Small frequent meals are often recommended by health experts and dietitians worldwide for assisting in weight loss. Dietitians claim that healthy snacking between meals boosts metabolism, maintains blood sugar levels & controls unhealthy cravings. Frequent meals ensure that the blood sugar levels do not crash, and reduce the tendency to reach for unhealthy snacks. But do small meals actually help in weight loss? Read on to find out.
HOW SMALL MEALS HELP
-A large meal overloads the digestive system, making it sluggish as more energy is directed towards digesting food.
-Eating small meals ensures better energy levels through the day, essential for those who work and need to stay active through the day. Small meals also help reduce bloating.
-Studies show that small frequent meals help maintain stable levels of fatty acids in the blood, fluctuations in fatty acid levels are linked to increased risk of heart diseases.
-And finally, small frequent meals help the body better assimilate more nutrients from the food that is consumed. This helps the body function better, lowers level of body fat and helps stay healthy.
THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND
While small meals may seem like an opportunity to indulge, here are some things to keep in mind when eating frequent meals:
-Ensure that you aren’t using frequent meals to consume more than usual food.
-Adjust your regular food consumption into 5-6 meals rather than 3 square meals a day.
-Stay away from “wrapper food” packets of biscuits, chocolates, chips, savory snacks etc are not items to be included in the small frequent meal plan.
-Add fruits, vegetables, cereals, healthy sandwiches, & soups to make the meal in between meals a healthy one.
-Stay away from high fat and high sugar foods, as these tend to spike blood sugar levels, and the higher the spike the harder the crash, which will make you reach out for another unhealthy treat.
-Opt for healthy options like steamed idli, dosas with small amounts of butter or ghee, oats, multigrain breads and pasta, tofu, cottage cheese.
-Maintain protein intake, often people tend to ignore staples like rice dal, when switching to more meals a day..Ensure that eggs, chicken, lentils are included to get adequate protein.