Guest guest Posted February 3, 2002 Report Share Posted February 3, 2002 , You find lots of opinions on this out there. You have those that will say traditionally hunter gatherer's were not eating all day long and 1 large meal with 2 or three small foragings carried the day. You'll find others who will say 5 times a day is more like it. I am not going to give you an answer based on a traditional reason, I am going to give you an answer based on my own clinical experience. NUMBER 1 - You alimentary canal organs, the the organs that make up the tube that travels from Your lips to your anus, ie. stomach, small and large intestines, etc... each should spend the majority of their time over a 24 hour period empty. As they are hollow organs generally speaking hollow organs should spend a fair amount of time empty. If you consider that you stomach should be empty within 2 hours of a meal (I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYONE WITH HEALTHY ENOUGH DIGESTION TO ACCOMPLISH THIS ON A CONSISTENT BASIS DAY IN AND DAY OUT) if you eat 3-5 times per day that means your stomach would spend 14 to 18 hours a day empty. However since 99.9% (I'm being generous here) of the patients I've worked with locally and nationally have spent significantly large periods of time not eating a traditionally based diet including crummy fats, dangerous sugars and others they have nearly if not completely decimated their digestive systems and in turn do not process foods that quickly. This poses a problem for your answer. I would in an ideal situation say to you anywhere from 3 - 6 times per day would be fine. Obviously with 3 having larger meals and 6 having smaller meals. The choice is really yours. Here is how you choose. If you have no blood sugar fluctuation issues, no hormonal issues, no adrenal/thyroid/pancreas issues, have excellent digestion,low immunity, mucus production and no fatigue issues you can choose 3 or 6 whichever you prefer. If any of these apply to you you are now in the problem I mentioned above, the catch 22 of needing to eat often to maintain your blood sugar levels and not wanting to eat often because you are not processing your nutrition well enough. If this is you, well lets just say, it sucks to be you ... and virtually the entire american population. So my suggestion here would be get to work on your food assimilation, it will take time and effort. Many of the things done in traditional food prep will help, however my experience says that it will not be enough by itself to restore the defecit left by the devastating effects of traditional modern american eating. It will take time to restore your digestion back to its proper state however it can and has been done. In the mean time eating 4 - 5 times a day is just fine at this time however be certain about your assimilation. Because no matter how great the food you eat may be, if you don't get to use it, you are in a deteriorating state. I know you asked a simple question, and were probably hoping for a simple answer, however I thought it was a good enough question that it really warranted a better answer. So I hope this is of some help. All My Very Best, Dr. Marasco,BS,DC Cincinnati, Oh > Which is better. > Currently i am eating 4 times a day. > breakfast, lunch ( somewhere between 1 and 2 ) another meal at about > 5:30 about 7 to 7:30 i start an hour and a half of exercise then i > eat somewhere between 9 and 10. > > I feel i need to do this to keep my calories/strength up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 3, 2002 Report Share Posted February 3, 2002 I hope this doesn't sound like a stupid question doc, but how does one go about determining the length of time that the food they eat stays in their stomach? Jim > > Which is better. > > Currently i am eating 4 times a day. > > breakfast, lunch ( somewhere between 1 and 2 ) another meal at > about > > 5:30 about 7 to 7:30 i start an hour and a half of exercise then i > > eat somewhere between 9 and 10. > > > > I feel i need to do this to keep my calories/strength up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 3, 2002 Report Share Posted February 3, 2002 Great answer. I am pretty sure the food is being digested ok. ( although some days i find that i may be able to skip the meal before i train yet i eat it anyway as i am pretty lean and fear loosing weight. > Ive mainly been eating eggs for breakfast ( 6 ) with butter lunch has generally been the same due to work. afternoon is 250g of 54% fat cream with some fruit dinner is a swag of vegetable ( carrot, capcicum, squash, eggplant, mushroom) cooked in butter and then smothered in butter on the dinner table usually with a meat of somekind. Thanks again for such a indepth answer. That was very interesting > You find lots of opinions on this out there. You have those that > will say traditionally hunter gatherer's were not eating all day long > and 1 large meal with 2 or three small foragings carried the day. > You'll find others who will say 5 times a day is more like it. I am > not going to give you an answer based on a traditional reason, I am > going to give you an answer based on my own clinical experience. > NUMBER 1 - You alimentary canal organs, the the organs that make up > the tube that travels from Your lips to your anus, ie. stomach, small > and large intestines, etc... each should spend the majority of their > time over a 24 hour period empty. As they are hollow organs > generally speaking hollow organs should spend a fair amount of time > empty. If you consider that you stomach should be empty within 2 > hours of a meal (I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYONE WITH HEALTHY ENOUGH > DIGESTION TO ACCOMPLISH THIS ON A CONSISTENT BASIS DAY IN AND DAY > OUT) if you eat 3-5 times per day that means your stomach would spend > 14 to 18 hours a day empty. However since 99.9% (I'm being generous > here) of the patients I've worked with locally and nationally have > spent significantly large periods of time not eating a traditionally > based diet including crummy fats, dangerous sugars and others they > have nearly if not completely decimated their digestive systems and > in turn do not process foods that quickly. This poses a problem for > your answer. I would in an ideal situation say to you anywhere from > 3 - 6 times per day would be fine. Obviously with 3 having larger > meals and 6 having smaller meals. The choice is really yours. Here > is how you choose. If you have no blood sugar fluctuation issues, no > hormonal issues, no adrenal/thyroid/pancreas issues, have excellent > digestion,low immunity, mucus production and no fatigue issues you > can choose 3 or 6 whichever you prefer. If any of these apply to you > you are now in the problem I mentioned above, the catch 22 of needing > to eat often to maintain your blood sugar levels and not wanting to > eat often because you are not processing your nutrition well enough. > If this is you, well lets just say, it sucks to be you ... and > virtually the entire american population. So my suggestion here > would be get to work on your food assimilation, it will take time and > effort. Many of the things done in traditional food prep will help, > however my experience says that it will not be enough by itself to > restore the defecit left by the devastating effects of traditional > modern american eating. It will take time to restore your digestion > back to its proper state however it can and has been done. In the > mean time eating 4 - 5 times a day is just fine at this time however > be certain about your assimilation. Because no matter how great the > food you eat may be, if you don't get to use it, you are in a > deteriorating state. > > I know you asked a simple question, and were probably hoping for a > simple answer, however I thought it was a good enough question that > it really warranted a better answer. So I hope this is of some help. > > All My Very Best, > Dr. Marasco,BS,DC > Cincinnati, Oh > > > Which is better. > > Currently i am eating 4 times a day. > > breakfast, lunch ( somewhere between 1 and 2 ) another meal at > about > > 5:30 about 7 to 7:30 i start an hour and a half of exercise then i > > eat somewhere between 9 and 10. > > > > I feel i need to do this to keep my calories/strength up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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