The Portion Police

By Annie Conner

For my intro blog, I mentioned that my biggest obstacle when it comes to healthy living is proper nutrition. As a child, I never had a problem eating everything on my plate – this even included the “No Thank-You” helping (the serving of broccoli, peas, etc that your mom says you have to eat in order to be excused from the table). Here’s why: my mom is an awesome cook. A typical day at the Conner household consisted of my mom cooking me eggs and bacon in the morning, she’d send us off to school with a fully packed lunch, and we’d return home from school to a delicious home-cooked dinner. Because of this lifestyle, I developed a habit of eating three huge meals a day with no snacking in between. There was no need to snack - I was always full from the previous meal.

I’ve learned though that eating 3 large meals a day is WORSE than consuming 5-6 small meals throughout the day. WHAT?? You can eat more frequently and it’s better for you?!?! That’s right. Eating larger meals throughout the day causes the individual’s blood sugar and insulin levels to spike (right after their meal) and drop very low during the period before their next meal (causing irritability, hunger, confusion, etc). By eating smaller meals, the individual’s insulin and glucose levels remain steady throughout the day and it minimizes those high spikes and low levels. Eating smaller meals more frequently will also boost your metabolism. By eating every 2-3 hours you’re telling your body that it has energy and it does not need to store calories as fat. Also, you’ll avoid overeating at each meal due to intense hunger.

Armed with this knowledge, I’ve really focused lately on eating more frequently throughout the day. I’ve been integrating peanuts, fruit and string cheese into my afternoon snack and yogurt and a boiled egg for my morning snack. As a result, I’ve felt more awake throughout the day, less hungry at lunch and dinner and more energetic. I rarely have that emptiness in my stomach right before meal-times which allows me to be productive throughout the day and not focus on how hungry I am.

A couple of problems I’ve been experiencing (and maybe you could offer me some advice) are: sometimes, I have to remind myself to eat…that sounds so weird, but it’s true. The morning seems to fly by and I’ll glance at the clock and see that it’s almost lunchtime and I’ve nearly missed my morning snack. The other problem is I’m running out of snack ideas (I end up giving my yogurt a dirty look each time I have to eat it, because I can’t stand it anymore)…do any of you have any yummy snack tips that I can use??

I definitely will continue eating small meals throughout the day, but I’m going to investigate some creative snack foods to “liven up” this new eating plan.