Friday, March 25, 2011

Eating 4-6 Times Per Day is Ideal

   Welcome, new readers to Clean Eating Eve! Over then next week or so, I'm going to be bumping some older posts that will help you as you begin to eat a cleaner, more healthy diet. This post, from November of last year, discusses the CE direction on eating more than the 3 square meals a day. Eating snacks ( healthy ones! ) is important when eating cleanly!



Following a Clean Eating path, you are naturally cutting your caloric intake just by the guidelines you are following. Fruits, vegetables, lean meats - all are lower calorie than man made, processed foods. If you are CE for weight loss, it's a great thing. You are automatically doing the "Eat better" and "Eat less" of the old "Eat better / Eat less / Move more" weight loss adage. If you are already slim or CE for purely nutritional reasons, eating more of what is better for you becomes important as keeping weight becomes a necessity.
     Regardless of your path, eating 4-6 smaller meals per day has been found to be a fundamental point for all clean eaters. It keeps your metabolism elevated and you burn fat more effectively. It keep cravings at bay by having a continually more satisfied feeling, it adds vital nutrition to your diet ( let's face it, bibb lettuce is all kinds of fun in a salad, but a bit lacking in the nutrition department ) and it keeps you mentally in a "I''m eating more than enough" state.



    
     I recommend inserting a substantial snack between your breakfast and lunch like a solid protein like a meat along with a fruit or dairy. I sometimes will eat 2 boiled eggs and an apple for this mid-morning meal. In between lunch and dinner, have a handful of nuts with a piece of fruit, celery with organic peanut butter - something with a bit of a satisfying crunch.