Principle 4: Right number of 5 meals/day
The optimum number is 3 balanced meals + 2 healthy snacks.
They say eat like a king in the morning, like a prince in the afternoon and like a begger in the evening. Which means breakfast and lunch can be more consistent, dinner should be lighter.
Between the 3 main meals, add 2 healthy snacks for keeping the energy levels balanced. When we say snacks we tend to think of fast food, right? Well, snacks can be healthy too!
Prepare them in advance or pre-order and keep them in the office, bag or car – fruits, nuts and bars. Make them portable. Eat fresh or dried fruits at snack times to satisfy your sweet need and resist cravings.
- Fresh fruits – rank high in nutritionists’ recommendations for healthy snacks. Bananas are very consistent, can be carried around easily and are also good before sport workouts. However, you need to eat fruit in moderation, because they have plenty of sugar. Other fruit easy to carry on the go or while traveling: oranges, apples, mixed berries;
- A small handful of trail nuts can be a great snack too and have quality vegetable proteins. Do not exceed a handful though, because they are calories and fat dense. Consider energy boosting snacks like nuts, peanut butter, almonds;
- Vegetable and fruit sticks (with tofu cheese dip): carrots, cucumber, pepper, apple slices;
- Crackers made with 100% whole grains;
- A hard-boiled egg;
- Dark Chocolate – with 75%-85% cocoa.
It’s important to follow the little-and-often approach to keep your glycemic index low and constant and optimize your energy during the day. Also, you won’t experience the sensation of extreme hunger.
Heavy meals, sugar and processed foods are a stress for the digestive system, often lowering the energy while the body struggles to digest it. The sugar level rises, but after the meal digestion the blood sugar falls and so does the energy level.
See also:
Principle 1: Start every day with breakfast;
Principle 2: The 80/20 principle;
Principle 3: Adjust portions size;
Principle 4: Remember 5 meals/day;
Principle 5: Sip water all day.
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