There Is A Method to the Madness
This is a podcast where I will be discussing all aspects of physical fitness. I am an exercise physiologist and personal trainer and owner of Maxwell's Fitness Programs for the last 25 years. My passion is health and fitness and I am excited to share my views, some stories, interviews and much more with you.
There Is A Method to the Madness
From Six Small Meals To Smarter Habits: What The Research Really Says
Welcome to There Is a Method to the Magnets. My name is Rob Maxwell, and I'm an exercise physiologist and personal trainer. I am the owner of Maxwell's fitness programs, and I've been in business since 1994. The purpose of this podcast is to get to the real deal of what really works, and most importantly, why things work. Hence the name There is a Method to the Magnets. Before I get to today's show, I want to thank Jonathan and Lynn Gilden of the Gilding Group at Realty Pros. They are committed to providing the highest level of customer service in home sales. Why don't you give them a shout and figure out what your home is worth? 386-451-2412. Today I'm going to talk about a question I had on social media. So it's kind of nice to say, all right, so here's what my educated advice is on this. Here's my educated and experienced answer to this. I really like it. So sometimes I will ask questions on various forms of social media, whether it be Facebook or X threads, whatever. And I'll say, you know, what questions regarding health and fitness might you have for me? And uh interestingly enough, it's usually Facebook where I get the most responses. And I got a few this past time. Um one I thought was pretty pertinent information. Like this is something that uh I thought that everybody would want to hear, you know. One was like something I'm reading, going, man, I'm not gonna touch that with a you know a 10-foot pole, so to say. And um another one was it seemed like something that I'd gone over a few times and you know, maybe was a little too specific to an individual. So, but this one was good. But he may or may not love the answer, but I'm gonna change it around a little bit because this uh this topic he brought up, there's a lot swirling around about it that we have, and I'm gonna kind of flip it into an answer that I think can help everybody. But what he asked was for people on the run, what is a good like snack? A good, healthy, fast snack that somebody can have. And you know, like I said, that is a very good question, but it brought up an even greater topic. That's uh that's something that I've always believed, and um, more and more other fitness professionals are talking about it. And I mean the real ones, not the ones that you come across on social media. Um, but what we've learned is that people, let me back up a little bit. I gotta back up. I can't just jump into that answer. So somewhere around the 1980s, maybe a little bit after that, the experts per se, very well meaning, were telling people that instead of gorging or eating a lot of food three times a day, your traditional breakfast, lunch, and dinner, that they should start doing six smaller meals. And doing this would help your digestive tract, but more importantly, it would increase basically what we call the burn from food, the thermic effect of feeding. It doesn't account for a lot if you really want to know how much it's like less than 3% of a caloric burn. So is it's not a lot, but you know, it's something. And as I said, they were well-meaning when they brought it out. They they really were. Um, you know, plus it's kind of good for people that may have some glucose issues. Um, it's probably a little bit better on the digestive track, especially the way Americans eat, you know, gorge themselves. So, you know, the advice was well-meaning, all right. But the problem is, is like most things. So the studies that were done back then were done in the people that were writing them, the PhDs in dietetics and uh human physiology and people like that. You know, we're assuming that other people who had experience reading studies were going to read and interpret them and get the information out. But what tends to happen is any Joe Schmo starts to get a hold of information and then doesn't really understand everything behind it and starts giving advice. So, oh, I heard we should start eating six small meals a day turns into the old telephone game. Oh, I heard we should eat more frequently. Oh, I heard we should eat six times a day, and then the small part, you know, kind of gets left off conveniently. So the original researchers were basing this on taking your dinner or your it doesn't matter, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Let's say an average meal for a lot of people, an average, is around 700 calories. All right. So the idea was that if you took that 700 calories and you cut it in half and had 350 calories, then you'll have the other 350 calories two and a half hours later. And then lunch would be broken up. So you would go with your 700 calorie lunch, you'd cut it in half, you'd have 350. Somewhere around three o'clock, you'd have the other uh 250, uh 350, 700, 700, not 500. And then dinner you would split up the 700 as well. So essentially you were eating the same amount of calories per day, but you are increasing your frequency to six. And so, you know, 2100 calories a day divided by six, same answer as if you have the uh 2100 calories divided by three. So essentially the same amount of calories but cut into more frequent meals. That was the idea because then you're eating the same amount of kilocalories, but you are decreasing the time that it's getting digested, and you're somewhat boosting the thermo effective food feeding. And they're also hoping that it would establish some better habits. All right. So that is it in theory. The problem is we forget the small part. So the latest research has shown that people that traditionally do eat more frequent meals end up eating 20 to 25 percent more than people that don't. So, I mean, I could have told you that in my book, You Can't Outrun a Poor Diet. That's one of my rules. Eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Now, look, I'm not saying everybody has to do that. Like I will eat more frequent meals, but I literally am having smaller meals when I do that. So, again, we don't want to just say you have to do this, you have to do that, but we do or we should try to understand the information. So, in theory, eating the six smaller meals a day compared to the three makes sense for a couple reasons I already went over. In practice, people don't eat small meals, they don't really even calculate at all, they just kind of do what they want and they end up eating six times a day. And the studies are showing people are eating 20 to 25 percent more a day than they used to when they pick up that practice. So it doesn't really work in practice very well because that's what we have a tendency to do as a population. We just have a tendency to eat more, so most likely that advice isn't very good. Um, not trying to, you know, ruin the question because it is a good question. So I am going to get to that. What the latest research has shown that is if you are going to try to eat more frequently, maybe rather than try to split it all up perfectly. I