What interval between meals is considered acceptable. The interval of eating in a separate diet. Proper nutrition. Menu for the week

Modern people are forced to constantly think about worldly problems, many of them do not have enough time to exercise and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Therefore, taking medications is considered the fastest way to treat them, which makes it possible to improve their well-being and not be distracted from everyday worries. You can’t be so careless about your health, and even more so take all the drugs that are advertised as the most effective, without a doctor’s prescription and in large quantities in order to get an immediate result.

Each person carries responsibility for your health. For the successful treatment of any disease, do not take medicines, following only the instructions attached to the drug. Be sure to consult with your doctor and check with him the dose. If the doses indicated in the instructions and those prescribed by the doctor differ significantly, then check again with the attending physician for the correctness of his appointment. For the successful treatment of the disease, you should trust the doctors and not self-medicate, perhaps the doctor has good reason to prescribe the wrong dose for you, which is indicated in the instructions. It is possible to check the dose of the drug against an independent source of information, for example, in the Vidal, Mashkovsky, Compendium or Trinus drug reference book, which today can be easily found on various sites.

You have probably heard more than once from various acquaintances: “I don’t eat after six.” There are quite a few people who believe that the key to losing weight lies precisely in “not eating at night”. Why “night” for everyone starts at six o’clock in the evening, regardless of when a person goes to bed and when he gets up, it’s hard to say - it probably just happened that way. In fact, there are certainly differences in daytime and nighttime metabolism, and regular nighttime snacking is associated with an increased risk of diabetes and cancer. These differences may be related to different levels of the hormones cortisol and melatonin at different times of the day and their effect on metabolic regulation. However, there is no scientific data that would show that at exactly six o'clock in the evening all people together cross some kind of magical line, beyond which intensive weight gain begins. But try to tell some lover “do not eat after six” about the pointlessness of such an undertaking (especially when at half past six he consumes a portion of pasta or french fries) and he will most likely answer you that it helps him personally. And he will be right: the idea of ​​​​not eating after six, for all its meaninglessness, really works.

It's all about intermittent fasting - regular long periods during which the body does not receive any food and is forced to move on to burning its own fat reserves. If a person does not eat after six and leads a normal life, then he will have breakfast, most likely not earlier than 8-9 in the morning - i.e. 14-15 hours after dinner. And this is very good and really should help to lose weight. But there is no reason to become attached precisely to six o'clock in the evening - many at this time are still at work or driving home through traffic jams, and not everyone wants to go hungry all evening. The principle is simple: the later you have dinner, the later you should have breakfast. Or, for example, skip breakfast and have lunch early - at 12 o'clock. One of the most popular intermittent fasting schemes is 16:8, i.e. All meals must be within an 8-hour window. For example, from 12 noon to 8 pm or from 10 am to 6 pm - whatever is more convenient for you. If, due to the work schedule, it is inconvenient to keep the “fasting window” at 16 hours, then it can be less, for example, 13-15 hours - this will still be useful.

To test this claim, the BBC conducted a small but interesting study. 16 volunteers were divided into two groups. One group, the control group, continued to eat as usual. Participants in the second group, the experimental group, were instructed to change their meal schedule: breakfast an hour and a half later than usual and dinner an hour and a half earlier. They were forbidden to eat between dinner and breakfast. Thus, they increased their usual overnight fasting period by three hours. At the same time, they ate everything the same as usual.

After 10 weeks of the experiment, a survey of participants showed a fairly significant difference between the two groups. Here are graphs showing the difference in metabolic rates between the control group (blue) and the experimental group (red):

Volume of adipose tissue:

Blood sugar level:

Now about the intervals between meals. From a physiological point of view, it would be ideal to start the next meal only when the digestion of the food eaten in the previous meal is over. To this it must be added that the digestive organs, like every other organ of the human body, need periods of rest. And, finally, digestion has a certain effect on all processes occurring in the body, including the activity of the central nervous system. The combination of these conditions leads to the fact that a person accustomed to a measured diet at the right time has a normal appetite.

One of the indicators of the duration of the act of digestion is the time of removal of food from the stomach. It has been established that during normal functioning of the stomach and other digestive organs, the process of digestion of food lasts about 4 hours. Each meal leads to a more or less pronounced change in the state of the central nervous system. After eating, especially plentiful, some apathy sets in, attention decreases, the will relaxes, a person tends to sleep, that is, in the language of a physiologist, conditioned reflex activity falls. This state of the central nervous system, which occurs immediately after eating, lasts for an hour or more, depending on the abundance of food taken. Then all these sensations are smoothed out, and finally, by the end of the fourth hour, the food center returns to its normal state - appetite reappears. And if a person who is accustomed to the regime does not eat in a timely manner, he becomes weak, attention decreases, and working capacity decreases. And in the future, the appetite may disappear. If you are systematically late with food or eat on a full stomach, the normal activity of the digestive glands is disturbed, digestion is upset. A longer interval between meals falls on the period of night sleep, but it should not exceed 10-11 hours. The general rule is the following: intervals between small meals can be short (2-3 hours), but eating earlier than 2 hours after the previous meal is not advisable. On average, the breaks between meals should be 4-5 hours. food diet food menu

Of great importance is the distribution of the daily diet, that is, the preparation of the menu. Here the questions of the quantity of food, its qualitative composition and the sequence in taking individual dishes are combined.

