This is the fourth article in the Get Started Eating Every Three Hours series that outlines how to start eating every three hours and the benefits of such a diet.

As I mentioned in “You Must Count Calories if You Want to Be Healthy“, keeping a food log is essential to ensuring that you are not eating too few or too many calories each day. This is especially important if you need to lose weight or train for a sport. Having a log aids in keeping your meals properly balanced and your daily calories on track. Knowing what to track in your food log can be a daunting task for the beginner. Today we’ll look at the key information you need to take from nutritional labels and put into your food log.

Start reading nutrition labels… today.

The nutritional labels on food are there for a reason. Don’t put anything into your body unless you can read and understand the label. Even if you end up eating a high calorie, nutrient deficient food, at least you know what you are eating and the consequences it will have on your daily plan.

Start reading the nutritional labels on everything, preferably before you put it into your shopping cart. Temptations are much easier to curb when you are still at the grocery store. You are far more likely to eat a “bad” food if you already paid for it. Nothing should go into your shopping cart unless you have read the nutrition label and decided if that particular food can be put into your Eat Every Three diet plan. Make reading the nutrition labels a habit.

What to track in the log.

In your log, you want to track the “sides” of the meal or main ingredients. Do not only track the combined calories of the entire meal unless you absolutely must. Keep track of the following in the log:

The name of the food would be its own row in your spreadsheet. The other information should be column titles. Armed with this information, you can add up the information from each of the columns to get your grand totals for the meal.

The reasons for tracking the nutrient information in addition to calories will become useful later when we get to meal planning.

Make a spreadsheet, use a notebook, or an online log.

Creating a simple spreadsheet to to log your food and the nutritional content is the most convenient method of tracking your calories and nutrients. If you are not savvy with spreadsheet programs such as Excel, then you can use a notebook to write the information down. Use whatever method that you will consistently utilize. The advantage with Excel is that it can provide an automated way to add columns together, that way everything in your meal will be added up for you.

My log consists of two spreadsheets. I use one sheet to track the meals, the other is a list of the common foods and their nutritional content that I routinely buy and eat. This way, I can cut and paste a line of nutritional content from the food list to my meal plan without having to memorize or reread the labels on the food. This works well for me, but you may find another method that is convenient for you.

There are free online food logs available from a number of places. I personally have not used them, but I know others that have. Each of them have their own food database (which may or may not match up to the food you eating) so you can easily populate your log with the relevant information. I am not sure if they all track the information listed above. Feel free to check them out and see! Try online logs such as:

I do not use online logs because I’m too lazy to take the extra step of logging into an account. However, there is the added advantage of accessing your food log from any computer with Internet access.

Get in the habit.

Habits do not form overnight. I believe there are studies that show a habit takes three weeks to form. Tracking all of the food you eat will be slow and time consuming in the beginning. Before too long, keeping your food log up-to-date will be second nature. If you are serious about achieving personal health goals, keeping a food log is a must.

Do you have a handy method or tricks for keeping a food log updated?

While out to dinner with family or friends have you ever ordered a chicken caesar salad (or any healthy meal) only to have someone yell out “Are you on a diet or something?”.

Maybe you had a fat-burger for lunch and you feel like something light for dinner. Perhaps you are trying to lose weight. The practical reasons for your meal choice does not matter to society. If you eat healthy, then you must be on some diet and people feel the urge to pick at those perceived to be “on a diet”.

This behavior is the result of society giving special meaning to to the word “diet”. I use the word often here at EatEveryThree.com and feel the need to clarify the usage.

Let us analyze the word. I turned to the online edition of Merriam-Webster to provide a definition to “diet”:

a: food and drink regularly provided or consumed b: habitual nourishment c: the kind and amount of food prescribed for a person or animal for a special reason d: a regimen of eating and drinking sparingly so as to reduce one’s weight <going on a diet> 

As you can see, there are four definitions there. Judging by the first three it’s safe to say that every living organism is on some sort of diet. Some nourishment must be consumed in order to survive. Most people generally eat the same types of foods week-to-week. This means everybody is “on a diet”.

The last definition was probably inserted due to how society views the word. The irritating part to me is the “eating and drinking sparingly“. It does not have much relation to the other definitions. It also implies that when you are not eating sparingly that one’s weight will increase. It’s simply not always true.

For future reference, my use of the word on EatEveryThree.com will be in relation to the a, b, and c definitions. I believe people should be on a habitual diet of balanced natural foods that are consistently consumed every three hours. There is no diet to be “on”, as that translates to some day being “off” from healthy eating.

