Meal Timing for Weight Loss

If you are trying to lose weight (or maintain a healthy weight) you need to eat approximately every 3 hours and consume five small meals a day. If you consume less than five small meals a day your metabolism will slow making it difficult for you to lose weight. Recommend eating at the following times:

• Breakfast: 6.00am - 8.00am
• Morning Tea: 10.00am - 11.00am
• Lunch: 12.00pm - 2.00pm
• Afternoon Tea: 3.00pm - 5.00pm
• Dinner: 6.00pm - 8.00pm (try and finish your last meal before 8.00pm).

If you leave more than three hours between your meals you may feel hungry - and it's very difficult to maintain your resolve to lose weight when you feel hungry all the time! Plus when you know when your next meal is, you are less likely to turn to convenience foods. 

Healthy Meals

A healthy meal or snack is small in portion size but fills you up for at least 2-3 hours. So next time you are tempted to grab fast food on the run or reach for the biscuit jar at work, ask yourself, "Is there a better choice I could make to help me get through the day?". Then try the following:

- If your meal or snack won't fill you up for at least two hours, consider more healthy options. Low fat, low GI snacks with protein will help you feel full for longer: try low fat yoghurt, fruit, light cheese and wholegrain crackers.

- If it's less than three hours before your last meal, think about your real motivation for eating. Ask yourself questions such as, "Am I really hungry?" and "How will I feel afterwards?". You may find that you are engaging in non hungry eating.

- If you have a tendency to eat out of habit, i.e. you tend to snack at certain places or times of the day, think of ways to break these habits. For example, don't keep a stash of chocolate in your top drawer at work.

- Don't attach emotions to food. If you eat when you are stressed or bored; think about alternate, non food-related ways to improve your mood such as going for a brief walk.

- Before you eat, sit down and place your food on a plate: that way you are more likely to acknowledge the calories.

Eating the right foods at the right time can make a huge impact on your weight loss efforts. 

Habitual Eating: How to Break the Cycle

Here are some tips to help you outsmart habitual eating and take control of your weight:

Eat Slowly

People who eat quickly are twice as likely to be overweight than those who eat more sensibly. And people who eat quickly and eat too much are three times as likely to be overweight than those who eat more sensibly (1). Here's how to eat in a more controlled manner:

- Allocate 20 minutes for main meals and 10 minutes for snacks
- Put a jug of water on the table and sip water throughout your meal
- Put your cutlery down between mouthfuls
- Cut your food into small bite sized pieces and eat one piece at a time
- Increase the number of times you chew your food before swallowing
- Pause in the middle of meals or between courses
- Talk during mealtimes: people who do so are often still eating after their companions have finished.

By eating slowly, you give your taste buds time to register the flavours in your food. Plus you experience a greater sense of control as you have more time to decide how much food you will eat.

Portion Your Food

Most people use visual cues to tell them when to stop eating, so when a big portion is placed in front of them they eat the whole lot (2). Some tips for limiting your portion sizes are:

- Serve yourself in medium sized portions from the stove (if your serve sizes are too small you will return for second helpings) and avoid placing dishes on the table.
- Eat your food from a plate to increase your awareness of how much you are eating: don't eat out of bags or containers.
- Remove any leftovers as soon as possible after eating. Put them in the fridge for the next day, throw them away or if you are entertaining, give them to guests to take home. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that you are wasting food by throwing it away: unlike excess food in the bin, excess food in your stomach can lead to weight gain and poor health!
- If your plates are large, don't feel the need to fill them with food.
- Leave a small portion of food on your plate at the end of every meal. Don't feel that you have to 'clean your plate': many people are conditioned to do this from an early age but it's not healthy.
- If you are eating out, don't feel that you need to eat the entire dish: take the leftovers home.

Take Control of Emotional Eating

Emotions can become powerful cues to eat inappropriately. People use food to reduce frustration, control boredom, or to comfort themselves when they are feeling lonely, anxious, angry or depressed. If you eat as a means of coping with emotions, you need to find non food-related ways to deal with your emotions such as going for a walk, taking a bath or calling a friend.

It's also useful to learn to attune to your body and distinguish between physical hunger (where your stomach is rumbling and you physically need to eat) and psychological hunger (where cues such as emotions, settings, social occasions and sights and smells of food encourage you to eat). Physical hunger is a useful and appropriate cue to eat - psychological hunger is not.

Practice Mindful Eating

Take the time to sit down and savour the flavours of your food rather than eating on the run:

- Limit your eating to a specific room such as the dining room or kitchen. Eating in other rooms such as the bedroom or living room can trigger a desire to eat when you are in these rooms: even when you aren't hungry.
- Break the link between eating and activities such as talking on the phone or watching a movie.

- Clear you mind of distractions before you eat so you can register an enjoyment of your food and acknowledge the calories.
- Sit down and enjoy your meal so your brain has time to register that your stomach is full.

Breaking ingrained habits can be tough, but if you give yourself time to practice and persevere when you make mistakes, you will regain control of your eating habits.

References:
1. Maruyama K, et al. 2008, 'The joint impact of self reported behaviours of eating quickly and eating until full on overweight: cross sectional survey' British Medical Journal 337:a2002.
2. Dr Elizabeth Denney-Wilson, Research Fellow at the University of NSW quoted by ABC News in Science

Healthy Snack Ideas

If you are trying to lose weight you should eat a snack for morning tea and afternoon tea. Snacking means you’ll be less likely to overeat at lunch and dinner, and as an added bonus it boosts your metabolism.

It's advisable to plan your snacks in advance so you have healthy options available. We've listed some ideas below:

Savoury Snacks

- Vegetable sticks (carrot, celery, capsicum and snow peas) with low fat dip such as hummus
- A toasted pita pocket cut into triangles with 2 Tbsp low fat tomato salsa dip
- 3 Ryvita, 4 x 9-Grain Vita-Weats, 2 rice cakes or 5 corn thins topped with 1-2 Tbsp cottage cheese and a slice of low fat cheese or vegemite
- A mini can of baked beans
- A small handful of unsalted raw nuts (30g)
- A small low fat savoury muffin
- Up to 20 rice crackers (plain or flavoured)
- A sushi roll
- An English muffin topped with fresh tomato slices and low fat cheese
- Celery boats filled with cottage cheese, low fat peanut butter or low fat hummus
- Continental Cup of Soup
- 2 cups of cooked microwave popcorn (plain or low fat with flavouring)
- 1/2 – 1 cup salt reduced pretzels
- A snack packet of low fat corn chips (1 snack packet)
- Dried cereal - ¾ cup Mini Wheats or ¼ cup natural muesli

Sweet Snacks

- Two low fat biscuits (Weston Oatmeal, Weight Watchers or Arnott’s Snack Right Full o’Fruit biscuits)
- A slice of raisin toast or multigrain bread
- A piece of fresh or frozen fruit (banana, apple, orange or pineapple)
- A cup of fruit salad (tinned or fresh)
- 200g tub of low fat or diet fruit yoghurt or a 150g tub of Fruche Light
- A pikelet, crumpet or English muffin topped with 100% fruit jam or red gum honey
- A low fat sweet muffin
- An Uncle Toby’s Real Fruit bar
- 200g low fat custard, or half a cup of custard with a piece of fruit or a cup of fruit salad
- Half a scone (fruit or plain, topped with 100% fruit jam)
- A breakfast bar such as Kellogg’s K-Time
- A muesli bar such as Nature’s Own with nuts and seeds

A healthy snack should fill you up for at least two hours, so next time you’re tempted to reach for the biscuit jar at work ask yourself, “Will this fill me up for at least two hours?”. If the answer is no, try some of the options above.