Eating 3x a Day: My Experience & What Works Best For You

[Sophia]

So everyone says that your should eat 5x a day. I've done that for years believing it's a healthy habit. But I was always hungry and couldn't lose weight.
Now I've started eating 3 times a day, larger meals of 500-600 calories mostly based on fat and protein and I feel great! I have no need to nibble in between. I just have a piece of fruit in the afternoon. I feel full and have more energy, consuming less calories than before when I ate a little many times in a day.
What's your experience? Do you prefer larger or smaller meals?

 

[Silicon Waffle]

So everyone says that your should eat 5x a day. I've done that for years believing it's a healthy habit. But I was always hungry and couldn't lose weight.
Now I've started eating 3 times a day, larger meals of 500-600 calories mostly based on fat and protein and I feel great! I have no need to nibble in between. I just have a piece of fruit in the afternoon. I feel full and have more energy, consuming less calories than before when I ate a little many times in a day.
What's your experience? Do you prefer larger or smaller meals?

My meals:
Breakfast: 2 loaves of bread with assorted types of meat, vegetables, and sauces (French style). I guess they can be found a lot in California.
Lunch: rice with fish or pork stew, vegetables, soup
Dinner: almost the same as lunch. Sometimes I spend time at local hamburger or pizza stores. At least 2 big Teriyaki's for me is enough for dinner. Pizza is expensive for me (I eat them only about once a year but I also don't like them very much myself). Usually for dinner I have to eat 2 spicy seafood or Hawaiian ones of 9 inch size, of thick layers covered with extra cheese.

I don't know how large each is then but I can't eat more when I become full.

 

[wolram]

I have a bowl of cereal in the morning and dinner at 6 o/clock, i am told i do not eat enough for a 10yr old but i am still a stone overweight

 

[Sophia]

My meals:
Breakfast: 2 loaves of bread with assorted types of meat, vegetables, and sauces (French style). I guess they can be found a lot in California.
Lunch: rice with fish or pork stew, vegetables, soup
Dinner: almost the same as lunch. Sometimes I spend time at local hamburger or pizza stores. At least 2 big Teriyaki's for me is enough for dinner. Pizza is expensive for me (I eat them only about once a year but I also don't like them very much myself). Usually for dinner I have to eat 2 spicy seafood or Hawaiian ones of 9 inch size, of thick layers covered with extra cheese.

I don't know how large each is then but I can't eat more when I become full.

Wow that's a lot :-) (lol I assume you are talking about some other type of bread because a loaf of bread here has 1kg) but it seems you've got plenty of protein and veggies.
I'm always interested in different types of rice. Do you use various kinds depending on the meal? We only use white and if someone is a health freak than they have brown. Of course, there are a few kinds at the shops like basmati or jasmine but I have never tried them.

 

[Sophia]

I have a bowl of cereal in the morning and dinner at 6 o/clock, i am told i do not eat enough for a 10yr old but i am still a stone overweight

Well it is quite possible you are overweight because you eat too little. Your body thinks you are starving and it stores everything you eat for the future.
This is basically what happened to me. I've been gluten sensitive all my life but I didn't know about that so although I ate a lot, my body didn't get proper nutrition (it couldn't absorb nutrients from food) so I was chronically malnutrished, but on the outside I've always been overweight / obese.

 

[DiracPool]

Well it is quite possible you are overweight because you eat too little. Your body thinks you are starving and it stores everything you eat for the future.

See, this is the problem, there's so much conjecture around what diet is good and what diet is bad, it's hard to see straight. I took low dose aspirin for "preventative" heart health (even though my heart was fine) for years only to find out that it wasn't doing a squat of benefit. Is a high carb diet or a low carb diet better? I don't want to go "Paleo" and find out that missed out on a bunch of delicious breads and cakes over the years. What about vitamin/mineral supplements? Do we know anything about them? The list goes on and on.

Everyone's taking about the physics "theory of everything." I'm thinking we need the human food diet theory of everything. Somebody put this together!

 

[Silicon Waffle]

Wow that's a lot :-) (lol I assume you are talking about some other type of bread because a loaf of bread here has 1kg) but it seems you've got plenty of protein and veggies.
I'm always interested in different types of rice. Do you use various kinds depending on the meal? We only use white and if someone is a health freak than they have brown. Of course, there are a few kinds at the shops like basmati or jasmine but I have never tried them.