I could be making a big deal out of nothing. Perhaps I’m more bothered by the negative connotations associated with eating in order to lose weight. It was not long ago when overweight people were embarrassed to order unhealthy food. These days it seems people are embarrassed to order healthy meals and are sometimes criticized for doing so.

What are your thoughts? Am I getting carried away over nothing?

This is the second article in the Get Started Eating Every Three Hours series that outlines how to start eating every three hours and the benefits of such a diet.

In the previous article, I talked about the benefits of eating healthy food every three hours. Now we’ll take a look at some of the handy kitchen items needed to ease your passage into a healthy lifestyle. Many of you will already have most of these items, while others with a sparse kitchen may not.

To eat every three hours effectively you must store prepared foods, quickly create meals, and easily transport your meals; all while minimizing your kitchen chores such as dishes. The following are the items I have personally found useful.

Vacuum Sealer

The vacuum sealer is quite possibly the best kitchen invention since the refrigerator. Not only is this product good for storing raw foods, it is great for storing cooked foods; which is how I recommend using the product.

When preparing yourself five or six meals a day, you must cook food in advance. This is especially true during the work-week. The vacuum sealer provides the means to cook your food in advance (more on that in another article) and safely store the meals for the coming week. 

Vacuum sealers come in a variety of models. I personally have experience with the FoodSaver V2040, and highly recommend it since it has put up with months of abuse in my busy kitchen. There are many other vacuum sealers on the market and some are less expensive than the FoodSaver. There are models from Rival, Oliso, Toastess, and Kenmore®. I cannot personally recommend those products because I have not used them, but they may work fine. Keep in mind that you get what you pay for!

Kitchen Scale

In order to eat healthy, you must face the fact that you will be counting calories, among other things. With some foods, calories will only be given for a specific weight regardless of how much food is provided in the package. This is where a good kitchen scale is essential.

When shopping for a kitchen scale, make sure you get something that is digital. Avoid products that use spring-loading to determine weight as they are always inaccurate. For me, the most useful kitchen scales offer display read-outs in either ounces or grams. Some nutrition labels offer portions in grams, and others in ounces. Having a kitchen scale that can display both saves some conversion headaches.

In my opinion, a kitchen scale is not an optional appliance when you are regulating your diet. Buy one right away!

Plastic Containers

Unless you like to return home every three hours when it comes time to eat again, you will need some method of taking a meal or two with you while out on the go. Plastic containers are the obvious choice when transporting food.

There are many brands of plastic containers available. The best bang-for-your-buck will be a container set that will include different sizes. If there is a specific plastic container not included in the larger set, you can often purchase them separately.

When shopping around, I encourage you to play with the containers in the store. Do the lids seal on properly to the container without easily popping off? Can you squeeze the container a little and have the lid not come off? Can you hold it upside down? It really is a buzz-kill to have a meal container pop open in the car or in your bag.

Some brands have locking lids. These are great, but they are also more expensive. Having one or two of these is good for the times when you need to take a liquid with you, such as milk or soft items like applesauce. The locking containers with a rubber seal are required to keep liquids in their container. Put fluids in any non-locking type container and there will be leaks.

Make sure your containers are microwave and dishwasher safe. Not all of my meals need to be heated up, but it is very nice to toss the container in a microwave and eat directly from the plastic dish. Classy!

Feed Bag

When going to work or running errands around town, you may have to take up to three meals with you. Depending on how you separate food in your plastic containers, you may have eight or nine containers coming along for the ride.

Find or buy a “feed bag” dedicated to the job of transporting your food containers. I use a cheap backpack, but any type of bag with handles will work fine. Some people like to use leftover plastic sacks from the grocery store. However, a bag with multiple pockets is nice because you can carry extra stuff like plastic utensils, napkins, toothbrush, and mints. Always having these extras with your containers avoids you eating like a dog from your plastic dish in public places.

Miscellaneous 

There are several miscellaneous items necessary to eat every three hours that are useful.

You should be stocked up on plastic forks, spoons, and paper plates. Eating five or six times a day will leave you constantly washing dishes. Make use of the disposable alternatives. Save the pretty plates for guests.

I find that most food will not spoil during the day if sealed in a plastic container. If you are paranoid about such things or carrying something that you must keep cold, cold-packs may be necessary. Simply keep a couple of these in your freezer and toss one into your feed bag on your way out the door to keep your food cool. Good for the summer months!

I will discuss bulk cooking in a later article, but having more than one frying pan allows you to cook large quantities of food at once when preparing for the coming week. Not a requirement, but having an extra large pan does save cooking time.

I’m sure there are items I left out, but this list comprehensive enough to get anyone started eating healthy food. What else do you think would be handy for the Eat Every Three diet?

