I am frequently asked the questions “how many meals a day should I eat?” and “what does a healthy meal plan look like for a day?”

Six meals a day is the correct answer.  Breaking your meals down into smaller quantities (approximately the size of your fist) and eating at least six times per day speeds up your metabolism and doesn’t place such a burden on your digestive system.  Eat around every 3 to 3 1/2 hours.  Sometimes when I’m really active and play a lot of sports and do intense workouts, I’ll eat 7 or 8 times per day.

This menu will fuel your workouts and won’t steal all of your energy from sugar crashes.

Here’s a sample healthy meal plan for a day to answer the second question:

Breakfast:

• Oat bran with walnuts and raisins
• 1/2 grapefruit
• 1 cup green tea

Snack #1:

• 1 cup vegetable juice with lemon
• 1/2 whole grain bagel

Lunch:

• Soy bean chili with hot sauce
• Whole-grain crackers
• small salad with olive oil
• Fresh pear, apple or banana
• 1 cup of black tea or white tea

Snack #2:

• Whey protein shake with frozen blueberries, 1/2 teaspoon of flaxseed oil, and 8 ounces of vanilla soymilk.

Dinner:

• Grilled Salmon
• side of spinach
• Avacado Salad with red leaf lettuce, avocado, red pepper, tomato, olive oil, and vinegar
• 1 glass of Argentine red wine

Snack #3:

• Small bowl of whole grain oatmeal with stevia

Of course drink plenty of water . . . at least 8 - 12 glasses depending on your activity level.