[Liftingchic]

Meal Frequency: The More the Better
by Larry Pepe
PART 1
"Why am I supposed to eat 5, 6 or 7 meals a day?" Everytime I prepare a nutritional program for someone, I know that this question is coming. As a culture that has been raised on the fallacy that eating breakfast, lunch and dinner is the ticket to health, it is often difficult for us to adopt a new way of thinking about food and meal frequency. And let's not ignore that eating 5 to 7 times per day requires a greater level of planning and effort, causing many to stick to old, less effective habits simply because it's easier. But, being in your best shape and best health--the MAXIMUM RESULT--isn't about doing what's easiest. It's about doing what's best.

Let's use an analogy. Think of you body as a car that needs fuel. Would you wait until you ran out of gas to refuel? Let's hope not. But, when you consider that most people will have breakfast between 6 and 8 AM, lunch somewhere between Noon and 1:30 PM and dinner between 6 and 8 PM, you can see that there are gaps between meals potentially as large as 8 hours. These gaps create multiple problems including suppression of metabolism, denying the body of maintaining a positive nitrogen balance, low energy and fatigue, and, of course, extreme hunger coupled with a greater likelihood of making poor nutritional choices between and at meals. This leads to another analogy....

Once you went to the gas station, would you stand there pumping gas like an idiot until your tank was overflowing and the gas was spilling all over the floor? Well, when you arrive at the dinner table after a 6 or 8 hour hunger strike since lunch, you are certainly likely to gorge yourself to satisfy that hunger as quickly as possible. This will often lead to either eating the wrong types of foods ("Hello Dominos...") or too much of the right foods. Either way, too many calories are consumed, and like the gas that spills over on to the ground, those excess calories have to go somewhere as well--namely your abs, glutes and hips.

As ridiculous as both of these scenarios sound, most people do this with their bodies every single day. Let's look at how adjusting your meal frequency can solve these common pitfalls.

THE BENEFITS OF EATING FREQUENTLY

Elevated Metabolism
Every time that you consume food your metabolism activates to process and metabolize what you've just eaten. We've all heard about the classic "slow metabolism". Well, the quickest way to speed up your metabolism is to eat more frequently. The more you can hype your metabolism, the more food you can consume and still get lean or add quality muscle mass without bodyfat.

Improved Digestion
By consuming smaller meals throughout the day, you give your body the best chance of fully digesting what you've consumed. Think about this example. Let's say you are consuming 3000 calories per day with a total protein intake of 250 grams per day. If you are eating 3 meals per day, this would amount to 1000 calories and 83 grams of protein per meal. The problem is that most people agree that it is very difficult to digest more than 40-50 grams of protein in one sitting. By splitting that same caloric and protein intake into 6 meals, each meal becomes an easily digestible 500 calories and 42 grams of protein.

Positive Nitrogen Balance
One of the major reasons that steroids work is that they create the ultimate physiological environment for growth and repair--positive nitrogen balance. Do you have to take steroids to reach this state? The answer is NO! By making sure that the body is supplied with quality protein every 3 hours or so, positive nitrogen balance is achieved and maintained. It's really very simple--if you're eating protein three times per day, you aren't anywhere near positive nitrogen balance. Five to seven times per day, and you are.

Energy
This may seem obvious, but it's certainly worth a mention. The two macronutrient food groups that act as fuel for the body are carbohydrates and fats. Certain types of carbs will only provide energy for an hour or so, while others will give you a more sustained boost. Either way, intense weight training and/or cardiovascular work will deplete your energy stores. Rather than overload your body with carbs and/or fat every 5 or 6 hours, wouldn't it make a lot more sense to have moderate amounts of these fuel sources entering your system at shorter intervals throughout the day.

Moderated Insulin Levels
Additionally, in the case of carbs, if you take in too many high glycemic carbs, this will create a dramatic release of insulin into your bloodstream. Here's the problem: In the presence of elevated insulin levels, it is IMPOSSIBLE for your body to metabolize and burn fat.

