Think of your metabolism as a fire. When you want to start a fire, you gather wood (food) and fuel (exercise) and strike the match (eating). Now the fire is burning and you have to keep it going. What do you do? you add more wood! If you don't add more wood, the fire dies. You might decide to add more fuel but that will burn through until there's nothing to burn and the fire will still die.
Your metabolism is that fire.
Our meal plans incorporate 6 small meals per day to keep that fire burning. Some of you have emailed us to express concerns because the plan has so much food. So you ask, how can one eat so much and still lose fat. Our explanation above should give you an understanding of the science behind eating frequent small, clean meals to cause your body to burn fat.
When you skip a meal the body goes into a “fasting mode”. During this fasting, carbohydrates, protein and fats are all used for energy. Carbohydrates are the number one source of fuel for the body, followed by protein and then fat. As this fasting phase continues the following things happen:
- The muscle glycogen storage deposits in muscle and liver become depleted. As the glucose levels drop the body looks for other sources of fuel. Since the brain and nerves prefer energy from glucose, protein tissues (muscle) are broken down. (Not good if your aim is to build muscle). The effort to preserve the remaining protein, the body starts to metabolise fat for energy in the form of ketone bodies (acetoacetic acid).
- Decrease in T3 thyroid hormone, the longer the period between meals the greater the reduction inT3. Negative effect on insulin levels which causes increased insulin spikes which in turn leads to fat storage.
The process of using ketone bodies as fuel is called ketosis. This process can cause the following negative effects on the body:
- Nausea
- Fatigue
- Constipation
- Lowered blood pressure
- Elevated risks of kidney disease (uric acid)
- Stale breath
- Fetal harm/stillbirth in pregnant women.
As the body switches to the use of ketone bodies, it begins to reduce energy output in an effort to protect both fat and lean tissue. (Lowering, of the metabolism). In addition, as the lean tissues begin to shrink, they become weaker and perform less metabolic work, reducing energy expenditure even more. Hormones also slow down the metabolism to conserve the lean body tissue. This is known as “starvation mode”, this mechanism is thought to have evolved as a defense mechanism against starvation. The body uses the calories efficiently in order to protect its fat stores using lean tissue and muscle instead. A lowered metabolic rate is a direct result of muscle loss. Accordingly; fewer calories are needed and weight loss slows down.
HEALTH ISSUES
Skipping meals and restricting calories will create cravings. Rapid high blood sugar occurs when you give into these cravings. As a result, your body creates a high amount of triglycerides, which convert to fat-storage. In addition, the depleted glycogen causes low energy levels because blood sugar is not being replaced. Unfortunately, the weight that is lost is mostly water (glycogen is made up of mostly water) and muscle.
The slowed metabolism will also cause a slowdown digesting your food, if you cram all your food into one meal. This is also commonly seen in people who skip meals. They get so hungry they eat more than one meals worth of calories at one sitting. The already slowed metabolism is going to take a lot longer to digest the over-sized meal through your digestive system again resulting in weight gain.
The success rate of losing weight from skipping meals is poor. A significant amount of weight may be lost at first, but once again this is water and muscle weight. And you will in most instances put the weight back on plus more.
Effects of skipping meals:
- Decreased energy expenditure
- Decreased metabolic rate
- Weight gain
- Increased preference of fat in the diet (Satiety)
- Decrease in strength
- Increase in injury rates
- Decreased bone density
- Decreased body temperature
- Decreased performance
- Decreased resistance to disease
- Impaired thermal regulation
- Decreased testosterone levels
- Mood swings
- Menstrual dysfunction.
WHY FREQUENT MEALS ARE IMPORTANT
The answer to this is a big YES. But it requires a bit of extra effort on your part. Research has shown that people who eat five to six meals per day are able to lose more fat and stay leaner than those people who only consume three meals a day.
The absence of food causes the stomach to secrete a hormone called ghrelin. Ghrelin is referred to as the “hunger hormone”. It exerts its effects by slowing down fat utilization and increasing appetite. Without consistent food consumption, ghrelin levels remain elevated for extended periods of time, increasing the urge to eat. Frequent meals counteract these negative effects Blood sugar is better regulated and because there is an almost constant flow of food into the stomach the hunger-inducing effects of ghrelin are suppressed, reducing the urge to binge-out.
To make the task of eating frequently a little less arduous, it is beneficial to prepare several meals in advance, store them in plastic containers and reheat them in a microwave on an as-needed basis, for maybe taking to work, or whilst traveling. By doing this allows you to consolidate preparation, thereby heightening efficiency.
Don’t be too concerned if, at the outset, you find it difficult to eat so frequently. It has been said that any activity done consistently for one month becomes a habit, and diet is no exception. For some it might take a little longer and for others not quite so long, but if you adhere to the same nutritional protocol on a consistent basis, then it will become ingrained into your subconscious. Eventually, eating every few hours will be second nature.
Stay Healthy
The Delaterre Team
References
- The Importance of Frequent Meals: http://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/importance-of-frequent-meals.html
- Picture of African woman eating: http://eatinghealthytipsforwomen.info/