The total amount of food consumed by a person per day, along with liquid meals and drinks, averages about 3 kilograms. Breakfast is the first meal after sleep. During a night's sleep, everything eaten the day before was digested, all the organs of the body, including the digestive ones, rested and favorable conditions were created for their further work. Scientists involved in nutrition are unanimous in the fact that it is necessary to have breakfast, regardless of whether a person is engaged in physical or mental activity. It can only be about what part of the diet should include breakfast. It is believed that if a person is engaged in physical labor, then breakfast should contain approximately 1/3 of the daily diet, both in terms of volume and nutritional value. If a person of physical labor eats a breakfast that is insignificant in terms of volume and nutritional value, or even worse, starts work on an empty stomach, then he cannot work with full load, and his performance drops significantly. It has now become fashionable, especially among knowledge workers, to limit themselves to a cup of coffee or tea for breakfast. They refer to the lack of time and appetite. Both are the result of an incorrect lifestyle, a general regime, including a diet. Putting things in order in the diet (as, indeed, in the whole way of life) is quite within the power of a person, and anyone who wants to can overcome the bad habit of eating improperly, and by the way, give up bad habits, such as alcohol abuse and smoking .

It is necessary to distribute meals, not only following the recommendations of doctors, but also at your own discretion. Do not take too long breaks in meals, it is better to eat 4-5 times during the day in small portions than to eat thoroughly 2 times, because in this case you will overload the stomach and it will be more difficult for it to digest all the food. In addition, a long wait for food contributes to the release of a large amount of gastric juice, which corrodes the walls of the stomach and can cause ulcers.

Set your diet

You need to eat several times a day, with breaks of about 3-4 hours. This time can be a little less or a little more, depending on your habits, working hours and general well-being. It is not necessary to accustom the body to any particular method of nutrition developed by nutritionists or doctors. If you work the second shift, it is hardly worth getting up for meals at 7 or 8 in the morning, and you must have dinner at 18 o'clock. Better develop your nutrition system based on your own daily routine. Perhaps your breakfast will start no earlier than 10 am, then the time for lunch, afternoon tea or dinner will shift to a later time.

The main thing here is to remember the rule: do not oversaturate the body with food so that it absorbs the next portion on time and adhere to equal breaks in meals. Even if you are on a diet, do not torture your body with mandatory dinners before 6 pm. You can eat in the evening at any time, the main thing is not to go to bed immediately after eating, wait at least 4 hours before bedtime. That is, dinner time should be moved away from the time of your usual falling asleep, so that the food has time to digest, and your stomach and digestive organs rest during the night. In addition, it will be useful to remember that there should be a break of at least 14 hours between dinner and breakfast - this time is enough for a good rest.

Distribute meals correctly

Meals should be divided according to satiety. It is important to have a good breakfast in the morning, charging the body with energy, saturating it with fiber and carbohydrates. Some time after breakfast, you can have a small snack with fruit, yogurt or nuts. The most abundant meal should be at lunchtime - at this time the body works most actively and is able to digest large amounts of food. If you didn’t have a second breakfast, after 3 hours after dinner, it’s time to make a light afternoon snack. And finally, in the evening, it is useful to prepare a hearty dinner, however, it should be lighter than your lunch.

You can distribute meals for more, the main thing is that then the portions decrease, and not remain the same. It is not necessary to weigh each serving on the scales: your body will tell you when it is full, you just need to stop on time, do not overeat. Do not eat a lot of fatty and fried foods, instead eat more fresh vegetables - they are excellent for satiety, and contain few calories, in addition, they are rich in vitamins and trace elements.

Throughout human evolution, the diet of our species has not been regular. As in the case of the animals around us, the frequency of feeding depended on the availability of food. And it was often necessary to extract it in the literal sense of the word “blood and sweat”.

In the context of evolution, frequent eating is a very recent innovation, and is most likely due to unprecedented access to food 24/7 in our history.

Eating is always easy - attractive, constant food is addictive. Eating less often or not eating at all for some time is tantamount to torment, deprivation and severe stress for many.

In the meantime, recent scientific research suggests that in the long term, the practice of snacking and small intervals between meals can lead to negative health consequences.

How does the body react to small meals?

It's all about, as is often the case, our hormonal response to food. Every time you and I put something in our mouths, often without thinking about it, a whole cascade of reactions takes place in the body at the cellular level.

We must digest all the food that has come in, assimilate it, get rid of the remnants, and then do something with the energy received. Let's take a closer look at the last step.