Hunger
By eating frequently, you will not suffer the hunger pangs that you would by taking in exactly the same amount of food condensed into less meals. As you won't be walking around starving, you will be much less likely to eat foods that will be counterproductive to your particular goals, i.e. you won't junk out! Also, since it won't be five or six hours since your last meal when you get to the lunch or dinner table, you won't be like the fool who keeps pumping the gas into an already full tank by gorging yourself with too much food.

HOW TO EAT FIVE TO SEVEN TIMES PER DAY
So now that you know why you should feed your body frequently, you may still be wondering how in the world you are going to make it happen. Click on Part 2 of this Article posted here on FemaleMuscle.com and I'll give you a number of tips that make it a lot easier to follow this incredibly effective and beneficial nutritional approach without killing all your free time or your wallet. Until then, here's wishing you the MAXIMUM RESULT in all your fitness and bodybuilding endeavors.

[Liftingchic]

Meal Frequency: The More the Better:
by Larry Pepe
PART 2
In Part 1 of this Article we addressed why it was so important to eat 5 to 7 times per day. A quick review of the benefits of eating frequently should help you understand how critical this is to your bodybuilding and fitness goals. Eating smaller meals throughout the day will elevate and speed up your metabolism, improve digestion and amp your energy levels while keeping insulin and hunger levels suppressed. Additionally, you can create the optimum physiological environment for lean muscle tissue growth and repair, positive nitrogen balance, without the use of harmful drugs. How do you get all these outstanding benefits? Simple. Be ready to have 5-7 meals per day, roughly one meal every 2 ½ to 3 ½ hours. For a full discussion of all those benefits, click on Part 1 of the Article here on FemaleMuscle.com. I can hear a lot of you already. "How am I possibly going to eat that often? There's no way. Doesn't this Pepe guy understand that people have jobs and lives?" Well just chill and read my friend because this installment of maximumresult.com is for you. While Part 1 answered "why" it's important to eat frequently, now we're going to give you a number of practical suggestions as to "how" to get the job done without having to live in the kitchen or lose you job!

1. Make use of Protein Powders and Bars
Let's cut to the chase. If you shudder at the thought of eating 5-7 times per day, it's probably the notion of getting protein that often that has you tripping out. Come on, if I told you to just eat carbs and fat that often you'd probably want to vote for me for President. Quality protein supplements can make the issue of protein intake a lot less stressful for you. Here's some food for thought:

The bottom line is that you must ingest the macronutrients you need (protein/carbs/fat) in whatever form works for you. You don't have to actually "eat" every meal. When it comes to protein powders and bars you'll be thrilled to know that the industry has leaped forward from the old days when most of the available products would lose a taste contest to dirt and sand. Now, there are enough options to satisfy almost anyone's palette as well as digestive system. Experiment with a few and find the ones that you wouldn't mind having at least once a day and maybe as often as three times and make sure it agrees with your system. You and everyone around you will be glad you did.

But there are so many out there. How can we narrow the field? First, I always lean--no pun intended--to whey protein over soy. Regardless of all the favorable press soy gets in terms of cancer and females, from a pure "quality of protein" standpoint, there's no contest. And, my experience with most whey proteins is that they have a more appealing texture and taste and are easier to digest. Next, I always advise people to use a protein supplement which is high in protein, very low or zero carbs and very low in saturated fat. No one I've ever met has trouble finding or eating carbs and the higher carb/protein drinks usually have too much sugar. And, you largely lose control of your glycemic index intake when you use these products. Another important consideration in choosing your protein powder is how easily it mixes if you need to have it on the run. Will it mix with a shaker cup or even just a glass of water and a spoon? Most won't, some will. If eating on the run or at work is a big issue, mixability becomes very important.

How often should you use these whole food substitutes? If you are getting 5 meals per day, I would not use powders more than twice. If you are getting 6 or 7 meals per day, using powders two or three times would be great. The last word on all this: When you can eat a meal, do so. If you can't actually eat it, use a high quality protein powder and if you can't do that, use a high protein bar.

