Nutrient and Meal Timing: Does it Matter When You Eat?
There are tons of different factors you can manipulate in your dietary strategies. One of these factors is the actual timing of when you eat. In some dietary tribes, people can become militant regarding this variable.
In the 2000s and maybe early 2010s, eating multiple times per day was all the hype. People thought you needed to eat 5-6 smaller meals per day in order to ramp up your metabolism.
Following this, intermittent fasting become the talk of the town. Advocates of this diet strategy claim that the longer you can go without eating, the better. Intermittent fasters will normally eat 1-2 larger meals per day. Their thinking is that you end up burning more fat during this daily fasting period.
Related: Intermittent Fasting Explained
With these two diet opposing factions claiming that they have the key to all the problems you’re having, it’s easy to become confused.
The truth is, there are instances where it does matter when you eat. However, there are also instances where it doesn’t matter. The answer has some nuance and likely isn’t the same for any two people.
The aim of this article is to help you understand if it matters for you and be more confident in your dietary choices going forward. We’ll do this by discussing each macronutrient and the implications of spacing them out differently in a day.
Protein
The first instance where it can make a difference is your protein intake. Unlike carbohydrates and fats, our bodies have no means to store protein. As a result, it’s better to have your protein intake spread out throughout the day [1].
Let’s illustrate this with an example. First, let’s think about how much protein you want to eat per day. For most people, the number to aim for is 1.6 grams of protein for every kilogram you weigh [2]. The math works out to be about 72% of your bodyweight in pounds is around how much grams of protein you should eat.
To make numbers easy, think of someone who weighs 100 pounds. This individual would need around 81 grams of protein per day to optimize muscle growth and/or maintenance.
In this scenario, it would be better to split those 72 grams into 3-4 servings per day as opposed to eating 1-2. Reason being is that muscle protein synthesis (the process of muscle building) is elevated for 3-4 hours after a meal with sufficient protein.
It should be noted, however, that the far more important variable is getting enough overall protein in per day. So, before you consider how to space out your protein intake, first make sure that you are eating enough of it per day as is. Again, you should be eating around 1.8 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day [2]. This works out to ~81% of your body weight in pounds being the number of grams of protein you need per day.
Related: What’s the Best Type of Protein Powder?
Related: 5 Protein Snacks Everyone Should Know About
Carbohydrates and Fats
When it comes to how you time your carbohydrate and fat intake for the day, it can matter although it is a less important variable.
Let’s first talk about body composition. For the most part, the research seems to suggest that it doesn’t make a significant difference; when the overall daily intakes are the same [1]. Said differently, if you eat the same number of carbohydrates and fats in a day, it doesn’t seem to affect body composition significantly when spaced out differently. This claim also assumes the same daily activity level as well.
Does this mean it’s okay to eat all of your carbohydrates and fats in one sitting and not worry about it the rest of the day? I’d say this might be too much of an extrapolation. Even if it did work out to be produce the same results, I’d argue that this would hardly be sustainable.
Even though you theoretically can split up your carbohydrates and fats however you want, there are definitely some ways to optimize when you eat them for further benefit.
I’ll give you an example. Carbohydrates are your body’s much preferred source of fuel for exercise [3]. In addition, your body’s store of carbohydrates become largely drained after high intensity exercise [3]. As a result, there are some benefits to how you perform and feel by eating carbohydrates prior to and after your trainings (i.e. in your pre- and post-workout meals).
In addition to this, fats tend to take a while to digest and can make you feel more sluggish during exercise. As a result, it can be advantageous to avoid a high fat intake in your pre-workout meals.
Fiber
Fiber is similar to fats in the sense that it takes a while to digest and can make you feel sluggish when exercising [3]. Therefore, it can also be smart to try to limit fiber intake in your pre-workout meals. Apart from this, it doesn’t seem to make too much of a difference.
Similarly to the other nutrients discussed, having an overall sufficient daily fiber intake is what’s most important. In general, you should aim for 14 grams of fiber for every 1000 calories that you eat.
Vitamins and Minerals
To my knowledge as I write this, there isn’t any research examining the timing and distribution of vitamin and mineral intake. As a result, I would disregard frequency as a factor and solely focus on a sufficient intake each day.
References
International society of sports nutrition position stand: nutrient timing
PubMed ID: 28919842
A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults
PubMed ID: 28698222
Carbohydrate Nutrition and Team Sport Performance
PubMed ID: 26553494