The hormone insulin plays an important role in the distribution of energy received in our body. It is produced in response to almost every meal. Not only sugar, but also protein. We get the minimum insulin response for eating fat.

Insulin is an important hormone for health, but, as with everything, balance is very important with it. With frequent meals and the insulin response that accompanies it, the constant presence of insulin and its "imposition" of energy on cells leads to the fact that they (the cells) develop a protective reaction.

Cells become less sensitive to insulin. The further, the more, which leads to the development of insulin resistance. This condition underlies such chronic diseases as metabolic syndrome, obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's disease, and so on.

This is not an instantaneous process and is not universal in its impact on health. Its (insulin resistance) development and manifestation of symptoms depends on factors such as genetics, health status, physical activity, sleep, stress level.

What changes when we eat less often?

Increased cell sensitivity to insulin. The cells have time to spend the received energy and they do not have to defend themselves against its action. Due to a more effective action, the level of insulin decreases, and with it, among other things, excess weight disappears.

Adaptation to use fat for energy. Lowering insulin levels “opens the way” for us to burn fat, while the vast majority of people these days default to burning sugar. Meanwhile, our physiology is adapted to burning fat, at least not worse than burning sugar. Fat as a source of energy also has a number of health benefits. It's a cleaner fuel that burns less of the oxidative stress and inflammation that underlies aging and chronic disease.

Strengthening/restoring the immune system. Digestion of food is inevitably accompanied by inflammatory processes and oxidative stress. That is why during acute illnesses, like colds, appetite is temporarily suppressed. During fasting, the synthesis of inflammatory signaling molecules is suppressed, the immune system has the opportunity to “calm down” and recover.

Recovery from chronic diseases. Therapeutic starvation is now actively used for therapeutic purposes to recover from a number of chronic diseases that are “incurable” in the opinion of modern medicine, such as autoimmune (colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease), type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. One of the most unique and powerful mechanisms through which recovery occurs is autophagy. For describing this effect of starvation, the Japanese received the Nobel Prize in Physiology.

How to start eating less?

There's a reason many of us find it so difficult to skip meals. The release is accompanied by such unpleasant symptoms as headache, dizziness, irritability, mood swings.

All these are indirect signs of dysregulation of blood sugar - its sharp drops. This is also a sign that your body has forgotten how to burn fat for energy and requires another serving of sugar.

By sugar, I mean not only something that tastes sweet, but also flour, cereals, legumes, root vegetables. Sometimes you have to limit all of the above products for a while in order to restore the body's ability to deal with them.

A transitional diet that will allow you to endure long periods without food without discomfort is based on plenty of vegetables, greens, pure animal sources of protein (as sugar free), healthy fats from wild fish, eggs, grass-fed meat, nuts, seeds, in a small amount of berries and fruits.

This is a process of varying duration, which for many people can be quite painful.

But upon its completion, it is able to give many useful and pleasant bonuses, including clarity of thought, improved memory and concentration, weight loss, improvement in many chronic diseases.

Another valuable gift you will receive is freedom. Freedom from food, from the fact that every 3-4 hours you need to take / cook something somewhere. You are free to eat or not eat, depending on the circumstances and your mood.

You no longer have to run to the first eatery or kiosk with pies in an unfamiliar place, “stepping on your throat” is lunch on the plane.

And this happens without negative feelings - the body automatically switches to burning fat. You remain joyful, full of energy and strength!

What are the optimal intervals between meals?

An indicative interval for healthy carbohydrate metabolism, that is, healthy regulation of blood sugar levels, is the 6-hour interval between meals. If you can easily withstand it, then your body is adapted to burning fat, does not depend on sugar, it has time in the form of these gaps to recover.

Recently, the practice of intermittent fasting - a long interval between meals - has gained great popularity and success as a therapeutic tool.

There are many variations of intermittent fasting. This practice can be adapted to your personal preferences, schedule and tasks. Experiment to see what works for you.

Common Intermittent Fasting Intervals:

The 12-hour fast described above is from dinner to breakfast. You finish dinner at 19 and start breakfast at 7.

The 4pm, "brunch fast" - you finish dinner at 7pm and then don't eat your next meal until 11am - the time that brunch is served in English-speaking countries.

An 8-hour eating window - that is, you eat during the day, for 8 hours - usually means 2 meals a day. On a regular basis suitable for trained people.

How to get out of fasting

With the intervals described above, which do not exceed one and a half days, you will not need to do anything special to return to food.

Maybe start with something easy to digest, like stock, egg yolk, cooked vegetables. It is important that it is not sugar in any form - to avoid blood sugar spikes and dysregulation after you have spent the effort to restore it.

Give yourself 15-30 minutes after something light and then eat a full meal. A full meal after a period of fasting is a signal to the body that everything is in order and it should not perceive the situation as stressful.

Therefore, eat until you are full, however, try to do it measuredly and consciously so that you don’t miss its (satiation) signs!

Be healthy!