Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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I tend to snack throughout the day, when I feel hungry (regardless of the time of day), instead of eating a specified breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Like some days I'll have breakfast and lunch, but no dinner and just a snack later at night. Or I'll skip breakfast, eat a snack for lunch, and snack every few hours until 7pm. Basically, I have very irregular eating patterns. Am I the only one? Is this slowing my metabolism? I'm just finishing up having the carb flu symptoms, coming up on one month of 95% paleo, but haven't started a work out routine yet. Will this impact creating a workout routine?

flag	asked Oct 27 at 6:10 Casey 11●1

baba · Answer 1 · 2012-10-27 11:58:11Z UTC

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It is healthier to eat meals with no snacks in between as this will give your digestive system a break. It will limit higher blood sugar (from carbs and protein) to after mealtime and ease the demands on your pancreas. It will also force your body to burn fat (from meals and from the stores on your hips) and limit your hunger, so that you won't mind fasting when there's nothing decent to eat. I also find it makes life easier.

But then, one thing at a time. If you've just changed what you eat, changing when you eat is maybe for another time. If starting a workout routine is what you want to do now, maybe do that first.

answered Oct 27 at 11:58

baba
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How on earth could eating fewer larger meals be better for blood sugar regulation than eating several smaller meals? – Nasty Brutish and Short Oct 28 at 5:07

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Snacking keeps blood sugar elevated whereas a meal will give it a short "spike" and then return to normal - all with the corresponding insulin response. Short-time elevated insulin is harmless (some say beneficient) while it would give you insulin resistance if elevated long-term. – baba Oct 28 at 5:40

Not sure if I agree but I follow your reasoning. Thanks for the explanation. – Nasty Brutish and Short Oct 28 at 5:52

Snacking on simple carbs, like cakes and sugary products, will keep the blood sugar spiking throughout the day. Unfortunately, that's totally against the paleo diet all together. Eating protein rich snacks will keep the body at top energy which prevents insulin from spiking. Totally just googled it. Thanks for the indirect knowledge though! – Casey Oct 29 at 18:36

And... if you need a citation... slimming.com/advice/… – Casey Oct 29 at 18:37

dmi · Answer 2 · 2012-10-27 13:54:24Z UTC

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As long as it works better for you than eating big meals, I think it's perfectly fine.

answered Oct 27 at 13:54

dmi
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Britt · Answer 3 · 2012-10-27 14:07:01Z UTC

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I snack instead of eating big meals. My body feels better this way and some people may say they don't get hungry between meals, but paleo or not my body feels hungry if I dont do snacks throughout the day. I think it's silly to say its worse for you. Our ancestors were much more likely to nibble on berries as they found them than have set meal times.

answered Oct 27 at 14:07

Britt
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	"Our ancestors were much more likely to nibble on berries as they found them than have set meal times." Citations, please. – jake3_14 Oct 27 at 20:48
	'Our ancestors on the plains of East Africa must have been snackers. Their meals were certainly nothing like ours,'' he says. "After all, the more they ate while searching for food, the less they had to carry. So there was no need for the group to gather at specific times each day to eat large meals." csmonitor.com/1984/1031/103114.html – Casey Oct 29 at 18:40

Hemming · Answer 4 · 2012-10-27 12:16:21Z UTC

I think you will notice that you don't need to snack once you become more and more fat burning. FWIW, I feel like I've come to a stage where I can have breakfast, lunch, dinner and perhaps a little snack in the evening without actually feeling that hungry at any time of the day.

MG · Answer 5 · 2012-10-27 15:24:39Z UTC

I've been snacking through the day as well- because I haven't felt hungry enough to eat a substantial meal. However, after a week or so of this, I found I was eating HUGE amounts in the evening - I'd make dinner and end up eating 2000+ calories for dinner... on top of around 800-1000 calories of daytime snacking on veg&cheese, chicken, eggs, coconut oil.

I have yet to figure out what works for me obviously!

As long as YOU feel like it's working for you - energy, mental clarity, sleeping good, not losing too much weight (unless that's a goal) etc.. then keep doing what you are doing

Snacking instead of eating big meals?

5 Answers