I don’t really need another study to tell me that eating frequent small meals is best…but here’s another one anyhow.
A several French researchers, including Xavier Allirot, knew that if you ate smaller meals frequently throughout the day, rather than the traditional breakfast, lunch, and dinner, it was easier to keep weight off. But, there were no studies to prove it. Allirot said, “There is no scientific consensus as to the optimum number of meals we should have for weight management and speculations regarding this are often contradictory.”
So, he and his colleagues set out to do their own. The study consisted of 20 men, with an average age of 27, who were of normal weight. For breakfast, each man ate a slice of white bread, a croissant, strawberry jam, unsalted butter and drank orange juice and black coffee or tea with a spoonful of sugar. This meal consisted of almost 675 calories.
For the study, on some days, the subjects would receive all the food at once and on some days, they would receive the entire 674.8 calories, but it was distributed hourly over a four hour period.
The researchers found that when the men ate the four mini-breakfasts, they weren’t as hungry when lunchtime rolled around. Researchers also checked gherelin, and GLP-1, two hormones that are consistent with a decrease in appetite.
To further prove their theory, the researchers provided the subjects with a tasty buffet lunch that consisted of grated carrots, pâté de campagne, rice, French beans, fried potatoes, sausages, chicken breast, cottage cheese, cheese (Comté), stewed fruit, chocolate cake, white bread and sugar. Okay, while it may sound weird to Americans, apparently this is a tasty French buffet.
On the days that the subjects ate the four smaller breakfasts, they were less likely to overindulge in the scrumptious lunch buffet.
So remember to snack healthily throughout the day – it might actually cut your appetite!