So far we’ve covered the basics of what goes on in your body. We have also gone through the differences between good food and bad food and dieting. We now come to meal times.
It absolutely does.
It’s common knowledge that the human body possesses a biological internal clock within itself. It is because of this clock that a person tends to feel hungry every 4 to 5 hours.
As you follow this clock day by day, it gradually becomes a schedule. Sooner or later, your body gets adjusted to this schedule and you find yourself hungry during these times every day.
Studies show that trying to change or alter this schedule can take many days before your body adapts and adjusts.
This may explain why splitting up three meals into six can be an adjustment for someone who is starting or going on a diet.
So are there benefits to splitting your meals?
It has been shown that there is a significant decrease in fat mass and weight for people who practiced splitting up their regular 3 times a day meals into 6.
This meal schedule includes your breakfast, lunch and dinner with a couple of in-between snacks on top of the good ol’ 3 square meals!
Splitting meals is very effective as you will lose weight gradually but everlasting.
So when should you have your meals?
Here are a few rules to keep in mind
- The perfect time to have breakfast is around 7am
- Try not to delay breakfast any later than 10am
- The Ideal time to have lunch is about 12.45pm
- Try and maintain a minimum gap of 4 hours between your breakfast and lunch
- Do not delay lunch any later than 3pm.
- The ideal time to have dinner is before 7pm
- You should try to keep a gap of 3 hours between your dinner meal and bedtime
- Do not delay dinner any later than 9pm
Between these regular meals, you can have your snacks around 10 – 11:30 am and 4:30-5:30 pm.
Along with meal timings, another factor that can really aid in weight loss is food.
What food should I eat to lose weight?
When consuming food, there are 5 types of items that you need to consume regularly to lose weight.
We’ll talk about the ‘why’ aspect later.
The 5 types of food that you need to consume are:
- Lean Protein: This includes fish, chicken, beef, low fat dairy and egg whites
- Colorful vegetables: eat a rainbow of vegetables from green veggies to tomatoes and carrots
- Natural fats: Natural fats include nuts, eggs, seeds, dairy and olive oil
- Watery carbs: Watery carbs are those that have natural water in them such as potatoes, oatmeal and bread
- Juicy fruit: This definitely includes all types of RAW fruits
Now here is the reason for why these types of food aid in weight loss.
It’s quite simple. These are ‘filling’ foods.
Even small quantities of these foods tend to fill up your stomach and delay hunger pangs.
When eating filling foods, you tend to feel full and satiated much faster and it lasts longer.
This smaller intake of food often leads to losing weight.
Bottom line is:
- Eat the right meals at the right time
- Split your meals into 6 healthy parts
- Eat filling food to help lose weight
Doesn’t this seem like a much easier lifestyle change that helps in losing weight as well as in staying healthy?
You still get to eat regularly and you don’t need to starve yourself or lower your food intake.
You eating healthy leads to a healthy weight loss.
Some other factors that affect weight loss are of course cardio, exercise and fitness.
It’s not at all as tough or challenging as it sounds and there are a ton of other easy ways to keep fit and healthy.
So, keep reading the related posts on this blog…
Until then, stay healthy, think healthy and feel healthy!
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