OPINION: The importance of regular meals
One of the most important aspects to consider when evaluating your current eating plan is how often you eat.
Are you a skip-breakfast type of person?
Do you miss out on lunch and chow down on a hearty dinner after work?
Are you a grazer? Do you nibble on all sorts of food items throughout the day?
In order for us to maintain regular blood sugar levels and therefore energy levels, it is important for us to eat regular meals throughout the day. Each of us has different meal requirements and depending on your lifestyle, regular meals may mean three main meals throughout the day or three main meals with smaller snacks in between.
Ideally you should be having a small balanced meal every 2 ½ to 3 hours, thus providing your body with sufficient energy to take you through your workday and into the afternoon’s activities.
Often if we skip meals our bodies go into conservation mode, meaning that the next meal we eat is stored in fat cells for use later on because your body is uncertain when it will next be fed.
The most common skipped meal is breakfast and it really is the most important meal of the day. Breakfast kick starts our metabolism and provides us with loads of essential fibre and is often high in vital calcium and other nutrients. If we have an adequate and sustaining breakfast we are less likely to eat unhealthy meals and big portions throughout the rest of the day.
Having regular meals benefits us in many ways, so take your first healthy step and plan your three main meals and 2-3 healthy snacks each day for better sustained energy.
Chantal Walsh is a consultant dietitian at wellness company Path2Wellness.
