Budget protein and starches throughout the day's meals

It's been dogma for decades that you "have to" eat every three hours if you want to be lean. While the premise has merit, nothing could be further from the truth as a hard rule. I'm not going to overturn the apple cart completely, but for much of the population the rules may need to be stretched a bit to get maximal fat-burning results.

Let's start with the two reasons most accept the benefits of watching the clock for that next meal. Before many of us were born, bodybuilders already were slamming back glasses full of raw eggs and no mammal was safe from the grill in the name of muscle growth. The general population has been wooed into thinking protein is so good and necessary that it's sought through the day like the Holy Grail.

Protein is in fact good and necessary, but it's not a freebie. When you do consume more protein than you need, your body will use some of it for energy — converting it to glucose — and thus limiting the amount of stored fat broken down for energy. It also can be converted to body fat just like carbs.

Limit protein to the amount you actually need.

The carbohydrate side of the equation has a logical conclusion. If you eat too many carbs at one time, your body produces insulin in larger amounts, and you store body fat. Spread those carbs out and that is minimized or avoided. But, if you "graze" too much you never get enough distance between meals to turn to stored body fat as a significant energy source.

Consider mapping out your day based on when you need the most energy — think about priorities for your day.

Most of us will have our two biggest meals at lunch and dinner. Pick one to have a starch and one to have just a vegetable or salad. I would also advise you to rethink breakfast. Instead of the 'ole eat-like-a-king-at-breakfast mantra, how about healthy but not necessarily huge? Tone down the first meal in size, pick one of your primary meals to be starch-free, and then you have just a snack or two to budget.

Yogurt, fruit, a little starch, maybe a protein bar or shake — select what you need (primarily protein or carbs) based on what meals the snack falls between. If you just ate a meal containing solid amounts of protein, feel free to have a light carb snack.

Eat to keep blood sugar stable, but not high. Eat to avoid hunger, but not to feel overly full. Think "athlete." You're an athlete and you have to be ready for action at a moment's notice — not stuffed from a big meal, but not low-energy from big gaps in your day.

Get protein in some meals, but it's not necessary to have it at all. I even counsel vegetarians to have two main protein meals — every 12 hours is enough because all of our starchy foods have some protein as well.

It's still a good idea to have smaller, more frequent meals, but have a reason and do it in a laser-focused way that fits your goals. Make nutrition easy as well as successful!

Evansville resident Dr. Joe Klemczewski is co-author of "The Diet Docs' Guide to Permanent Weight Loss: Secrets to Metabolic Transformation," from Harvest House Publishers.