Conventional wisdom suggests that the more often you eat, the more likely you are to burn off those calories. But the answer to how many meals you should eat is no longer a straightforward one.
In the nutritional world, conventional wisdom suggests that the more often you eat, the more likely you are to burn off those calories and control hunger pangs. And so the notion of eating six or more "mini-meals" each day, just enough to fuel your body and tide you over until your next bites, has often been recommended as a more waistline-friendly dieting approach than eating three larger meals. But science evolves, and the answer to whether you should eat many mini-meals or three bigger meals is no longer a straightforward one.
"Years ago, we all believed that you needed to eat multiple times a day to keep your metabolism stoked. ... You had to keep feeding the fire and keep the furnace burning. But that theory goes back and forth, and newer research is showing that it really doesn't slow metabolism if you're not eating multiple times a day," said Martha McKittrick, a registered dietitian in New York City who has provided weight-loss counseling for over 20 years.