2. Plan, Plan, Plan
You will never be successful in nailing your nutrition if you don't take a little time each night and look at your schedule for the following day and plot out when you are going to eat and what that is going to be. When will you be at home, work, the gym or running errands? When will you have time to eat a food meal and versus a protein supplement? It will only take a few minutes to do this but the benefits will be immeasurable.

3. Tupperware Time
Once you know what tomorrow's day looks like, consider preparing whatever meals you won't be able to make tomorrow and put each meal you've prepped in its own tupperware. This way, when 11 AM rolls around and you need to eat 5 oz. of chicken and a ½ yam, it's already there to heat and eat.

4. Make Double Portions and Use Easily Prepared Foods
If you know that you are going to eat two 5 oz. servings of chicken, cook 10 oz. at one time and tupperware the other 5 oz. for later instead of cooking the same thing twice. If you are going to eat 2 yams tomorrow, make them together in one shot. You get the picture.

Along these same lines, I'd highly recommend buying a rice cooker if steamed food or rice is something you use in your nutritional approach. You can make several cups of rice that will keep for a few days and have the carb component of a good number of your meals taken care of by prepping the rice just twice a week. While we are on the subject carbs, fresh fruits--particularly low glycemics like apples, oranges, pears, grapes, peaches and various berries--are easy options that need no preparation at all beyond washing them.

CONCLUSION
Is it easy to consume 5 to 7 meals per day? No, but it is a lot easier than you think when you implement some of the suggestions we've set forth in this article. And, the more you do it, the more it starts to just become a part of your life. Is it worth it? Absolutely. YOU WILL NEVER ACHIEVE THE MAXIMUM RESULT IN YOUR APPEARANCE AND FITNESS IF YOU EAT THREE TIMES PER DAY LIKE THE AVERAGE PERSON. EATING AVERAGE MEANS LOOKING AVERAGE. Good nutrition, a great body and ultimate fitness don't just happen, but neither does anything else worth having. Until next month, here's wishing you the MAXIMUM RESULT in all your fitness and bodybuilding endeavors.

[DblDmnGd38]

Great post! I still have a hard time taking in enough food. Between being so busy and just stuffed that I can't eat any more, but I am doing better then I was. Don't worry, I haven't given up, just a hurdle I must accomplish I guess for me to hit my goal of my six pack by summer. I do look good in my bikini though. I wore it at the beach last weekend

[mindNbody]

Never give it up...always stay actively involved in diet! Excersing is more fun too when your with friends!

[cyberfitnessguru]

I know, when me an my friends all go to the gym together it seems like the time flys!

[tammywilson]

I have different opinion about taking meals as, it is required to have some meals that are essential to keep your body healthy also, it is necessary to take meals in a particular time interval as it should not be continuous otherwise it may harm your body.

So many doctors suggested to take meals according to time like in breakfast, then in afternoon, in evening, in night and before going to bed some light snacks that are good.

Thanks

[sameulroj25]

I beleive in small meals in a short time..3 times full fleged meal do nt appeal as body only take certain amount to digst where as rest of the amount is created as excessive material such as FATS

[tammywilson]

I believe in taking frequent diet as this keeps you very energize everyday and allows you to keep healthy and fit.

Small meals are always good to take while taking a whole meal at one time. When you are working for 12hours sitting job then in that case it becomes very hard for you to consume whole meals as, it makes you feel very fuller and thus makes you lazy.

Thanks

[loganlambe1155]

I think 6 meals options is really good for those who like to eat big portion so by dividing meals into six portions means that you are not eating big chunk of food at one point which not only keeps you full, also does not let you lose energy.

[mickeyfridia178]

Cruise's plan boasts a three-point approach: eat breakfast within one hour of rising, eat every three hours, and stop eating three hours before bedtime. He says this ritualized way of eating increases BMR (baseline metabolic rate), increases energy levels, and decreases appetite, among other things. While many nutrition experts agree that when it comes to weight loss irregular eating patterns and skipped meals can mean trouble for most of us, there isn't anything close to a consensus on whether we are metabolically better off eating three regular meals a day or spreading that out into five or six smaller meals.