Three meals a day is the lifestyle we have been accustomed to since childhood.
- Have breakfast in the morning,
- lunch in the noon,
- and dinner in the evening.
From home to school, from office to restaurant, "three meals a day" has almost become a habit that doesn't require any thinking.
But have you ever seriously thought about:
Do we really have to have three meals every day?
In recent years, more and more people have started to try two meals a day, especially combined with the intermittent fasting method of 16:8.
Some people think that this is more conducive to controlling weight and reducing unconscious eating, while others have found that after skipping one meal, life becomes simpler.
Of course, this doesn't mean that "two meals a day" is necessarily healthier than "three meals".
Because we can also see another completely different dietary approach - eating small meals frequently.
Some people, under the guidance of doctors or nutrition professionals, may eat four, five, or even more meals a day, but each intake is not much.
This approach may have significance in certain specific health conditions, medication treatment plans, or blood sugar management needs.
So, a more worthy question arises:
Is the number of meals in a day really important for a healthy diet, or how we arrange each meal intake?
And when we put this question into the lives of modern people, we will find another easily overlooked dimension:
Time.
Is three meals a day really necessary?
"Three meals a day" is a long-term formed social and living habit, but the habit doesn't mean that everyone's body must strictly follow this schedule for eating.
The way people obtain food nowadays has undergone tremendous changes compared to the past.
We can buy food at any time, there are snacks in the office, coffee shops are everywhere, and takeout can be delivered to home at any time.
So, sometimes we don't eat because we are really hungry, but because:
"It's time for three meals."
Breakfast time comes, so have breakfast;
Lunch time comes, so have lunch;
Have a cup of coffee in the afternoon, and then have something to eat casually;
When we get home in the evening, even if we are not particularly hungry, we habitually sit down to have dinner.
Over time, we easily mistake "the time for eating" for "the time when the body needs food".
So, instead of asking:
How many meals should we have a day?
It's better to ask yourself:
Am I really hungry, or is it just the time that has come?
Why has "two meals a day" started to attract attention?
American sports nutrition expert Mark Sisson has long been concerned about diet, exercise, and metabolic health, and also advocates paying more attention to eating time and intermittent eating.
His related viewpoints are somewhat related to the recently increasingly popular concept of **Intermittent Fasting**.
One of the common methods is:
16-hour fasting + 8-hour eating.
For example:
- Have the first meal at 10 a.m.;
- Have the second meal between 5 and 6 p.m.;
- Stop eating at night;
- Resume eating again at 10 a.m. the next day.
This way, most of the eating in a day is concentrated within about 8 hours.
What happens to the body when it doesn't eat for a long time?
After eating, the body will prioritize using the energy just consumed.
As time passes, without new food entering, the body will gradually use more of the stored energy.
This is one of the reasons why intermittent fasting has gained attention.
Some studies have found that for some people, limiting the eating time may help reduce total calorie intake and have certain effects on weight and some metabolic indicators.
But there is a very popular misconception to avoid here:
Fasting is not a magical "body restart button".
It cannot be simply assumed that by changing from three meals to two meals, the body will definitely enter the so-called "self-repair state".
The overall diet quality, intake, exercise, sleep, age, and health status of a person are also very important.
So, a more accurate understanding should be:
Two meals or intermittent fasting are just one of many dietary arrangements.
So, is eating five or six meals a day bad?
On the contrary.
This is also a side that we cannot ignore when discussing the "two-meal system".
Some people will find that they are not suitable for prolonged fasting.
Especially in some specific health conditions, drug treatment plans, or blood sugar management needs, doctors or nutrition professionals may recommend dividing the food intake into more frequent meals.
For example:
Breakfast;
Morning snack;
Lunch;
Afternoon snack;
Dinner;
Additional small amounts of food can be arranged when necessary.
It seems that one eats about five times a day, but this does not mean that the total intake for the day has increased.
The key might be: dividing the total daily intake into smaller portions.
So, "two meals" and "small frequent meals" seem completely opposite, but they actually have one thing in common:
Both are about re-managing the rhythm of eating and the amount of intake each time.
What really needs to be managed is not a simple number.
It is not:
2 meals = healthy
Nor is it:
5 meals = unhealthy
Rather, it is:
What to eat, how much to eat, when to eat, and why to eat.
For modern people, there is another issue that is easily overlooked: time.
This is also the aspect where I think "two meals a day" is most worthy of discussion.
It is not just a health issue.
It is also a time management issue.
Some time ago, when chatting with friends, they even joked:
"Even though we don't eat much each day, why does just preparing food, eating, and washing dishes take up so much time?"
Thinking about it, it is indeed so.
The time for one meal is not merely the 20-30 minutes spent sitting down to eat.
It may include:
shopping → ordering → preparing ingredients → cooking → setting the table → eating → washing dishes → cleaning the kitchen
If this process repeats three times a day, it is three rounds of time expenditure.
If a person is accustomed to eating small meals frequently, they need to prepare and eat five or six times a day, then these fragmented times will further increase.
How much of your time account is being quietly consumed by several meals?
