[This is a continuation of the previous post on the ELMO approach to eating (eat less more often).]
I hope in my posts that I’m not painting the picture that I’m perfect. There’s always room for improvement. You’ve never “arrived” to land of dietary excellence (notice how I said dietary excellence, not dietary perfection). Rather it’s journey that really doesn’t end until, well, you’re dead. Point is, even I’m working on cleaning up my habits. Like practicing the ELMO approach (versus stuffing myself in one sitting because of dire hunger caused by meal skipping) as well as not drinking water/beverages with my meals, and really chewing my food and eating slower, enjoying the process.
It’s been several weeks now and can’t help but wonder why I have not done this sooner. I didn’t think I could improve what I was previously doing, I felt great and I enjoyed how I was eating. But now I feel even better!
Let me explain. Now I eat 5-7 times a day. I don’t just mindlessly snack or roam around my house with a piece of food in hand. I eat, then I wait a few hours and don’t eat in between these meals. Instead, this is when I drink lots of filtered water so when I eat, I’m not thirsty and drinking water with my meals.
This is what I do:
- 5:30 am: I wake up (before my kidlets are up) & drink about 16 oz. water, followed by barley greens. Go running/exercise for an hour+.
- 8 am: Drink my shake/smoothie (berries, banana, plant milk, water, flax seed, brewers yeast, stevia, spirulina).
- 10:30 am: Have a bowl of oatmeal (leftover from kid’s breakfast) w/ blueberries/raisins, pinch of cinnamon & green leaf stevia, and plant milk.
- 12:30 pm: Lunch! Big salad with something quick like no-queso quesadillas (hummus instead of cheese grilled between two corn tortillas) and leftover soup or rice.
- 3:30 pm: Fruit, lately it’s been cherries and watermelon because their deliciously in season.
- 5:30 pm: Dinner. Whatever the family is eating: baked potatoes, rice, steamed veggies, big salad w/grains/legumes, soup, ect.
- 7:30 pm: Fruit, veggies, air-popped popcorn or more of what we had for dinner.
- 9 pm: If I’m hungry I might have a handful of grapes, berries, or an apple before I go to bed.
So the advantages of eating this way is that I always feel content: never ravenously hungry or uncomfortably full (an invitation for acid reflux). I also feel more energetic, no dips in energy levels because my blood sugar is constant. Not only that, I don’t feel like I have to lie down after I eat because my stomach is so full I feel like I’m going to pop.
I think I was eating one or two big meals previous partly because of the influence of Dr. Furhman, and others, like some in the natural hygiene/raw foods movements who say that your body needs a rest from digestion (I call this this the hours when you are sleeping) so you need to eat fruit or nothing in the morning, and one or two meals later on. This simply does not work, at least if you are on a low fat (limited amount of nuts/seeds/high fat plant foods, and no oils) vegan diet.
Let’s look at how many calories are needed to fill the average adult’s stomach from certain foods:
- Oils: 4100 calories
- Potato chips: 3000
- Cheese: 3400
- Chicken: 1500
- Fish: 1400
- Potatoes: 600
- Beans: 500
- Fruit: 300
- Green Veggies: 200
So if I need about 3000 or more calories a day (based on my very active lifestyle as a nursing mom and runner) and I’m only eating twice a day, as some suggest is best, it would be nearly impossible to get all of the calories I need on just beans, fruit, green veggies and starches. I would have to add oils, nuts, and/or other high calorically dense foods in order to cram everything in my stomach at each meal.
I suppose if you’re on the SAD (standard American diet), you could (and many people do!) eat only once or twice a day, especially considering that one McDonald’s meal can easily top 1500 calories. This is so for a number of reasons. First, animal flesh and dairy foods take much longer to digest than plant foods (excluding nuts and oils) which can easily be digested and assimilated within 2-3 hours of consumption. Animal foods are also much more calorie dense, thus making meeting your calorie needs (although not necessarily your nutritional needs) much easier. This is why it is so easy to be overweight when your diet is largely based on these calorie-rich foods. They contain no fiber, therefore don’t lend to a feeling of fullness, as well as are not nutrient-rich. Eating whole plant foods as the primary source of your diet, however, requires eating much more frequently, especially if your calorie needs are high.
Look at it this way. Your body is like a car in that it requires a continual source of high-quality fuel (found in calorie-dilute, nutrient-dense plant foods) in order to operate optimally. Not feeding your body consistently throughout the day can cause drops in blood sugar, decrease in energy, overeating later, and spikes in insulin production (which encourages weight-gain).
I think that the advice to eat only a few times a day (at least on a plant based diet, which as I explained above, is very difficult to do) because “your body needs a rest” is unfounded. It’s one thing to fast for a 24 hour period (giving your body a true rest in order to detoxify and restore) once or twice a month (which has been scientifically proven in many studies to have physical benefits) and it’s an entirely different issue altogether to say that the body should only eat once, two, or even three times a day so that your body can rest and properly digest foods (this may be the case if you eat heavy, rich, animal-based meals).
If you currently are one of those “meal skippers” frequently missing meals and then binging when you do eat, try eating more frequently. Start with eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and then adding snacks if you can. Many people who want to lose weight are hesitant to eat more frequently because they are scared of consuming too many calories. However, this will be nearly impossible to do if you are eating calorie-dilute, nutrient-packed plant foods. You will find it very difficult to over eat, and you’ll feel much more in control of your appetite.
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