What we need to do here when it comes to the small frequent meals approach (every 2-3 hours, 5-6ish times per day) is defensive eating. Each feeding is meant to keep you under control, not bottoming out and running to the nearest vending machine. However, it is vital that these small snacks between meals are non-insulin impacting low-glycemic type foods. Preferably proteins, healthy fats, vegetables, and lastly fruits can sometimes fit in here (any leftover or convenient meats, hard boiled eggs, nuts, raw veggies, etc). Another important point: you don’t have to love these foods nor should they take much time to consume. They are simply means to an end and if they take too long to prepare and eat they are way more likely to be skipped and you’re back to being vulnerable (preferably no protein shakes or bars, real food). So, the least preparation required and something you can eat in a few minutes or even seconds. Let the rest of your feedings be more of a sit down event as one major barrier is time. And if you are making an event out of 5 meals/snacks or more it will eventually prove itself a burden and you will find ways to sabotage it. We can’t risk that if we are after a goal.

Ghrelin increases after periods of not eating and stimulate the appetite.  Keep that bastard in check!  The longer you go between meals the more it will work against you.  Above, see the peaks just before breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

In the past, the research in this area has been a bit vague with not enough substantial evidence to support it.  As I have mentioned so many times in the past, the real world and research are at a disconnect and some things although not currently black and white proven or explained, still work perfectly fine.  Allirot and colleagues from several French research labs decided to do a controlled experiment. They invited 20 men to take part. The men were on average 27 years old, and of normal weight. The researchers gave the men a breakfast of 674.8 calories consisting of a slice of white bread, a croissant, some strawberry jam, a pat of unsalted butter, 4 ounces of orange juice, a spoonful of sugar and black coffee or tea. Uh, yes, junk food not under our ‘Quality’ umbrella.

On some days they were given the entire 674.8 calories at once, on other days they got a quarter of the calories (168.7) once every hour for four hours. The researchers found that the men who had the four mini-breakfasts were less hungry at lunchtime. This was corroborated by changes in two food-related hormones in the men, ghrelin and GLP-1, that are consistent with decreased appetite.

So, would they still eat less when faced with a free and tempting meal? Yes indeed, the researchers found. The subjects were offered a buffet lunch after their experimental breakfast(s) consisting of grated carrots, pâté de campagne, rice, French beans, fried potatoes, sausages, chicken breast, cottage cheese, cheese, stewed fruit, chocolate cake, white bread and sugar. The men consumed less of the buffet on the days when they had eaten the multi-mini-breakfasts.

So, have you tried a diet plan and failed? Lost motivation? Will power? Felt deprived? Do just about everything right, but kept falling for silly snacks or foods that derail your plan? Or, were you too addicted to certain foods and couldn’t hold on? Trust me when I tell you this little principle may be all that you are missing. You have to eat before your brain and body get their typical signals for you to go fall into your same old habits. Then, will power and control will be at their highest when it may be time to have some freedom and flexibility with your food choices at meals like lunch or dinner. Think of your snacks as just quick things you have to do to hold it all together. And, with these foods, you don’t have to love them, but merely tolerate them. They are a crucial action step that again SHOULD only take a short amount of time to get so much more out of your plan.  And at the end of the day may be the one single most important factor to you succeeding or failing.