This is the first article in the Get Started Eating Every Three Hours series that will outline how to start eating every three hours and the benefits of such a diet…

There are many reasons why you should eat every three hours. It does not matter if your personal goals are to lose weight, tone, maintain or gain weight; eating every three hours is beneficial to both men and women from all walks of life.

This concept of eating every three hours is not new. There are multiple “diet” programs on the market today that utilize the technique. Many of these merely insert a snack between the customary breakfast, lunch and dinner. Other plans advocate grazing throughout the day. 

What I promote here at EatEveryThree.com is that all meals throughout the day are equally important and are generally the same size (with minor exceptions). None of this nonsense about eating a carrot and yogurt for a mid-afternoon meal.

Now don’t go off thinking that you can eat whatever you want every three hours. I’m talking good ol’ fashioned natural food. I can hear the groans already. No need to worry, there is always room for your favorite foods; you will just have incorporate your junk into a eating plan where the primary goal is living a long and healthy life. I’ll discuss it further later in the series.

Reasons you should eat every three hours:

Never be hungry again.

I believe most people avoid eating healthy foods because doing so is commonly associated with being hungry. I know of many people, including myself at one time, that started eating healthy only to discover that suffering through starvation pains is not worth the benefits that a healthy diet may provide.

Eating every three hours allows you to consume the healthy calories your body requires. And guess what? You will not be starving!

For now, just understand that men should be eating six meals and women should be eating five when consuming healthy food. In a future article, I will provide the details about how eating only three healthy meals a day (or less) will leave you starving and demonstrate how five or six meals is ideal.

Have peak energy throughout the day.

There are many factors that influence individual metabolism. Generally speaking, your metabolism will be highest while processing food during the digestion process. When your body has finished digesting food, your metabolism will slow.

Without getting too technical, the reason behind this metabolic effect is that food = energy, or more accurately calories = energy. Calories is the fuel your body needs to function. If your body is not processing calories, you will be in an energy deficit.

The normal person can digest a healthy meal in 2.5 to 3 hours. After that, the calories will be gone and your metabolism will slow. It makes sense to feed yourself again to keep the metabolism up!

There is more to calories than simply eating them. If that held true, you could eat HoHo’s and burgers for your calories and be just fine. The type of food you eat will also contribute to the level of energy that you have throughout the day. If you eat a burger and fries for lunch, the high levels of saturated fat will cause your metabolism to slow (there is more to it than that). Have you ever wondered why you are always drowsy at work in the afternoons?

Rarely become ill.

Be honest. How many healthy people do you know that get sick on a regular basis? When I say healthy, I don’t mean just skinny. Skinny people can be unhealthy. You know a fit and healthy person when you see one. I’m willing to bet most of you will struggle to name one person. Then ask yourself how many unhealthy people are sick. More than likely, you can name several people that are ill at regular intervals.

Before I found proper nutrition, I did not consider myself a sickly person. However, I did seem to fall ill twice a year. My illnesses were like clockwork. Once I started eating healthy, and every three hours, my scheduled illnesses became a thing of the past. People around me routinely fall ill, yet I do not. In the past I would have always picked up some virus that someone passed on. Now I believe my immune system is bolstered in such a way that it can easily destroy commonly transmitted germs.

There are always exceptions, I know eventually I will get knocked out by a flu because some bozo coughed in my face. Keep in mind I’m talking about the light flu’s, colds, and so on that cause you to call in sick two or three (or more) times per year. Kiss them goodbye with a healthy eating plan!

Easily achieve your fitness goals.

The beauty of eating five or six meals a day is the method works for any level of physical fitness (or lack thereof) and for just about any type of physical training. Want to lose weight? Stay the same? Gain muscle? Tone up a little? No problem! 

All you have to do is eat every three hours. Five meals for women; six for men.

The biggest adjusting you’ll need to make (based on your physical goals) is the number of calories you’ll eat in a day. When the calories are spread out across so many meals, the calorie difference per meal between losing and maintaining weight is quite small.

You may also need to adjust the macro-nutrient ratios (carbs, proteins, fats) depending on your goals. Don’t let that extra layer of meal administration, or the word “macro-nutrient”, scare you off; these ratios are easy to figure out and maintain once you know how….and I will teach you.

Get to stuff your face every three hours.

Eating every three hours is much more fun than eating three skimpy meals a day, or worse, eating only once a day. If you are like me, then you like to eat. Some people find a great deal of joy in eating. This type of “diet” requires you to stuff your face every three hours.  How can you complain about that?

Now you know the basics of why you should eat every three hours. The rest of the series will focus on the details and implementing a plan that will allow you to eat five or six meals a day.

Do you have a good reason why you should not, or cannot, eat every three hours? I would love to hear it!