meals, calories per meal and most importantly, the timing of the meals themselves. Now you have a game plan and a step by step chart to follow.
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Get your supplies. After you have set up your journal, you are going to have to go to the store and get food. Being that you are going to be eating more meals, take advantage of this time to easily engineer more fruits and vegetables into your plan. Here is where you can gain the benefit of more fiber into your diet. If you aim for 5 g per meal, you can get up to 30 g daily, and 25 to 30 g is the magic number.
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Prepare multiple portions. Set aside a time once a week to make a bunch of meals. Throw a bunch of yams and chicken breasts in the oven and let them bake. It doesn't take much time to prep them and it takes even less time to listen for a buzzer. You can also prepare a big stir fry with quinoa, veggies and some chicken chunks, lean beef or tofu. You can probably get 4 or 5 meals from it during the week.
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Portion out your meals. Each meal should be a balance pf protein, carbs and fat. They should be small enough that you don't take in excess calories and they should be large enough that you feel satisfied.
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Eat every 2 to 3 hours. Now that you have the meals thought out and prepared, all that's left to do is eat them. The meals don't have to be elaborate. A couple of examples are a banana with P.B. across the top, an apple with 10 almonds, a cup of yogurt with some seeds and fruit, a wrap with veggies and lean protein and a healthy smoothie.
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Tips & Warnings
An easy way to eat multiple meals is to simply cut your current meals in half then eat the portions every 2 to 3 hours apart.
Find out what your daily caloric requirements are. After you find this out, simply divide that number by six, then you have the caloric content of each meal. Check the Resources for a great website to find this information.
