• 2011
    Nov 29
    5:00 PM

    Secret to Slim? Eat More Often!

    Snackers, rejoice! It doesn't seem quite fair, but it turns out that people who eat more often are less likely to be overweight, according to a recent study.


    The study's lead researcher, Jessica Bachman, an assistant professor in the department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Marywood University in Scranton, Penn., and her team followed about 250 people for a year and found that participants in the normal weight range ate more often (over five times a day on average) than overweight participants (who ate just four times per day) -- but often consumed fewer calories overall. 

    What's going on here? Marjorie Nolan, RD, national spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association and certified personal trainer, noted that there are two things at play here -- metabolism and lifestyle.

    "People who eat more frequently are often the same people who are more conscientious about their health," explains Nolan. "They are paying attention to their bodies, feeding their hunger appropriately, and thus they're also the people who are more likely to be more active."

    Eating smaller, frequent meals and snacking, rather than waiting until you're starving between meals, also keeps your metabolism higher, which keeps your weight level, says Nolan. On the contrary, if you overload your system all at once with a big meal twice a day, your body has to work much harder to process that food, which slows down your metabolism, leading to weight gain. 

    Exactly how often should you eat? Nolan stresses that it's best to figure out what works for you and your individual schedule, but definitely don't go more than four hours without noshing. After three or four hours, depending on what you last ate, your body goes into "conservation mode," hanging on to fat rather than burning it for energy.  If you wait six or seven hours between meals, it's as if your body's playing "catch-up" and you don't feel full as quickly as you would if you weren't so hungry and depleted in the first place. 

    Another bonus of eating more often? You won't get so hungry in between meals, so you'll make healthier food choices (rather than grabbing the first muffin you see). You also don't need to eat as much to feel full. Eat more, weigh less? Sounds good to us!

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    KEYWORDS: Snacks,Weight Loss
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