I usually don't calculate the calorie intake in each of the items I have
My morning sandwich looks something like this. I didn't know it's >500kCal per one loaf until I saw this ad.
http://www.leesandwiches.com/main.php?act=prodetail&catid=8&id=sw_1
I eat white rice, but not much in each meal, around 1 and 1/2 of a small bowl. In my area the brown rice takes longer time and steps to cook. But true, it is said to be good for health (if the users know how to cook them correctly).

 

[Sophia]

See, this is the problem, there's so much conjecture around what diet is good and what diet is bad, it's hard to see straight. I took low dose aspirin for "preventative" heart health (even though my heart was fine) for years only to find out that it wasn't doing a squat of benefit. Is a high carb diet or a low carb diet better? I don't want to go "Paleo" and find out that missed out on a bunch of delicious breads and cakes over the years. What about vitamin/mineral supplements? Do we know anything about them? The list goes on and on.

Everyone's taking about the physics "theory of everything." I'm thinking we need the human food diet theory of everything. Somebody put this together!

Exactly DiracPool! Couldn't agree more! :) All the diets are useless. We need to eat simple food like our ancestors ate. Home cooked (organic) meat, veggies, diary, eggs and cereals for those who can tolerate them.
I am against all the supplements unless doctor prescribes them. Recently I've learned that ascorbic acid, which is sold as Vitamin C is actually only one part of the real vitamin C and sometimes it can even deplete our bodies of the nutrients we already have.
OK, I can understand why people take supplements like zinc, magnesium or similar which are difficult to obtain from real food (although I would not buy them). But hey, it's enough to eat 2 pieces of real fruit to get more than 100% of recommended vit C. Why the heck would you eat pills?

 

[Sophia]

I usually don't calculate the calorie intake in each of the items I have
My morning sandwich looks something like this. I didn't know it's >500kCal per one loaf until I saw this ad.
http://www.leesandwiches.com/main.php?act=prodetail&catid=8&id=sw_1
I eat white rice, but not much in each meal, around 1 and 1/2 of a small bowl. In my area the brown rice takes longer time and steps to cook. But true, it is said to be good for health (if the users know how to cook them correctly).

That sandwich looks geat. I love stuff like that. OMG why can't I eat bread anymore

 

[Silicon Waffle]

That sandwich looks geat. I love stuff like that. OMG why can't I eat bread anymore

You aren't a vegetarian, are you ? Perhaps you prefer hot dogs!

 

[Sophia]

You aren't a vegetarian, are you ? Perhaps you prefer hot dogs!

I used to be a vegetarian in the past, but I'm not anymore. I do eat meat because it contains protein and iron, but I don 't like it very much. I also don't like how animals are treated. My favourite meals were pasta, pizza and all kinds of pastries. Now that's all forbidden by my doctor :/ And OK, I do understand WHY it is forbidden for me, I'm not just blindly doing what he says :p

 

[Silicon Waffle]

I used to be a vegetarian in the past, but I'm not anymore. I do eat meat because it contains protein and iron, but I don 't like it very much. I also don't like how animals are treated. My favourite meals were pasta, pizza and all kinds of pastries. Now that's all forbidden by my doctor :/ And OK, I do understand WHY it is forbidden for me, I'm not just blindly doing what he says :p

Really? I don't like meat very much either. I like sea foods and all fresh water creatures. So I like sushi a lot.
I hear that tofu which all nuns or monks in my area use to replace meat in their daily foods also helps synthesize protein absorbable by our body.
The report here says tofu is a very low carbohydrate containing food but my doctors told me to be careful with its products too because it might boost the process of stone formation in kidneys, liver, gallbladder(pancreas) etc.

 

[wolram]

When i was poor many years ago(, i was buying my home and had furniture on hire purchase so i had little left of my wages for food), i ate packet mashed potatoes six times a week, Sunday i went to my mothers for a roast, potatoes and three veg and Yorkshire pudding, and i stayed at 13 1/2st now i have my cereal in the morning and a meal at night and i am 14 1/2 st

 

[JorisL]

If I eat breakfast it's usually (savory as in cooked with a stock cube) oatmeal or (leftover) rice. Some veggies or bacon added and bam! I'm set to go for hours.
Lunch is usually soup with one or two slices of bread.
Then diner is standard, potatoes/pasta/rice, vegetables and 3 or 4 days a week there's meat.

Not the average choice of food over here but healthy and yummy none the less.

