Grazing VS Full Meals?
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| Fri, 08-11-2006 - 1:05pm |
Is it better to eat three meals a day or graze throughout the day?
by Karen Collins, R.D., American Institute for Cancer Research
For years, both consumers and researchers have tried to decide whether it’s better to eat three meals a day or graze throughout the day, consuming small amounts of food. Do the “mini-meals” of grazing speed up metabolism and make weight control easier, or does spreading out food intake make people eat more and gain weight? What effect does grazing have on blood sugar and cholesterol?
A new study tried to answer these questions. In it, 10 obese but otherwise healthy women ate their usual amount of food in three regular meals per day for two weeks. For another two weeks, the women varied the number of times a day they ate from three to nine times, but they still tried to eat the same total amount of food.
Food diaries of the women in this study showed that they ate fewer total calories on the days with three regular meals. Although the women’s weight was unaffected by the irregular eating patterns, weight gain wouldn’t be expected after only two weeks of eating 80 calories a day more by grazing. However, the impact of eating frequency on calorie intake remains unclear. When a group of lean women went through the same tests of three regular meals versus irregular eating in a separate study, there was no difference in calorie intake.
Grazing is often said to lead to a higher calorie-burning rate. In this study, however, the women’s baseline metabolic rate, which is how fast the body burns calories, was unaffected by differences in meal timing. Contrary to popular thought, other studies also show that eating frequency has no effect on a person’s overall metabolic rate.
Another aspect of metabolism, however, did change. The rate of calorie-burning immediately after eating, which naturally rises as the body processes food, rose considerably higher after two weeks of eating just three meals a day. Both the obese and lean women experienced this increase in metabolism. In other studies, however, the effect of meal frequency on the metabolic rate after meals varied.
People might think that grazing would improve blood cholesterol or blood sugar control because the body processes smaller amounts of food at a time. But results are mixed. In this recent study, LDL (“bad”) cholesterol was actually higher after two weeks of irregular eating. However, some past studies have shown lower LDL levels with grazing.
The effect of meal frequency on blood sugar also varies in studies. In the recent study of obese and lean women, pre-breakfast insulin levels were unaffected by either meal pattern, but insulin levels rose less after eating with three meals a day. The irregular eating pattern led to increased insulin levels and apparently less effective insulin action. In another study, when people ate identical foods in either three meals or nine snacks, the snacking pattern was linked to higher fasting blood sugar levels but lower insulin levels, which is a mixed bag of results. In general, however, neither meal nor grazing patterns seem to have a health advantage when compared to each other.
Perhaps the biggest impact of a person’s eating style depends on what is eaten. For some people, spreading out food intake means smaller portions of a variety of healthy foods. Other people, however, may select less balanced food choices when grazing. Some studies show that regular meals, on the other hand, result in a greater consumption of vegetables, fruits and whole grains, along with a higher intake of protein, calcium, fiber and a variety of vitamins. If grazing for you means more high-calorie food, or fewer vegetables and whole grains, then you need to change your food choices for a healthier grazing habit. If you want to control your weight, you need to decide whether grazing makes you more likely to overeat.
A

I am a grazer but made the choice to schedule my eating and how much I eat.
In theory I eat breakfast between 7:30 - 8:30. Snack 10:00 or later, Lunch 12:00, Snack 3:00 or later and then dinner varies.
This way I don't graze for 2 hours. If I have one serving of trail mix at 10:00 that's it. I think if I was grazing which I think of as every time you pass the bag of trail mix you grab a handful I think I would be eating more and when I wasn't really hungry.
I try to have a snack regardless of my hunger because I find that I'll be starved before or at meal time and will eat like I just got off a deserted island.
Interesting article.
~IslandGirl
School's out for summer!
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I think this subject, too, is like the other article you posted about nutrition myths. Three meals a day won't work for everyone, nor will the grazning thing.
I am basically of the old three meals school too, although I have learned about snacking and how and when it's best to do so, at least best for me.
I used to eat very little for breakfast and pretty early too. Now I eat breakfast after I get to work, and usually it's about 8:30 by time I do eat it. Then I don't have the morning snack amymore. I just added to my breakfast calories, added milk and/or a banana depending on whether or not I have SlimFast or a bar of some kind or oatmeal. I almost always do eat the banana or some fruit though. We then usually have lunch about noon, sometimes slightly earlier. If I know lunch will be really late, like today, I do have some more fruit or something. Dinner is late now that I'm with DH, usually about 7:00-7:30.
That being the case, I find that I need a snack, usually involving carbs, before workouts or HKD class. I like Granola or Pria or LUNA bars or cottage cheese and wheat crackers or oatmeal w/fresh fruit, usually just after work about 5:00-5:30.
Huh?
I was a little confused by the article.
I eat lots of tiny meals throughout the day. I don't like eating three larger meals. I only really eat a large meal