mean, if you can do that, great. But another way to maybe try to do it, although, like I said, I really do suggest you get in the habit first of doing the three squares a day. I mean, it has worked for a really long time. Look, I know some people that have been doing over 30 years of following two meals a day. That's just what they like to do. They're not breakfast eaters, they're lunch eaters and dinner eaters, but it's worked for them. Like they're healthy, they're fit, they're not having physical problems that are typically accompanied with like poor fitness levels and poor diet routines. No, they're they're good. That just works for them. So, like everybody in every situation, I never give advice where advice isn't needed. I don't believe in fixing something that's not broken. So when they tell me they're two days' work, I'm like, great, you know, I mean, there's not a perfect plan for everybody. I mean, so we have to understand that. But like, if you're starting out and you're trying to get on the road to wellness, you're really trying to establish some nice new habits in 2026, which I think is awesome. You know, we have our workshop coming up on the 29th of January this month to help people do that because it really is all about the habit. That's great. I would start with the basics three square meals a day. Don't overeat, make your meals balanced, all those good things that we know to do. After you've established that, if you'd rather split it up a little bit, the advice has been to perhaps, and this gets back to Mr. Jerry's question finally that he asked, to go with somewhere around a 200 calorie snack. No more than 200 calories. So, you know, conveniently that's the kilocalories of a medium size, not you know, small, not some of the large, but the uh protein bars and uh that I could go a whole thing on the best kind of them. I mean, a lot of them are just nothing more than processed, fancied up candy bars. But there are some that are better than others that focus on the protein, um, lean proteins that are low in sugar, high in fiber. That's always the key whenever you pick any kind of snacking food or any food really. You don't really want a lot of processed sugar. I'm not talking about the fructose, the sugar, and fruit. I'm talking about real sugar. We want to try to, not real sugar, processed sugar. We want to try to keep that pretty low the best as possible, and always try to have higher fiber. Typically, if a grain or carb source has less than three grams of fiber, usually it's not a very good quality carb. So look for a bar that's got more than three grams of fiber. But keep the snack to somewhere around 200 calories, more protein-based, more complex carb-based, higher in fiber. So, in other words, a nice nutrient-dense bar. Because anything more than that, you know, you're you're probably just eating too much. It doesn't have to be that. It could be a Greek yogurt that's under 200 calories, which most of them are. It could be um a tablespoon of peanut butter on an apple, that's about 200 calories. That'll work if you're a lot more plant-based. But basically, we want to try to keep that snack to under or at 200 calories with nutrient-dense foods. Anything more than that, we have found that people are having a tendency to eat too much, generally speaking. I mean, there are people out there that are super, super disciplined and they're paying attention. Like somebody could be disciplined, but maybe eating the wrong stuff, but they think they're doing the right thing. And that, you know, that's better than not. But then there are people that are disciplined and they're really paying attention to everything that they're doing. I mean, for them, this really isn't for you. I mean, if you're already doing that, if you're really paying attention and you're disciplined to split up your meals however you like to, you know, there's pros and cons to eating more, there's pros and cons to eating less. But whatever works for you and you're super disciplined and you're really paying attention, then keep doing what you're doing. Don't change anything. Sometimes we have a tendency to hear new things that come out. And by the way, this isn't really that new. I mean, they've been looking at the different like diet structures for a long time, of course, because diets are always in the news, diets are always popular. So they've been looking at all these different diets for a long time. And recently they've come out to look at the difference between the frequent meals versus the less frequent meals, and that research is new. But we in the industry have kind of like known that for a very long time. So if you hear something new, if something comes across your feed and you're already really doing good with something, whether it be diet or your workouts, your discipline, your consistency, remember there is no, I promise you this, there's no such thing as a perfect way or the right way for everybody. So if you're doing it and you think, well, I don't know, maybe I should try this and you're not having any problems, don't try it. Just, you know, it's a crazy phenomenon that we all have a tendency to do. Like if it's working, stay with it. You know, if it's broken, you want to fix it. But if you're just cruising along, like we had a client, you know, say, I don't know, you know, if I need to come to the workshop. I mean, you know, I do my cardio every day. I've been doing it longer than you've been alive. Um, you know, I go to the gym twice a week for my strength training, I stretch, I do this. I'm like, yeah, exactly. Like, you don't need to, like, you're doing it. This is for people that like need some help learning why it's important to make it a priority and then how to make it a priority. So when things come up and you don't have an issue, you know, just keep scrolling. You know, don't feel like you're missing out, you know, fear of missing out. As the kids say, you know, don't don't worry about it. You're probably not. All right, keep the questions coming. Hope this answered. And if it provoked more questions, well, that's good too. All right, thank you everybody for listening to today's show. I really appreciate it. I want to remind you to please hit automatic download. It really helps me and it helps the show. And now I'd like to thank Overhead Door of Daytona Beach, the area's premier garage door company. They have the best product and the best service. I personally vouch for Jeff and Zach Hawk, the owners. They are great, they're going to get you exactly what you need. So if you have any garage door needs, give them a shout at 386-222-3165. And now I'm very excited to add another sponsor. ProCharge Liquid Protein Enhancer has joined the team. And let me tell you, they are a great product. I pop one after a workout. Each container has 40 grams of protein, so that's two servings. I take 20 grams after I work out. What's really cool about them is it's portable. You can throw them in your suitcase. You don't have to worry about mixing powders and making a mess. At least that's an issue I've had with some of the protein powders through the years. And you know what? They taste really, really good. So you can check them out on my website, fittothemax.net, or you can go right to them at prochargeprotein.com.