 

[DiracPool]

The report here says tofu is a very low carbohydrate containing food but my doctors told me to be careful

So you have a team of doctors monitoring your health? I've got a recent complaint... I've been big on oils for a few years now. I take a fish oil supplement in the morning with my morning yogurt and OJ, or protein powder if I did weight training the day before, as well as a fresh flax seed oil supplement from a local Seattle-area producer called "Barleans." At night, I take a Krill oil supplement. I also only use virgin olive oil on my salads, of course. However, I've recently heard some negative talk about oils, which is frustrating me in the same way that the aspirin issue frustrated me. I want to be confident that what I'm buying and taking into my body is doing me good and not ripping me off healthfully and financially.

I kind of agree with Sophia...

We need to eat simple food like our ancestors ate. Home cooked (organic) meat, veggies, diary, eggs and cereals for those who can tolerate them.

Your best measuring stick in these affairs is the experience of your ancestors. Look at those that lived the longest and had the happiest lives and emulate them. As self congratulatory as we scientists like to think of ourselves, we are very immature when it comes to huge complex systems such as the human diet.

 

[Sophia]

Really? I don't like meat very much either. I like sea foods and all fresh water creatures. So I like sushi a lot.
I hear that tofu which all nuns or monks in my area use to replace meat in their daily foods also helps synthesize protein absorbable by our body.
The report here says tofu is a very low carbohydrate containing food but my doctors told me to be careful with its products too because it might boost the process of stone formation in kidneys, liver, gallbladder(pancreas) etc.

I eat tofu from time to time too. Even now we have some at home. We discovered that you can fry it the same way that you fry steaks/schnitzels :) Just cut in half and make standard "coating" (sorry idk how it's called in English)- flour, eggs and breadcrumbs (now I'll use corn flour), fry it and eat with potatoes or veggies.
I ate sushi when I was in the UK. It was prepared by a japaneese cook and it was sooo goood! I'd eat it every day :) But in my area, we don't have fresh ingredients for that. Even the asian sauces that are sold in supermarket are just a bunch of chemicals with artificial flavours. And we can only dream of fresh fish, unless you catch it yourself :)

 

[Silicon Waffle]

I eat tofu from time to time too. Even now we have some at home. We discovered that you can fry it the same way that you fry steaks/schnitzels :) Just cut in half and make standard "coating" (sorry idk how it's called in English)- flour, eggs and breadcrumbs (now I'll use corn flour), fry it and eat with potatoes or veggies.
I ate sushi when I was in the UK. It was prepared by a japaneese cook and it was sooo goood! I'd eat it every day :) But in my area, we don't have fresh ingredients for that. Even the asian sauces that are sold in supermarket are just a bunch of chemicals with artificial flavours. And we can only dream of fresh fish, unless you catch it yourself :)

Are you serious ? not even a single Japanese restaurant in your city ?
My biggest dream is to be able to taste all countries' foods in the world before I die.

So you have a team of doctors monitoring your health? I've got a recent complaint... I've been big on oils for a few years now. I take a fish oil supplement in the morning with my morning yogurt and OJ, or protein powder if I did weight training the day before, as well as a fresh flax seed oil supplement from a local Seattle-area producer called "Barleans." At night, I take a Krill oil supplement. I also only use virgin olive oil on my salads, of course. However, I've recently heard some negative talk about oils, which is frustrating me in the same way that the aspirin issue frustrated me. I want to be confident that what I'm buying and taking into my body is doing me good and not ripping me off healthfully and financially...

You have the money to empower you, so you are the boss.

 

[Sophia]

So you have a team of doctors monitoring your health? I've got a recent complaint... I've been big on oils for a few years now. I take a fish oil supplement in the morning with my morning yogurt and OJ, or protein powder if I did weight training the day before, as well as a fresh flax seed oil supplement from a local Seattle-area producer called "Barleans." At night, I take a Krill oil supplement. I also only use virgin olive oil on my salads, of course. However, I've recently heard some negative talk about oils, which is frustrating me in the same way that the aspirin issue frustrated me. I want to be confident that what I'm buying and taking into my body is doing me good and not ripping me off healthfully and financially.

