Is snacking that bad for fat loss?
A sound weight loss nutrition program hinges on a structured feeding/fasting pattern of some sort, one that weighs in a person’s specific metabolic needs but is also sustainable, so as not to cause backlashing stress. Some people do well on shorter or longer cycles of time-restricted feeding, aka intermittent fasting, others fare much better on a steadfast three meals per day pattern. I would always advise women in reproductive age who want to lose body fat to consult with a hormone coach who can guide them through a safe fasting pattern, and truly anyone who presents with metabolic disorders should seek the support of a physician while working with a nutrition coach. Be that as it may, on a quick note, I personally do not recommend the one meal per day (OMAD) approach, unless it’s a short-term targeted strategy, as adequate nutrient intake is next to impossible, hormone havoc ensues and resting metabolic rate is sure to retrograde. Let me reinforce that it is just my personal opinion, it applies to generic weight management, and should not interfere with your decision or more importantly your doctor’s decision to implement it, as there might be extreme cases in which it would be deemed a necessary intervention.
The one thing I always advise against, in my nutrition coaching, is interprandial (between meals) eating. I do not criminalize that second mid-morning or early afternoon unsweetened, preferably black coffee (decaf if staying inactive) or tea - much less, of course, water. When I tell my clients and friends they should not snack when trying to lose weight, at least through the initial phase until a healthier and more flexible metabolism is achieved, I often get a recalcitrant reaction that sounds like: ‘but I snack on protein, not carbs, and my doctor said I should eat often to keep my blood glucose level down, isn’t that ok?’ Heck no, that is terrible and outdated advice. Allow me to explain my intransigence.
Firstly, a snack is a meal. Anything you eat, however small and however non-glycemic, will prompt an insulin response. Insulin is a stubborn storage hormone, it ushers nutrients into the cells of the body - mainly carbohydrates, but also amino acids (deconstructed proteins), and triglycerides (fats circulating in the bloodstream). If these nutrients are delivered to muscle cells in the right amounts, they have a chance to be burnt off for energy or used for all kinds of biological processes, but if they end up in fat cells, all they feed is your adipose tissues. The amount of insulin you have in circulation at any given time makes that difference: constant excess insulin pounding on cell receptors aggravates muscle cells, to the point that they become unresponsive, it literally drives them to blunt their receptors - think of it as ‘shutting their doors’ on it. This is because the cells have too much glucose in them as it is, they don’t need anymore! When ousted, insulin will direct all that surplus nutrient cargo to fat cells (it has to dump it somewhere). You may think of your fat cell tissues as accommodating dumping storage sites. The merry fat cells will now grow and prosper, and, to make it all worse, they will also produce more fat-manufacturing hormones, and offer a nice depository for circulating toxins. Since hyperinsulinemia is not an isolated cause of obesity, and environmental obesogens such as xenoestrogens (chemicals that act like our own estrogens) and toxins play a big role in metabolic dysfunctions, it all goes back full circle! However, keeping insulin from rising will give muscle cells a chance to become sensitive to it again, and keep toxins from lurking in the body nested in fat tissues, breaking that vicious cycle. If you have insulin continuously making the rounds in your bloodstream, you won’t burn much fat – it’s that simple.
But insulin overpour is not the only reason I don’t promote snacking. There is a biological mechanism that takes place only in fasted states, between meals, called Migrating Motor Complex, MMC for short, which acts as a sweeper for your gut and indeed a housekeeper for all cells in the body. The MMC is triggered by a hormone called motilin, controlled by the thyroid gland and secreted by cells in the small intestine; as the name suggests, motilin sets the digestive system in motion, pushing the food you ingested into the large intestine through downward contractions, inducing proper gut emptying. Motilin starts to rise during digestion, and it remains high for as long as it takes to do its cleaning job, provided nothing is ingested, since any amount of food will cause it to cease working. Low output of this hormone hampers esophageal motility, causing acid to back up into the esophagus, which leads to GERD; other conditions associated with low motilin (low motility of the gut) include IBS, gastroparesis, SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) and constipation. If motilin is low, toxic waste does not get a chance to be eliminated, hormones do not properly get detoxified, and the microbiome balance shifts in favor of disease-causing bacteria.
Can you, at some point, go back to snacking, albeit on healthy small bites? Possibly, once you have become more efficient at burning fat thanks to changes in diet and activity level.
[Disclaimer: the article above only expresses my personal opinions, however based on scientific research, it is not intended to diagnose disease, and does not constitute or take the place of medical advice. As a functional nutrition consultant, I avail myself of the support and advice of medical professionals in my coaching programs.]
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