Over the last few days I’ve covered a number of things that are based in something that is true but that have been exaggerated or misconstrued to the point of being unhelpful.
A fourth one of these things is the concept of eating little and often with a view to “stoking our metabolism”.
I’ve been told many times over the years to have six or eight small meals a day rather than three bigger ones.
And, again, I never really understood why it would make a difference, all else being equal.
It is true that eating increases our energy usage (what we’re essentially meaning when we refer to our “metabolism”).
There is something called Thermic Effect of Food.
It’s the energy that is used up by our body by breaking down our food and using what’s in it.
So every time we consume food we marginally increase the amount of energy that our body would use (if nothing else were to change).
So if we had exactly the same activity levels on two different days and on one day we at loads of food and one day we ate none we would use more energy on the day we ate food.
But not by much.
And definitely by significantly less energy than we’d added in from the food.
Eating hasn’t “stoked out metabolism” – it’s just caused us to use a little bit more energy in processing it.
And, as far as I can see, no studies suggest any difference in feeding frequencies when volume matched (they show the opposite).
So 2,000 calories across six meals would have the same Thermic Effect as 2,000 calories in three meals if everything else was identical.
Again, if different choices then impact how much we consume and / or how active we are, then that’s a valid consideration.
But that’s not the same thing as “stoking our metabolism”.
There are marginal differences in the Thermic Effecti of Food for different macronutrients.
Approximately 20 to 30% of the energy in protein is used in processing it whereas his only 5 to 10% percent for carbs and 0 to 3% percent for fats.
So an energy matched meal that is higher in protein would use a little more energy all else being equal – which we could choose to call “boosting our metabolism” (kinda).
But that’s a different thing to “little and often meals”.
Much love,
Jon ‘Syd and Eddie’ Hall
P.S. I’m a bit tired today and struggling to think of a clever way to insert this link. I shouldn’t really need one though. It’ll change your life —> www.myrise.co.uk/apply
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