I kind of agree with Sophia...
Your best measuring stick in these affairs is the experience of your ancestors. Look at those that lived the longest and had the happiest lives and emulate them. As self congratulatory as we scientists like to think of ourselves, we are very immature when it comes to huge complex systems such as the human diet.

recently I've read that doctors are starting to recommend saturated fats (from animal sources and coconut oil etc) that used to be considered unhealthy. I've lived with a medicine student and she told me that nowadays they are taught that people should prepare food on lard, because it is very stable when exposed to heat and because our ancestors used it a lot so we are used to it.
Generally, oils such as sesame, flax, walnut, pumpkin and similar (basically everything except animal fat and some degree, olive oil) should never be exposed to heat. It can not only lose its beneficial nutrients, but can even become slightly toxic for the body.
Anyway, the fact is that there are no "good" or "bad" fats that are made by nature. The only bad fats are those artificial from laboratory. What is essential is that you have the right balance of those fats. It is not good to eat only plant/seed oils and no animal fats. And is if bad to consume only animal ones. They have to be in balance and than our body can function properly.

 

[Sophia]

LOL, no, not a single Japanese restaurant here! :) We only have Chinese and Vietnamese shops with clothes and stuff :)
What would you expect from a small town in Central Europe :)

 

[alw34]

I took low dose aspirin for "preventative" heart health (even though my heart was fine) for years only to find out that it wasn't doing a squat of benefit.

It is a proven therapy for stroke prevention due to blood clots...not for aneurysms...

 

[S.G. Janssens]

I also don't like how animals are treated.

I consider cannibalism. Most people are treated better than most animals.

 

[alw34]

Body sculptors are now encouraged to use coconut oil a taboo 25 years ago. No milk, they use a flavored egg white concoction...I've tasted the vanilla version and its actually tasty.

Just heard a doctor on late night radio claiming oil oil and mayonaise are unhealthy because of the way the body processes them.

next year it will be something else.

 

[DiracPool]

This thread is starting to look like the food version of the Keystone Kops. And it makes my point, contradiction up the ying yang. And a note to the mentors, I don't think peer review here is going to save us. It's just too unsettled across the board. But what else do we got? I stand by my daily nutri-blasts by the way. I dare someone to challenge me. Yesterday I had organic spinach, red chard, parsley, ground turmeric, green kale, walnuts, frozen blueberries, and an (quarter) organic fuji apple.

 

[Sophia]

This thread is starting to look like the food version of the Keystone Kops. And it makes my point, contradiction up the ying yang. And a note to the mentors, I don't think peer review here is going to save us. It's just too unsettled across the board. But what else do we got? I stand by my daily nutri-blasts by the way. I dare someone to challenge me. Yesterday I had organic spinach, red chard, parsley, ground turmeric, green kale, walnuts, frozen blueberries, and an (quarter) organic fuji apple.

That's cool! How do you prepare that? Just eat it raw, make a smoothie or...?

 

[Sophia]

I consider cannibalism. Most people are treated better than most animals.

Just post an advert that you're looking for a volunteer. Maybe someone will reply. That happened in the past, you may be lucky, too :)

 

[DiracPool]

That's cool! How do you prepare that? Just eat it raw, make a smoothie or...?

Kind of like a smoothie in a high RPM blender:

 

[Sophia]

Kind of like a smoothie in a high RPM blender:

What a great machine! That's very convenient, especially when it grinds nuts. I see you are truly into the healthy stuff.

 

[DiracPool]

What a great machine! That's very convenient, especially when it grinds nuts. I see you are truly into the healthy stuff.

You overestimate me. I didn't purchase it, my mom did. She's an online shopaholic and orders the most inane, stupid things you can imagine, and then sends ONLY about half of them back. I won't go into details, but when I visit her there's always about half a dozen unopened boxes from UPS that she wants me to open and assemble for her. Most of the time these are stupid novelties I tell her to send back. However, sometimes she picks a winner. And the Nutri-bullet was one of them. Luck of the draw maybe, but this device works as advertised and clean up is a snap. It just rinses right out. It makes you think, that's how nature is supposed to be. If you have gunk stuck to your dish that you have to scrub off, that's probably a warning sign.

 

[S.G. Janssens]

You overestimate me. I didn't purchase it, my mom did. She's an online shopaholic and orders the most inane, stupid things you can imagine, and then sends ONLY about half of them back. I won't go into details, but when I visit her there's always about half a dozen unopened boxes from UPS that she wants me to open and assemble for her. Most of the time these are stupid novelties I tell her to send back. However, sometimes she picks a winner.

This was very entertaining to read. You might consider expanding this into a short story.

 

[JorisL]

And we can only dream of fresh fish, unless you catch it yourself :)

I once learned that real sushi grade fish should be frozen at sea so it's not fresh as in never frozen.
This means you can start practicing boiling sushi rice. In 4-5 years you'll be allowed near the fish :D