Eating three meals per day is often viewed as the best way to maintain a healthy diet and get adequate nutrition. But how does this apply if someone prefers snacking throughout the day instead? Some people find squeezing in three meals a day to be a challenge, whether it's due to time constraints or personal preferences.
According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the proportion of people consuming three meals a day declined significantly from the 1970s to 2010 (73% to 59% in men and 75% to 63% in women). It's been 12 years since that survey, and people have become more stressed, so these factors also affect how often they eat.
However, is it really that bad if you don't eat three meals a day? We spoke with a nutrition expert and dove into the research to find out.
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Three meals a day: An origin story
Though we now take it for granted, the division of your daily diet into three meals -- breakfast, lunch and dinner -- hasn't always been the standard, and it still isn't in some places in the world. Before industrialization, as New York University food historian Amy Bentley told The Atlantic, people in the US tended to eat just two large meals, fueling their bodies for rural, outdoor labor. In ancient Rome, the custom was to eat one large meal, plus two small, light meals.
In the US, our eating habits are now typically organized around our work or school days. But cultural norms aside, there's no scientific reason for you to eat exactly three meals every day.
"The number of meals in a day itself isn't key," said Marissa Kai Miluk, a registered dietitian nutritionist who specializes in stopping binge eating. "Every person is different and there is research on all ends of the spectrum of how many times a day you 'should' be eating."
Over the years, there have been studies that show benefits to eating more frequent meals, as well as studies that show the downsides of it. Some research has also found benefits to eating less frequent, bigger meals and -- you guessed it -- the downsides of it.
With that said, the three-meals-a-day recommendation didn't come out of nowhere. In one sense, it all comes down to math: The average adult human requires 2,000 calories per day, and you're only awake for so many hours. "Across all peer-reviewed research and health practices, three meals a day is a general recommendation to encourage consistent, adequate energy intake," Miluk said. "Unless someone is seriously lacking in time or safe access to food, I would not recommend eating less than three meals a day, as that would require a large intake in one sitting in order to meet basic needs," she added.
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