How The Body Responds to Snacking
For decades, we’ve been given a familiar piece of nutrition advice: eat small meals throughout the day to keep your metabolism going.
I, for one, followed this guidance for most of my life. It wasn’t until my colleagues and I began researching this topic a few years ago that a big lightbulb went off about how detrimental snacking can be.
When we consume food - any food - a 4 hour long process kicks off that involves nearly every part of the body. Not just the gut, but the nervous system, hormones, enzymes, trillions of microorganisms, our brain lobes & brain glands - the list goes on.
It’s an intricate, complex, and necessary process that regulates our emotions, cleans out old waste (including viruses & bacteria), and optimizes organ & gland function, among many other activities.
So when we eat every hour or two, our digestive and metabolic systems spend much of the day responding to incoming food rather than tending to these crucial processes that keep inflammation at bay.
Through testing our clients, we’ve seen snacking (otherwise known as any interruption in this 4 hour process) come up as a root cause for:
Digestive issues
Hormonal imbalances
Fatigue
Emotional instability
Acne
Altered gene expression
Joint pain
Disrupted sleep
Dehydration
Nervous system dysregulation
Taking these 4 hour breaks in between meals allows the body to do what it was intended to from the start: function properly.
A question I receive often from clients when this topic arises is regarding intermittent fasting. Longer fasting windows (16+ hours) naturally mean that the eating window narrows, which can make it tricky to not snack and also get in enough calories before the fast resumes.
My research continues to show that the body still prefers these 4 hour breaks in between eating during the day, so for most of my clients, my guidance holds firm. In many instances, eating more regularly negates the benefits of a longer fast and reintroduces inflammation into the body as these important processes get interrupted.
If you’re accustomed to grazing throughout the day, experiment with making your meals more substantial and allowing more time in between, with water only.
A simple rhythm might look like this:
Breakfast ——> 4 hours ——> Lunch ——> 4 hours ——> Dinner ——> overnight fasting period
Then pay attention.
Do you feel less bloated? Does your stomach feel calmer? Do you experience clearer hunger signals? Does digestion feel more complete? Do you have more stable energy? Are you sleeping more deeply throughout the night?
Sometimes improving nutrition isn't about finding another supplement, eliminating another food, or adding another complicated protocol.
Sometimes the body simply needs time to finish what it started.
