Ayushi Verma

 MEAL TIMINGS AND FREQUENCY Meal timings and frequency have been one of the most important aspects of healthy living. The benefits of a particular diet do not surface unless it is practiced in a timely manner with a constant frequency over a period of time. Meal timings and frequency if followed improves muscle development and weight loss. Under meal timing and frequency, a term called nutrient timing/frequency finds its way, which is a more stringent but efficient way of enhancing health by giving body exactly what it needs. Nutrient timing is a planned alteration of macronutrient intake in order to promote health, workout performance, and get/stay lean.[1] WHY IS A MEAL/NUTRIENT TIMING IS NECESSARY This is necessary because of the number of positive changes they bring to the body and its metabolic cycles. Nutrient partitioning that is where the nutrients go when ingested, is one function of having a timely meal, which makes the body utilise the maximum potential of a nutrient and ultimately results in an improved body composition (meaning proper fat and muscle distribution), improved athletic performance and also an enhanced workout recovery. Meals are even to be taken after segregating them into PW, post workout (which require uptake of high carbohydrate food) and AT, any time meals (lean protein and low carbohydrate). Research says if one intends on maintaining a body composition then they should incorporate 25% of their diet with dense carbohydrates and if they are adept on losing body fat, then not only they should decrease the percentage but only have dense carbs when the body needs them the most, that is after their depletion in an workout. If the meal frequency of a person is inconsistent it can create a plethora of problems for example an abnormal rise in the level of hunger since these hunger hormones are very time based and any disturbance in their normal timetable can cause elevation. Disturbance of sleep cycles is also one major consequence of an inconsistent meal frequency and also a wrong timing, that is when people usually go for midnight munching or eat food before they sleep. This is so because a series of hormonal reactions do not take place in the proposed manner ultimately increasing untimely hunger pangs, leaving you feeling inactive and lazy and sleep deprived.[2] CHEMICAL CHANGES IN THE BODY Everything happening to our body when we take meals at a certain time is a result of some chemical changes and hormonal cycles in our body. Meal timings and frequency affect the insulin levels, hunger hormones called leptin (hunger inhibitor) and ghrelin(hunger instigator) levels, cholesterol levels, melatonin(sleep inducing hormone) levels and glycogen levels. Insulin regulates nutrient entry into muscle cells. If insulin is seldom elevated, the muscle growth related benefits won’t occur. If you plan a higher carbohydrate intake at times when your body is better equipped to handle it, insulin will be under your control, and the body will function better. The body handles various types of carbohydrates differently. Generally, carbohydrates that are digested and absorbed slowly can help to control insulin response. These are carbohydrates that are higher in fibre and lower in simple sugars, such as beans/legumes and vegetables. In contrast, a diet consisting of added sugars and refined carbohydrates (which enter the body rapidly), can elevate blood triglyceride levels and bad cholesterol, and lead to insulin resistance. Also the glycogen levels of the body are in place which does not cause easy fatigue while one does physical labour. Circadian rhythms are self-sustained ∼24-h oscillations in behavior, physiology, and metabolism. These are commonly called as the ‘body clock’. Time of food intake affects the phase of the clocks and hence the metabolism in important organs including liver, muscle, and adipose tissues.[3] The body clock if disturbed would cause a upheaval in the normal functioning of basic body functions, which in long term creates health problems like chronic acidity and constipation. There has been a lot of discussion and debate on the question of the correlation in body weight and meal patterns, now this relation can be calculated on the basis of TEF that is the thermic effect of food. In simple words, TEF means the metabolism more precisely it is one part of the metabolism. It is known that higher the metabolic rate of the body, harder it would be for the body to store fat. Earlier the notion was the more frequently you eat, the more the TEF would go up. This was actually a misconception as in reality thermic effect of food is actually correlated with the amount of calories in the meal, and therefore total calories at the end of the day.[4] We conclude that any effects of meal pattern on the regulation of body weight are likely to be mediated through effects on the food intake side of the energy balance equation. The increasing meal frequency from three to six per day has no significant effect on 24-h fat oxidation, but may increase hunger and the desire to eat so unless one is a hard headed person it would be best advice to stick to the schedule the feel keeps their hunger hormones in check.[5] The cycle of the sleep in human beings is very much affected if food is consumed at inconsistent time intervals along a period of time. If we consume food a few good hours like three to four before the sleep then till the time we go sleep our insulin levels have fallen and it has those delpleted levels of insulin trigger the hormone leptin which inhibits the hunger. Leptin in turn causes the thyroid hormone to trigger. The thyroid here induces a warm feeling as it starts to burn fat while we sleep, this process is then balanced with the release of sleep inducing melatonin hormone. If therefore food is consumed late in night it does not allow the insulin to go down and instead of leptin produces ghrelin which does its job of keeping us hungry and keeps us up at night making us crave for high sugar foods. THE PERFECT MEAL TIMING AND FREQUENCY Like most of the things when it comes to health, a perfect meal timing and frequency involves no straight answer. There have been many patters as to what can be the best meal timing and frequency for a person. The researches have been conducted on 3 meals which happen to be the most ancient of the meal patterns, it was proved that these system fit best to our cultural and social systems and hence are easier to follow and feel full rather than any other. But then, many researches started coming along a more frequent meal pattern that is a 6 meals to 8 meals a day pattern. The idea was to have smaller portions which were easier to digest and metabolise. Also with people working from home more than ever this becomes a viable and at times a better option for people because it also makes people be happy about eating good and at more times. So from a direct fat-loss standpoint, there isn’t really an advantage to 8 meals(2-2.5 hour break between meals) vs say 4-5. There are however other advantages one can potentially argue for like more stable blood sugar, Control of hunger. When calories are very high it is easier to get them in with more feedings rather than less as it is easier to burn them too. There’s no disadvantage to a high meal frequency, so if one prefers it, should stick with it. If one finds it hard, one can cut back on the meal number and just make your meals a bit bigger. The total amount of protein and carbohydrate you eat, over the course of the day, is more important for body composition and performance than nutrient timing strategies.[8] Although the way the biggest benefits can be obtained is making a pattern that is easy to comply as dietary compliance is the key for all kinds of success in the fields of health, nutrition and muscle building. Meal frequency should be assessed on an individual basis and meal number for the day should be decided based on what best fits into a person’s lifestyle. Inconsistent patterns are harmful and be it 3 meal or a 6 meal it will be a successful one if followed. 1. http://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-nutrient-timing 2. http://main.poliquingroup.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/1094/Five_Practical_Tips_For_Excellent_Sleep_.aspx 4.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC-/ 5. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/-. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/-. http://www.leanbodiesconsulting.com/faqs/meal-frequency/