Small, frequent meal patterns have long been thought of as one of the best ways to lose weight. For years, it has been a belief that eating six small meals a day would "jumpstart" your metabolism, reduce hunger, and keep your weight in check. But recent findings suggest that this approach may not be as effective as once thought and even, in some cases, ineffective.
Now the experts advise against increasing meal frequency and focus on reducing calorie intake, food quality, and portion size. But why is that? Is eating small frequent meals a myth? We got in touch with Dr Vishal Khurana, Senior Gastroenterologist, Metro Hospital, Faridabad. Here's what he says! Metabolism And Meal Frequency: A Myth The main reason to adopt more frequent meals is that eating more often will boost metabolism.
It is true that digestion does temporarily raise metabolic rate, but that increase is known as the thermic effect of food (TEF) and is small and independent of meal frequency. Studies show that consuming equal calories over two large portions of food results in identical expenditure, whether you eat six small portions of the same food. In other words, eating multiple meals a day does not "stimulate" metabolism or have any significantly better effect for weight loss.
Higher And Greater Risk Of Over-Eating Eating very frequent meals will make the situation worse by interfering with your appetite and then your likely chances of over-eating. Such a very frequent meal pattern is said to leave one n.