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Fractional nutrition has long been considered an effective method of losing weight and part of a healthy lifestyle. However, numerous studies conducted recently have proved not only the uselessness of fractional meals for weight loss, but even the harm of such a large number of meals.
Many people are used to thinking that fractional means proper nutrition. An increase in the number of meals up to 5-6 a day was positioned as the only correct one and was opposed to two or three meals a day. Why has fractional nutrition been included in what we call effective diets for so long? And what is the reality?
Myth 1. Fractional nutrition speeds up metabolism
Everyone who is wondering how to lose weight remembered about fractional nutrition that it speeds up metabolism. However, you should know that the metabolism is accelerated only during the time when food is being digested. So, fractional nutrition has practically nothing to do with metabolism.
Myth 2. Fractional nutrition helps to lose weight
A fractional meal is traditionally recommended for anyone who wants to lose weight. However, British researchers from the Coventry University Clinic have experimentally proved that the number of meals does not matter for weight loss. The author of a work on this topic, Milan Kumar Piya, notes that only the total amount of calories consumed is important, but not the number of meals per day.
So, fractional nutrition will not help solve the problem of obesity. To achieve the desired result, it is imperative to reduce the calorie content of the diet and increase physical activity.
Myth 3. Fractional nutrition reduces appetite
It is believed that an increase in the number of meals has a positive effect on a decrease in appetite. However, experts from the Department of Diet and Nutrition at the University of Kansas Medical Center (USA) have shown that a person feels less full if he eats six times a day instead of the usual three.
Myth 4. Fractional nutrition prevents overeating
The lack of a feeling of satiety (myth 3) makes a person, firstly, think more about food (after all, hunger, although not strong, still makes itself felt). Second, the lack of satiety leads to extra snacks, which means higher calorie intake compared to those who eat two or three meals a day.
Myth 5. Fractional nutrition improves health
It is generally accepted that due to the “modesty” of the portion with fractional nutrition, the body lays less load. However, in fact, due to the frequency of meals, the body hardly rests – the whole day a person either eats or snacks. And, by the way, the body also needs rest. It is even more important that during the period when a person does not eat, the process of cleansing cells from decay products occurs. So if you eat all day, you are simply not allowing the body to cleanse itself, which increases the risk of inflammation and various diseases.
Obese people are already at increased risk of inflammation due to high blood levels of endotoxins (substances formed when bacterial cells break down). By the way, it is the high level of toxins that is associated with the risk of diseases such as cardiovascular ailments and type XNUMX diabetes. So for overweight people, fractional nutrition is generally contraindicated, since it not only does not help to lose weight, but also harms health.
Thus, recent studies on fractional nutrition show the complete failure of this approach.