I listened to a nutritionist on CNN this weekend talk about the myth that six small meals a day will help you lose weight. She said that the six meal a day plan isn’t the way to weight loss. Just ask any endocrinologist and they will tell you that eating six meals a day will put you at higher risk for type 2 diabetes. Her advice was to eat breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner. That’s it.
I found that interesting considering that, for several years, we have been hearing about the benefits of ‘grazing’ and the 3 hour diet that tells us that eating more often throughout the day will boost metabolism, keep our energy up, and prevent the risk of overeating.
The nutritionist on CNN isn’t the only person that thinks the six meal a day plan is unhealthy. Dr. John Douillard, at his web site LifeSpa, also says that the 3 hour diet can increase the risk of diabetes.
Should humans be following the same eating patterns as cattle?
The Six Meals A Day Plan
In Dr. Douillard’s article Dangers of Frequent Eating, he says “The risk increases when insulin spikes after eating foods that have high glycemic values. If you eat only three meals a day, (even high-glycemic ones), your insulin levels have time to even out, [according to ] Victor Zammit, head of cell biochemistry at Hannah Research Institute in Ayr, Scotland. Conversely, if you eat high glycemic foods between meals, your insulin levels stay dangerously high.” Translation: If you eat all day your glycemic values stay high all day.
