Instant Gratification

You want a quick fix? A jump start on your healthy new diet? Try scheduling your eating. In fact, try to eat more often. Honestly, that was the first change we made to Pete's diet and the results were almost immediate.


Like many career people, Pete was eating only twice a day. Breakfast was usually leftovers or some other fairly filling meal (since he only ate a couple of times a day he figured he could afford "dinner" for breakfast). He had breakfast at 4 am most days, then worked out, then worked all day. He worked through lunch, too. Sound familiar, anyone? Eventually he'd come home, usually around 5 pm, and we'd have dinner as a family around 7 pm. Of course he was starving by then, so I always made huge portions for him.
Unfortunately, his diet strategy was doing more harm than good, and in his case, he'd been eating this way for decades.


Our bodies aren't designed to handle binge and starve cycles, which is what many lifestyles and even "diets" create. When we eat on that schedule, the body reacts by hoarding calories, since it "thinks" that it will be a long time before it receives any more. Meanwhile, it also has to deal with this sudden flood of food. It's like a Thanksgiving dinner food coma every evening. His body was also forced to contend with a severe blood sugar spike from all that food twice a day. Instead of living in balance, his body was pushed to extremes every day. If you've been living this way, it may sound like I'm making mountains out of molehills with this, but that's exactly what's happening to your body. To put it another way, if a balanced eating schedule is like living in suburbia, then Pete's habit was to run back and forth between the North Pole and the Equator every day.


So if you want to feel an immediate difference in your health and energy level, try eating smaller meals more often. Pete resisted that suggestion from me for years, claiming he wasn't hungry at lunch time. In reality, he was too stressed out and busy to take the few moments he needed to eat. Once he tried it, though, he felt better within a day or two. Of course, you can't eat six huge meals a day and expect to be healthy, but you can, and should, eat six small meals each day. Try bringing a few healthy snacks with you during the day, or simply make your regular meals but divide them in half and eat them a few hours apart. After years of one lifestyle, Pete needed reminders at first. I send him emails, texts, or calls (not all at once - no one likes a nag). Sometimes he'd set his watch alarm every four hours, when it was practical. Use whatever tools you have at your disposal, but try this eating schedule. You'll feel better from it from top to tail in a matter of days.