Everybody in the fitness industry is searching for the best diet that fits all. There are so many different nutrition plans and you will find people that had great success with ____(insert any diet here) and probably you will find as many people that followed the same diet but didn’t have the same positive results.
Truth is that we are all different individuals. All of us have a different lifestyle and different preferences. Some prefer eating 3-5 times a day. Other prefer eating just one or two big meals a day. Some like eating three big meals with one snack in between. There are countless ways to structure your nutrition plan. So no matter how hard somebody tries to find The Holy Grail, and discover the one diet that fits all, it is impossible!
A lot of people say really great things for IF(Intermittent Fasting), and I am sure it works great for them, but for me, it is not a good pick. I workout in the morning, and I literally could pass out if I go without having breakfast. It is just how I am. I’d rather eat 3-4 times a day and I feel great. I feel full and not a thought of deprivation passes through my mind. And I am still improving and getting great results. But does that mean I reject IF? Not at all! If you like eating 2 bigger meals and you feel better that way, go ahead and do it! I am sure you will do great!
Next, a diet consisting of 5 smaller meals a day. I’ve done it and I still had great results, but the thing was that my whole day revolved around food. I had to prepare a lot of food and carry it around. That kind of psyched me a little bit, so I didn’t feel good following that eating pattern. But if it fits your lifestyle, I am ok with you eating like that!
What’s the point in all this? To me it doesn’t matter exactly how you will structure your number of meals every day. What matters is the quality of the food! No matter if it is IF, Paleo, Primal, Carb Cycling or something else, your nutrition should consist of real, quality food. You should eat enough protein, fats and carbs in moderation( coming from mainly fruits and veggies and maybe a sweet potato every now and then).
In order to structure the best diet for YOURSELF you should answer the following questions:
1.How would that nutrition plan fit my lifestyle? Am I gonna find it hard to eat 5 times a day? Would it be better if I eat just 3, or maybe 1-2 times a day? Answer that question, see what works best for you, what is gonna make eating healthy easier and just do it!
2.Is that diet gonna improve my health? Isn’t that the most important thing, when changing your diet? Too be healthy, feel healthy and look healthy? If the diet makes you feel energetic, if it makes you feel better that means it is your diet. If it makes you feel deprived, if you feel lack of energy, signs of depression and bad mood, then you are doing something wrong and you are not eating right! Keep in mind that you could achieve a leaner body, without ruining your health and messing up with your hormones. So if you are headed in that direction, over think your nutrition!
3.Is that diet sustainable for a long period of time, for a lifetime? Many people struggle with healthy eating, because usually they don’t really eat as healthy as they think. They start following really strict diets, that cut off the fats, the carbs and leave you eating some lean protein, and sometimes even the protein is missing. That kind of eating is sustainable in the short term, and it will do more harm than good. After that you will spin in an enchanted cycle of binging, eating junk food and yo-yo dieting. So if the diet you have in mind, isn’t the diet you could imagine yourself following for the rest of your life, that means it is not your diet! Healthy eating should be a lifestyle. It should be effortless and shouldn’t feel like deprivation or torture!
So in conclusion, it doesn’t matter how you will distribute your meals throughout the day. What matters is the quality of the food! What matters is that your diet should improve your health, should be sustainable in the long term and should fit your lifestyle!
Ask yourself if your diet answers this questions, and if not, then change something!
How many times a day do you eat? How does your nutrition make you feel? DOes it improve your life or does it interfere with it?
P.S. If you enjoyed this articles, please share it with you friends! I’de greatly appreciate it! 🙂
