The Details Behind Small, Frequent Meals

Ok so most likely you've already heard that eating small, frequent meals throughout the day is good for you and will help you with your weight loss goals...but you may still be wondering, WHY?

If you don't know reasons behind why things work, you may never try them, and this is why this post is for my boyfriend, my brother, and all those other people out there who have not believed me about small, frequent meals and who make fun of me for eating a million times a day :).

As many of you may not know, I'm studying to get my Personal Training certification through ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine), and as I was studying the other day, I came across a couple pages completely dedicated to the fact that consuming the same amount of calories in 1 day does not do the same thing to your body if you space it out during the day vs. eating it all in 1 meal. I got excited... now I have PROOF for these non-believers. That is, if you're willing to believe ACSM...

Here are the main points described in my book:

If you consume lets say 2000 calories/day and burn 2000 calories during the day, you're in this thing called "energy balance". HOWEVER, how you ingest these calories during the day makes a difference. If you skip breakfast, skip lunch, and eat all of your day's calories in 1 big meal, what you've done is spend most of your day in an energy deficient state (even though you may still be in "energy balance"). This yields different results than if you had eaten the 2000 calories in 6 small meals during the day.

Benefits of eating small, frequent meals:

• maintain metabolic rate
• lower body fat
• lower body weight while eating more calories
• better glucose tolerance and lower insulin response - this makes it less likely that fat will be produced from the food you eat
• lower stress hormone production
• maintain muscle mass easier
• improve physical performance

Problems with energy deficits (i.e. only eating 1 or 2 big meals a day):

• poor maintenance of carbohydrate storage
• problems maintaining lean muscle mass
• lower metabolic rate
• harder time meeting nutritional needs
• increased risk of injury

I hope this helps some people understand more as to why it's a good idea to eat several small meals throughout the day... and if you're one of those people (like me) who eats constantly all day while getting made fun of, just refer those people to this blog :).

The Truth About Vitamins

We all know that vitamins are those things we're supposed to get from eating healthy and having enough fruits, vegetables, etc, and if we aren't perfect, we can supplement some of our poor eating habits with a multi-vitamin, right?

Well, that's fine if that's all you're having, but this post is mainly targeted to those who take a multivitamin AND like 10 other vitamins... because they think it makes you healthier. I thought about this group of people as I was studying the "Nutrition and Human Performance" chapter in my American College of Sports Medicine personal training book. There is an entire section on vitamin requirements, their functions, food sources, and of course deficiency and toxicity. Yes, toxicity. Given that term toxicity, it's no surprise that this book stresses that nothing over a multi-vitamin should be taken unless a doctor has told you that you have a deficiency and that you need to take a specific vitamin to over-come that. Did I get the attention of the 10 vitamin a day people?

Anyway, I thought I'd share some of the interesting information from my book about a few popular vitamins + minerals... 2 of which are very toxic if you intake too much...

Vitamin C:

• 75-90 mg/day
• Functions: antioxidant, collagen formation, iron absorption
• Deficiency: bleeding gums, fatigue, muscle pain, easy bruising, depression, sudden death
• Food Sources: vegetables (particularly high in citrus fruits and cherries)

Vitamin A:

• 700-900 mg/day
• Functions: vision, growth, immune function, healthy skin
• Deficiency: night blindness, eye disease, unhealthy skin, susceptibility to infections
• Toxicity: headache, vomiting, hair loss, liver damage, death
• Food Sources: fish liver oils, butter, milk fortified w/ vitamin A + D

Vitamin D

• ~5 mg/day - hard to establish because variations in sun exposure
• Functions: calcium absorption, mineralization of bone
• Deficiency: osteomalacia, poor bone mineralization
• Toxicity: renal damage, cardiovascular damage - is the most toxic of all vitamins
• Food Sources: fish liver oils, milk fortified w/ vitamin A+D, skin synthesis w exposure to light

Calcium

• 1000 mg/day
• Functions: structure of bones and teeth, blood coagulation, nerve impulse transmission
• Deficiency: reduced bone density, osteoporosis, stress fractures
• Food Sources: milk and other dairy products, dark green leafy vegetables

Iron

• 700 mg/day
• Functions: involved in oxygen transfer to cells, in numerous oxidative enzymes
• Deficiency: microcytic anemia, leading to weakness, loss of energy, easy fatigue (most common mineral deficiency)
• Food Sources: meats, poultry, fish, egg yolk, dark green vegetables

So, this post is not meant to scare anyone, but is meant to share some useful information about vitamins and minerals, and to point out the fact that if you eat a well balanced diet, you should have no reason to need singular supplementation of any of these. And of course, if you're one of those people popping 10 different vitamins a day, realize that you're probably wasting your money (unless your doctor has told you to take them), and that a multivitamin will be just as effective as what you're doing now. Also, I'm sure you don't want the problems associated with a vitamin A or D toxicity... death does not sound fun...

p.s. Research shows that vitamin and mineral deficiencies are uncommon for most people...