Purposeful summary 1:

It is counterintuitive to say that eating meals more often can help us control our appetite better. Diet plays a huge factor in our overall health, and while there’s no “one size fits all” approach, there are definitely some guidelines to aid us in changing our diets. Researcher Heather Leidy took this into her own hands, and conducted an experiment to find out how eating frequency impacts appetite control and energy intake. She goes on to state that there is limited data on this, which begs the question, why aren’t people studying appetite control more? This can be chalked up to the fact that many people do not realize that eating frequency affects so much in your day to day life. This study took people, some who eat less than three meals a day, some that eat more, and changed their diets all to three meals per day. This allowed the study to show how an increase or decrease in eating frequency can affect appetite control and energy intake. It was found in the study that a reduced eating frequency negatively affected appetite control.

Purposeful Summary 2:

It is counterintuitive to say that eating more often can provide us with more energy throughout the day. After all, doesn’t everyone just want to sit around and do nothing after they eat? Despite this thinking, several studies have shown an inverse relationship between eating frequency, body weight, and energy intake. Eating lower calorie meals more frequently throughout the day actually yields significant benefits to how our bodies absorb energy from foods, and how available this energy is to us throughout the day. Therefore, eating more frequent, smaller meals, leads to an increase in energy expenditure/

Purposeful Summary 3:

It is counterintuitive to think that eating more often can help lead us to healthier lifestyle choices. If we were to eat more often, we would think that would make us less likely to live a healthy lifestyle. This is not the case, however, as present studies suggest that, due to your body being able to use its energy gained from the food more efficiently, we are more likely to be more active throughout the day if we eat more often. Eating three or fewer meals a day is associated with unhealthy life choices like smoking, drinking, and lower levels of physical activity, while eating more than three meals a day is associated with lower risk for obesity, and higher energy expenditure, leading to a healthier lifestyle.