Why should you eat five to six times a day?

Answer 1

The idea is that it should prevent overeating while maintaining reasonable energy levels. Long ago, a three-meal-a-day schedule was necessary and worked for a rural society. Food preparation of anything substantial took hours to prepare, occurred at the kitchen (which could be more than a mile from the work site) and there weren't all that many ways to store the leftovers. As a result, members of a farm family couldn't just eat whenever they pleased, and had to work with everyone elses schedule. Going to get a meal during the day usually meant leaving the worksite, so it made sense to eat just before and after work. When food was ready, everyone ate pretty much all they were able and then waited until the next meal. People were also engaged in heavy physical activity doing farm chores, so they needed to eat heartily to keep up with the high energy demands of their labor. Things worked pretty well. Nowadays, however, food is relatively cheap and plentiful. We have pantries and fridges and freezers stocked to the brim with all types of foods that will keep for weeks and months, if not years, and can prepare nutritious food in seconds. Food is also available just about everywhere away from out homes too. Also, our energy demands throughout the day can be variable, and are usually much less in our urban society today than in our rural past. It just doesn't make sense anymore to gorge ourselves at noon only to head back to the office for a few hours of computing. Sometimes people get so sandwiched (no pun intended) into a strict "3-meals-a-day" routine that they'll end up eating when they're not actually hungry or end up eating beyond being full because they know it's going to be a while before they'll be able to eat again. As a result, they'll overeat and feel sluggish after a meal as their body attempts to process all the extra calories. Instead, if people simply ate when they were hungry and stopped eating when they weren't hungry, they'd be listening more to their bodies and, as the theory goes, stop overeating and have a more constant energy level. This also makes sense because our energy demands across the day aren't constant. We might eat breakfast at 9, do menial paperwork at the office, and as a result, not need much more than a granola bar and a glass of milk by 4, but then hit the gym, and feel extremely hungry afterwards, needing to eat at 6 and 7. By being flexible, we can best accomodate our bodies' needs.