Or maybe you don’t eat at the “right” times?
Just like the idea that different people don’t need to like the same food, different people also don’t need to eat the same amount of food. Looking to others as a way of determining how much to eat is a very, very dangerous idea. No two people have the exact same body and lifestyle, and therefore no two people should be eating the exact same amount.
This was my breakfast today: Sugar Cookie Oatmeal.
I ate it, post-run, along with strawberry slices and peanut butter. Pre-run breakfast consisted of fresh watermelon and a bunch of pistachios. After breakfast, I talked with my little sister on the phone. She’d just woken up and was eating her own breakfast: a single container of yogurt.
Whose eating style is correct?
Both of ours! I probably eat about twice as much as my sister, and yet we’re both perfectly healthy. She’s shorter than me, has a slower metabolism, and doesn’t go running; therefore she needs less. If she were to eat like me, she’d probably end up with the world’s worst stomachache. And if I were to eat like her, I’d be so hungry I could eat an elephant. (Don’t worry, fellow vegans. I said I could, not I would.)
The mainstream media tells us there is also a “right” number of times to eat: five or six small meals, divided throughout the day. But once again, I have to argue that no one should take this advice as something set in stone. Do not trust society to tell you what or when to eat; experiment and find out what works best for you. I think eating every 3-4 hours works best for many people because it keeps energy levels up. But if you find that your energy doesn’t drag even if you go six hours without food, why should you feel like you have to eat anyway?
As an example, let’s use my friend Sarah.
She normally eats a small breakfast, followed by a big lunch and dinner, and she rarely ever snacks during the day.
Unless I make Lemon Poppyseed Muffins.
Those, she can’t resist.
On the other hand, I usually eat six meals a day and will almost always taste-test recipes in between meals as well. You’d be hard pressed to find a time my mouth is not stuffed with food. Does this mean one of us is eating incorrectly? No, not at all! It just means we’re different people with different needs.
Do you eat three meals per day? Or six smaller meals? Or maybe you’re a grazer?
And do you ever compare the amount you eat to what others eat?
I definitely eat too much sometimes, even for myself. It’s why I try avoiding foods I will be tempted to binge on (and why I love your single serving cupcakes). Mind you, when I diet and restrict quantities too much I become miserable. I do much better when I’m eating lots of low calorie veggies with healthy protein and a high nutritional content. I also do better when grazing.
Great post, Katie! All too often I see people comparing food with each other. I’m a combination of all your eating types: big brekkie, graze all day long, small dinner, and a snack in the evening. I rarely overeat, but I do eat more than most people I know. I’m more active than most people I know too, so that’s why. 🙂
I eat three meals a day, but I eat a fruity snack in the morning because I eat breakfast so gosh darn early (around 6 AM) and don’t get a break for lunch until around 1.
And I can’t wait till tomorrow! those strawberry pancakes are already on my menu for this weekend!
You’re very right! I have a friend who has a bun for lunch… with no snacks between lunch and dinner. Another friend drinks milk for breakfast, a small pack of biscuits for dinner and a medium-sized dinner. Sometimes I feel like such a pig eating with them! But I have definitely come to accept that different people have different eating habits. I usually have a bottle of soy chocolate milk at 9am, a lunch-like meal at about 11am, and graze through the rest of the day… sometimes overeating… a little?
I’m amazed at how you can put the sort of feelings many people feel into such accurate words! In both the Blogger Peer Pressure post and this! You hit the issues right on the note 😀
Great post! I think my appetite has to do with if I am currently training for a race or if I am just working out a lot! When I was training for my first full marathon this past spring I was starving all the time! I would eat 3 big meals a day but snack in the morning and afternoon or else I wouldn’t make it! Now I’m probably at 3 regular sized meals a day with an afternoon snack.
I’m more of a one meal a day and then snacking when I feel hungry… I tend to eat a big lunch, and snack on smaller things when I’m feeling peckish.
While recovering form disordered eating and replenishing my weight, I ate huge meals. But I always had digestive problems and a full stomach would make me feel guilty, weighed down, and unmotivated. However, once I gained some weight, my appetite seemed to be become more natural and I was inclined to switch to smaller meals. I eat about five or six times a day now, and my digestive issues have become so much more manageable! A full stomach is seriously my idea of misery– I can’t go move, and I start feeling sick sometimes. I’m still figuring out how it will all work for me, but I tend to graze more in the morning (my hungriest time of day) and then eat a few more times after that. I love that eating smaller portions more frequently gives met he chance to sample everything I want to, and I tend to feel top of my game :). I have a habit of grazing while I cook and prepare food, but I don’t like how it makes my stomach feel (It seems to like sitting down to a portion much better [?]), so I’d like to break that habit (of course if I want to I’ll still ppartake in it!).
Katie, thank you so much for writing this post. With eating more often, I feel better but sometimes feel like I’m “eating all the time” or “eating way more than everyone else”. I need to NOT compare and do what works for me. My breakfast was an overall culmination of grazing this morning, and I shouldn’t be embarrassed about it! (for the record, I think I ate a huge berry pancake, cocoa smoothie sauce, four peaches, leftover dinner, the last of my unsweetened chocolate (only 1 1/2 squares :(), peanut butter, and about six spoonfuls of the pudding I made for as a gift for a friend :D. No shame!
not every teenager needs a lot,if I ate a ton I’d be overweight,which I am,everyones metabolism is different,even teenagers.
This was SUCH a great post, Katie. Thank you for this!!!! It’s helped me so much. Like some of the other commenters, I’ve struggled with disordered eating and worrying about how much others around me are eating and “should I be eating like that? Am I normal?” You’re so right that I need to look to myself, not them! I’m motivated now to really look at what I do and think, and change my thoughts from thinking so much about my meals in terms of how others eat.
I eat 6 meals a day as well! Oatmeal and banana for breakfast, clif bar for a snack, salad for lunch, apple & pb for snack, pasta for dinner and of course dessert!!
oh my gosh, I’m hungry/eating ALL the time! my boyfriend, who is about 75 lbs heavier than me is always making fun of me for being hungry and eating all the time but I can’t help it. It’s not like I eat a ton when I do eat, but 6 small meals is def the way I like to go.
I love eating more than the boys. It’s so much fun… because it somehow makes them feel less “manly” to be out-eaten by a girl. Silly boys!