Anyone still eating small meals 5-6 times a day? page

[Goldensparrow]

I've seen Mark's articles on why we should eat only 3 meals due to insulin production, but let's be honest....almost everyone at some point has a snack or that little something after dinner. So that doesn't count as a meal right yet it is still releasing insulin, so it would defeat the purpose of 3 meals a day right?

Personally I feel very heavy when I eat three meals a day. I'd much rather only have to eat half the amount, so I feel lighter and have more energy then eat three hours later.

Also as a side note for the ladies, I noticed increased slowed digestion when I had a lot of progesterone going through me recently. It made my abdomen area feel very heavy, and I honestly felt sick even eating a half meal much less a full. I've heard this happens in pregnancy due to the progesterone hormone, so I kinda feel like I will have to split up my meals anyway when I finally become pregnant. So why not now to shrink my stomach and get it used to it, so I don't feel like I'm starving because I've stretched my stomach out with all of these big meals. Thoughts on this?

Thanks!

[wiltondeportes]

I've seen Mark's articles on why we should eat only 3 meals due to insulin production, but let's be honest....almost everyone at some point has a snack or that little something after dinner. So that doesn't count as a meal right yet it is still releasing insulin, so it would defeat the purpose of 3 meals a day right?

Personally I feel very heavy when I eat three meals a day. I'd much rather only have to eat half the amount, so I feel lighter and have more energy then eat three hours later.

Also as a side note for the ladies, I noticed increased slowed digestion when I had a lot of progesterone going through me recently. It made my abdomen area feel very heavy, and I honestly felt sick even eating a half meal much less a full. I've heard this happens in pregnancy due to the progesterone hormone, so I kinda feel like I will have to split up my meals anyway when I finally become pregnant. So why not now to shrink my stomach and get it used to it, so I don't feel like I'm starving because I've stretched my stomach out with all of these big meals. Thoughts on this?

Thanks!

If people have different requirements when it comes to certain nutrients, it's very possible that they would also have different adaptations to different ways of consuming meals. I find my body naturally leaning towards just one meal in a day, but that is not to say that everyone must be like that. There might be someone out there who is healthier/happier on a more grazing type of eating. If it works for you, go with it. My humble opinion is that grazing is not good for you, but I have never done trials with groups of people to test my hypotheses. My only test subject is myself.

[peril]

Three meals a day should be regarded as a maximum. No snacking. You will not restore metabolic health eating many small meals or snacking between meals. Its all about hormones

[PixieKitten]

In all brutal honesty, if you think 3+ meals a day is a good thing, you really might want to read the book again. =/ I get stuffed on 1-2 meals a day.

[Grim]

I have an afternoon grazing habit I'm trying to work on. Generally 80% of my nutrition happens between 1230p and 730p every day. Sometimes it's 100% when I skip breakfast. So it's kind of like an IF...but only kind of. I'm still having great results, I'll modify if necessary.

I wish I could go with just 2-3 big meals a day, but I just can't eat much at one sitting. And for whatever reason after I eat lunch my body tells me I'm hungry for something else. After 6 months I'm still learning to determine real hunger vs mental hunger. Sometimes it can be tough.

[Goldensparrow]

I wish I could go with just 2-3 big meals a day, but I just can't eat much at one sitting. And for whatever reason after I eat lunch my body tells me I'm hungry for something else.

THIS! Exactly how I feel.

[norak]

I used to be a notorious snacker who couldn't go more than 2-3 hours without food. Now I've moved from 5-6 meals a day to 5-6 hours between meals instead, meaning I typically eat 2-3 times per day.

Once I got the blood sugar issues and headaches under control, I no longer needed to snack. I still crave some sugar now and then, but that's more of a want than a need.

[iniQuity]

I'm pretty good on two meals a day, sometimes three on weekends, if I feel like it or am hungry I will throw down a third (or fourth) but as far as having purposely small meals so I can purposely eat 5-6 times a day, nope, none of that.

If, unintentionally that's what's happening because you sincerely can't or don't enjoy eating larger meals then so be it. If your food choices are primal, I just can't see how it could do too much harm.

I think the problem with 5-6 meals is if they're grain-based, or carb-dense, since you prime your body to be hungry all the time, etc. IF you've tried 2-3 substantial meals a day and that didn't quite do it for you then do what feels right.

Edit: I don't see how you could eat more than 4 primal meals a day though, as most meals are pretty satiating so if you're hungry 1-2 hours after a meal you're doing something wrong. Not enough fat or your meal is just too small. This isn't to say you should feel like a beached whale after each meal but at the same time you should feel like you just had a good, filling meal. I rarely feel stuffed unless I'm doing so on purpose.

[Sudenveri]

Before paleo I'd do the 6 small meals a day thing, but now I've found I do better with 3. I've tried doing 2, but it doesn't usually work for me (the exception being if I've had a particularly large meal the night before, and even then it just tends to push the meals into a closer grouping instead of fully eliminating one).

Honestly, I used to feel the same way as you - if I ate enough food to feel full for more than two hours, I'd feel heavy and sluggish. Now I can eat a big ol' pile of meat, fat and veggies, and actually feel much lighter and more deeply satiated than before.

[CoS]

I seriously doubt it matters THAT much. Some of the tone on these boards reads like "IF YOU EVEN SO MUCH AS SNACK ON A GRAPE OR ALMOND IN BETWEEN MEALS, YOU WILL GET FAT AND DIE!!111!!1!!" I've lost fat eating both 3 big meals a day (plus a post workout shake) and eating 6 small meals a day. I'm not sure the cortisol and stress from this debate is worth the actual benefit of eating at 7-12-7 instead of 7-10-12-4-7, or whatever your schedule is. If you've ever seen the Marshall Film, you know that they snacked on stuff (veggies, nuts, roots, small game) all day long and MAYBE had a big meaty meal once every 7-10 days.