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Understanding Meal Quantities

Do I have to eat three meals a day?

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  • Sarah Alligood, MPH, RD

    International Food Information Council Foundation

    http://www.ific.org/  
     

    Sarah Alligood is a registered dietitian specializing in nutrition communications. She has always loved food and cooking and operated by the principle that food is just as much a pleasure as a necessity. Sarah recently moved from North Carolina to Washington, DC where she works at the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation(www.ific.org). IFIC is a nonprofit organization that communicates science-based information on food safety and nutrition to the media, health professionals, and others that come into contact with consumers. At IFIC, Sarah monitors the ever-evolving nutrition communications environment and analyzes how this environment influences the decisions that people make when it comes to food and health. She has also authored several articles on nutrition topics and delivered presentations to a variety of audiences ranging from preschoolers to college students to professionals. Sarah is an active member of the American Dietetic Association and the Society for Nutrition Education. She earned her Master of Public Health in Nutrition from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has diverse experience in the foodand nutrition arena from the Stanford University Dining Services in Palo Alto, CA, to the New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, NC, and Piedmont Health Services WIC clinic in Prospect Hill, NC. Sarah also performed with a modern dance company in college and has recently dusted off her dancing shoes.

  • Do I have to eat three meals a day?

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  • Transcripts

    Host: Do I have to eat three meals a day?

    Sarah Alligood: There is no set rule that you have to eat three meals a day. It is very important not to skip meals. If you are letting your body go hungry too long you are going to store a lot of the food you have because your body is tricked into thinking it might not be getting anymore and so you dont want that. What you want to do is eat when you are hungry, this might equate to three meals a day, it may not. It maybe more like six small meals a day. Whats important is that you listen to your bodys hunger cues. We have something called a hunger scale so if you think about a scale from 1 to 5; 1 would be like you are stranded on a desert island with no food and you are absolutely starving, 5 would be you just finished thanksgiving dinner, you are so full that you have had to unbutton your pants and you just can't even move, you feel awful. Those are the two extremes that you want to avoid those. So sticking somewhere between the 2 and a 4, so 2 being, I am hungry, 3 being I am neutral, 4 being I am just right and full is where you want to stay. So your body is able to tell you when you are starting to get hungry. I am sure you thought your stomach growl, when you get signals like that, thats when you decide to eat and then your body will tell you when you are full. When you are full, you shouldnt keep eating. If you are worried about waste, just package up all the food you have leftover and have it later.

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