If you have read our article about "time account", you might be more sensitive to this question.（ If you care about your bank balance, you should also care about your "time balance".）
We once used a simple model to think about the time in life:
Suppose a person's average lifespan is calculated at 84 years, and after deducting unavoidable time costs such as sleep, eating, transportation, etc. in life, the actual time that can be controlled by oneself is far less than the impression given by the number "84 years".
For example, if we take a 25-year-old person as an example, under this hypothetical model, the truly freely disposable time may only be about 9,771 days.
Of course, this number is not a scientific prediction of an individual's lifespan.
It is just a model to help us understand the value of time.
But it raises a very thought-provoking question:
If our life really acts like a daily deduction time account, then how much of the balance is spent on eating each day?
The question is not whether these things are valuable, but whether we are aware that they are deducting balance from our time account.
If there are three meals a day, each accompanied by preparation, cooking, eating and cleaning;
If there are five or six meals a day, these processes are repeated more times;
Then even if each one only occupies a little time, accumulated together, it may become a considerable time expenditure in life.
At this point, "two meals a day" is no longer just a dietary issue.
It begins to become a question worth considering:
A time allocation issue.
But saving time does not mean that all meals should be cancelled.
Here, it is precisely necessary to remain clear-headed.
The purpose of time management is never to compress all things to the minimum.
Otherwise, we can avoid exercising because it requires time;
avoid spending time with family because companionship requires time;
avoid meeting friends because socializing requires time.
But will this saved time really make life better?
Of course not.
So, what the time account really wants to remind us is not:
"Try to spend less time."
Rather, it is:
"Spending time on what is truly worthwhile."
For an individual living alone, a simple dinner might just be completing a daily task.
But for a family, dinner could be the only time each day when the whole family can sit down and chat.
This hour may seem to deplete the balance in the time account, but it might simultaneously increase another important account:
The relationship account.
So, even if having two meals a day can save time, there is no need to sacrifice those truly meaningful moments of life just to save a few minutes.
If you want to try two meals a day, take your time.
Mark Sisson personally adheres to the one-meal-a-day diet and, through this intermittent fasting method, his physical condition has significantly improved.
Various chronic inflammations and irritable bowel syndrome have disappeared, his thinking has become clearer, and his energy has significantly increased.
If you want to try two meals a day, first consider whether your own situation is suitable. The most important thing is to have good health.
It's important to proceed gradually and not be too hasty.
Phase 1: Gradual transition (1-2 weeks)
You can try slightly delaying breakfast or appropriately advancing dinner.
For example, if you used to have breakfast at 7 a.m., you can gradually postpone it to 8 a.m. or 9 a.m.
Phase 2: Official start (3-4 weeks)
10 a.m. to 11 a.m.: First meal (equivalent to brunch)
5 p.m. to 6 p.m.: Second meal (dinner)
Stop eating after 8 p.m.
Phase 3: Adjust flexibly according to personal circumstances
Some people are suitable for eating earlier, while others are better off eating later - you can adjust flexibly according to your work and life schedule.
It is essential to ensure nutrition: high-quality protein, vegetables, fruits, whole grains, healthy fats, and other necessary nutrients.
Two meals are not meant to make you go hungry.
The real goal is:
To obtain the nutrients your body needs in a more suitable way within the limited eating time.
If after trying, you continue to experience dizziness, fatigue, decreased concentration, disturbed sleep, or obvious binge eating tendencies, there is no need to force yourself to adhere to a certain diet pattern.
For children and teenagers, pregnant or breastfeeding individuals, those at risk of eating disorders, and those with certain diseases or taking specific medications, it is even more inappropriate to engage in prolonged fasting without consulting a doctor or professional.
Diet and exercise are actually quite similar.
I increasingly believe that diet and exercise follow a very similar pattern.
We don't need to suddenly undergo an extremely intense training session once a week and then remain completely inactive for the following days.
What is truly valuable is often those daily activities that can gradually form a habit.
Diet is the same.
A three-meal-a-day routine that has persisted for several decades doesn't require us to force ourselves not to eat for 16 hours the next day just because we read an article.
Changing habits usually takes time.
What we really need might not be to find a "perfect diet", but to gradually establish a:
a lifestyle that can be sustained over the long term and suits oneself.
Finally: Don't let numbers control your life.
So, is having two meals a day really healthier than having three?
There's no need to give a simple "yes" or "no" answer.
- Two meals might be suitable for some people.
- Three meals can also be a completely healthy and regular way of eating.
- Eating small meals frequently might also have practical significance for some people.
Whether it's three meals or two meals, what really matters is never "how others eat", but whether you understand your own body, listen to its signals, and make choices for yourself.
Controlling your diet is not to make life more difficult, but to regain control of your body. And when a person can control their body, time, and choices, they truly start to control their life.
Extended Reading and Resources
- Harvard Medical School's discovery: Going to bed early can alleviate most of the "sufferings of the world".
- Running in Midlife Is a Way to Save Your Life
- 59 years old but looks like 30: Chuando Tan's anti-aging methods - can ordinary people replicate them?
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