If you haven’t heard yet many nutritionists are raving about eating six small meals a day. For those of you used to three meals a day or less, this will seem like a daunting task. Most people don’t have the time or the energy to cook even two meals a day. So how do you fit six meals a day into your hectic schedule? The key is to plan ahead and take advantage of quick and easy foods that are readily available to you at any time.

So why have dietitians been suggesting eating six meals a day? First, the body can only make use of so many nutrients and absorb them at one time. When you eat a big meal, the body can only absorb what it has the energy to absorb, and the rest will be stored as fat or leave the body as waste. However, when you feed it small meals throughout the day, it will retain the nutrients from the food to the maximum, because the amounts are manageable. The body is incredibly intelligent and will adapt according to the conditions it faces. Your body is likely to store more fat when it is unsure when its next meal will be. It does this to make sure it always has an energy supply. But when it is fed six meals a day, it tends not to worry about future energy needs and is therefore less likely to store calories as fat.

Think of your body as a furnace. A fire starts out as a small flame. To turn this small flame into a fire you must give it fuel. Then you must keep feeding it little bits of wood or coal to keep it going, making it a bigger fire each time you feed it. But, if you completely cover the fire with wood or coal, you will turn it back into a small flame or put it out completely. Your body works the same way. In the morning you must fuel your body with a nutritious breakfast to get it going. This breakfast will boost your metabolism and kick start the calorie burning process. After a few (2-3) hours, before the energy from breakfast is completely used up, add a small meal. At this point your body gets another boost and keeps burning, only this time it is burning a little bit faster than when it started. Keep giving your body small boosts and it will keep working faster and will burn more calories. However, if you wait for five or six hours after having breakfast and then have a huge lunch you will completely burn your body out. This is why we tend to want to sleep or just sit back and do absolutely nothing after eating a heavy meal.

Eating small, frequent meals throughout the days keeps your blood sugar levels stable and prevents blood sugar and insulin spikes. When you are starving or very hungry, blood sugar levels are very low. Therefore you tend to overcompensate by eating a big meal, which causes the blood sugar level to suddenly spike. This sudden spike causes the body to make more insulin than it needs and this in turn causes the blood sugar level to go even lower than what it was before the spike. Simply, this means that if you are starving and then eat a large meal, you will crash and then become hungry again soon after.

The first step before starting a six meal routine is to know your daily energy requirement. There are many tools available to help you in calculating your requirement on the internet and in books and nutrition magazines. The basic formulas for the calorie requirement are as follows:

* Females: = 655 + ( 9.6 x weight in kilos ) + ( 1.8 x height in cm. ) – ( 4.7 x age in years )
* Men: = 66 + ( 13.7 x weight in kilos ) + ( 5 x height in cm. ) – ( 6.8 x age in years )
* Any calories burned during exercise or daily activities are not included in the above calculations, you have to add that amount.

The above calculations tell you the number of calories you burn a day without any activities or exercise. Work around this calculation and use it according to your needs. Spread your calories over the 6 meals. Try to limit main meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) to 300-500 calories and keep snacks between 100-200 calories. Try to consume three main meals and three snacks in between to give you constant energy throughout the day.

Plan ahead and have a sense of what and when you are going to eat at least one day in advance. This does not mean that you will be quitting your day job to become a cook. Take advantage of quick and easy foods such as frozen meals, meal replacement shakes and bars, fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, cereal bars, and low salt canned foods. You can also prepare your sandwiches a day in advance and keep them in the fridge until you are ready to eat. Cook for the next day or two and just reheat when you want to eat. Make healthy, delicious smoothies and shakes with fruits and low fat milk or yogurt to fill you up between meals.

You will find that having six meals a day will keep your energy levels high and stomach full. It will also get you more involved with your own health and aware of what and how you are eating. Be creative and don’t limit yourself to anything.

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