Hi everybody this is Monica Reinagle and you're listening to the

nutrition divas quick and dirty tips for eating well and feeling fabulous and

this week I'm going to be talking about the Great American Pastime.

No, not baseball, snacking. Although our grandparents and great-grandparents typically

ate three meals a day, today we grandparents and

today we eat five times a day on average

although it's often claimed that eating more can help you control your weight

it doesn't seem to be working out that way.

As the average number of meals and snacks has increased, so have our waistlines.

And I don't think it's a coincidence.

Today I'll have some tips on how to snack without

sabotaging your diet or your nutrition. First off, rest assured that snacking is completely optional.

Contrary to an oft-repeated nutrition myth, eating more frequently does not bump up your

metabolism or cause you to burn more calories.

Although it is true that your metabolism may slow down if you go too long without eating,

this effect takes two or three days to kick in,

not two or three days to kick in, not two or three hours.

If you tend to get very hungry between meals,

eating more frequently may be a good solution for you,

and in a moment I'll have some tips on how to do that in a healthy way.

But if you don't get hungry between meals, there's no reason you need to take time out

every two or three hours for a snack.

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