Grazing Tips to Chew On

Forget pigging out. Brooks Peterson is taking a cue from cows - he is all about grazing.

“I really try to stay away from three big meals a day. I graze throughout the day - beef jerky, protein shakes - I’ll have some carbs here and there right before I work out, but other than that I wouldn’t really eat an entire meal,” says Peterson.

Many people swear by grazing; swapping three squares for six mini-meals.

“The idea of eating the smaller meals is to prevent arriving at a meal being very, very hungry, where we would tend to eat a larger volume of food. So if we’re fueling ourselves throughout the day with smaller meals, smaller snacks, we’re also keeping a tight control on that appetite,” explains Carrie Wissemeier, a weight management coordinator with Lee Memorial Health System.

There are a few things to chew on before jumping in. First it is not medically proven that frequent small meals rev the metabolism. And if not well monitored too many snacks can add up to all-day eating.

“There’s the planned snack, where we can make a good, healthy choice. And then there’s the grazing that may be a little bit more - gray - in our choices. We tell ourselves we’ll just have a little bit. And the little bit turns into a little bit more and a little bit more,” cautions Wissemeier.

Light meals should be spaced about three hours apart. Proper grazing includes self control, portion control and healthy choices.

“Really getting a grasp of what makes a portion and including those vegetables throughout the day as well.”

Select snacking works for Peterson. He sees the practice of grazing only growing.

“I feel like most people today, they don’t know when to stop eating- it sounds terrible but much of our country is obese and some are morbidly obese and I think watching exactly what you eat and how much you eat can really help,” says Peterson.

A different way to drop pounds, it’s up to the individual eater give grazing the proper weight.

Lee Memorial Health System in Fort Myers, FL is the largest network of medical care facilities in Southwest Florida and is highly respected for its expertise, innovation and quality of care. For nearly a century, we’ve been providing our community with everything from primary care treatment to highly specialized care services and robotic assisted surgeries.