How many meals a day for a healthy diet
Nowadays, the concept of a healthy diet has gradually become deeply ingrained in our minds. We no longer choose food simply to fill our stomachs or for its taste, but for our bodies and our health. When it comes to healthy eating, some people have raised questions about our three meals a day.
Eating smaller, more frequent meals is a health eating method we have always believed in. Numerous studies have shown that this eating habit has many benefits. A study by American experts has proven that reducing the food intake of experimental mice and intermittent fasting can effectively stimulate an increase in the levels of BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) in the mice's brains. Research shows that BDNF can effectively enhance the resistance of nerve cells to the natural aging of the body and improve recovery ability after injury.
Is it okay to eat only one meal a day?
For healthy adults, reducing the number of meals without reducing the intake of calories, vitamins, and minerals does not cause significant changes in the frequency of heart attacks and most health parameters in the blood. However, if you eat only one meal a day, the body's fat content will decrease significantly in a short period of time, and your temper will worsen, while blood pressure and cholesterol levels in the blood will gradually rise.
How many meals are ideal per day?
More in-depth research is still needed on how the number of meals per day affects health, so maintaining the current habit of eating four to five meals a day is the most ideal.
A healthy diet must pay attention to eating more green fruits and vegetables, and eat less high-fat and high-calorie food to avoid putting too heavy a burden on our bodies.
Modern urbanites, due to busy work and frequent overtime, coupled with common traffic jams in big cities, often get home after dark, and many people can't even have dinner until 8 or 9 o'clock. The next day, because they have to get up early, breakfast is naturally eaten very early.
Medical experts point out that because dinner is eaten too late, when people sleep, most organs get sufficient rest, but the digestive organs are still digesting and absorbing the food left in the gastrointestinal tract from dinner, and only gradually enter a resting state around dawn.
If breakfast is eaten too early, it will inevitably interfere with the rest of the gastrointestinal tract, causing the digestive system to be in a state of fatigue and combat for a long time, disrupting the peristaltic rhythm of the stomach and intestines.
Therefore, it is most suitable to eat breakfast 20 to 30 minutes after waking up around 7 o'clock.
Our usual way of eating is actually wrong. The 5 major typical mistakes of eating oil sticks and soy milk for breakfast. Eating bread for breakfast is very dangerous.
Nutritionists recommend: A student's breakfast should provide enough energy and also activate brain function. Breakfast must be eaten well, preferably with some fresh vegetables. There are two types of foods that are not suitable to eat more for breakfast.
In addition, it is better to have a 4 to 5 hour interval between breakfast and lunch, which also indicates that breakfast is best eaten between 7 and 8 o'clock.
Experts recommend several types of foods suitable for breakfast:
Foods rich in high-quality protein: eggs, milk, sausage, soy milk, etc.
Foods rich in vitamin C: juice, vegetables, fruits, etc.
Carbohydrate-rich staples: bread, steamed buns, twisted rolls, etc.
Liquid foods rich in water: congee, milk, soy milk, juice, etc.
Appetizing and appetite-increasing foods: juice, tomato juice, pickles, etc.
The best time for dinner is around 6 p.m., and don't sleep within 4 hours after dinner
Some studies have shown that eating less for dinner leads to better sleep. The correct dinner should be 80% full, with the self-feeling of not being hungry as the standard. The best time for dinner is around 6 p.m., and try not to exceed 9 p.m. It is best not to eat any solid food after 9 p.m. And do not go to bed within 4 hours after dinner, so that the food eaten at night can be fully digested.
Pay attention to eating dried shrimp for dinner:
Everyone knows that the effect of supplementing calcium before sleep is good, such as drinking a glass of milk before bed, which both promotes sleep and supplements calcium. Everyone also knows that the calcium content in dried shrimp is very rich, so some people think that the effect of supplementing calcium with dried shrimp before dinner and sleep must be better than milk. In fact, this view is completely wrong. It not only fails to achieve the purpose of supplementing calcium, but also increases the risk of suffering from urinary tract stones.
Dried shrimp is nutritious, with a calcium content as high as 991 mg/100g (the recommended daily calcium intake for adults is 800 mg), and is known as the "warehouse of calcium". Dried shrimp also has the effects of whetting the appetite and resolving phlegm. However, it should be noted that precisely because dried shrimp is high in calcium, it cannot be eaten at night to avoid causing urinary tract stones. The main component of urinary stones is calcium, and the calcium contained in food is absorbed and utilized by the intestinal wall, and the excess calcium is excreted in the urine. The peak time for calcium excretion in the human body is generally 4 to 5 hours after a meal. If the dinner food is too high in calcium, or the dinner time is too late, or even eating dried shrimp before bed, when the peak time for calcium excretion arrives, people have already gone to bed, and the urine will be completely retained in the urinary tract and cannot be excreted in time. In this way, the calcium content in the urine in the urinary tract continues to increase and deposit, and over time, it is very easy to form urinary stones. Matsushita Hospital in Japan once conducted a survey of 270 patients with urinary stones, of whom 97 mostly had dinner after 9 p.m., and 25 had the habit of going to bed immediately after eating a late-night snack.
Therefore, calcium supplementation at night should not be too late or too much, and the choice of calcium-supplementing foods should be as easy to digest and absorb as possible. Drinking a glass of milk 1-2 hours before bed is a very good choice.