This is an analogy I think of that helps me understand how things work, but it's not a thorough or necessarily factual explanation, just one way to look at it.
Why is it a good idea to eat six smaller meals a day than 3 larger meals? Because your stomach is not like the gas tank of a car, where it just holds the fuel until it's needed and your car pretty much runs the same whether the tank is full or almost empty.
To put it incredibly simply, your stomach takes the food you eat, and then sends it on to different places in your body, like the loading dock at a warehouse! There's the protein wing where it's used to build muscles, the carbohydrate wing (also known as the engine room), and the fat storage unit (for insulation and long term storage).
When a body eats a large meal, the loading dock gets really full, and the workers have to really scramble to get everything sorted out and to its proper area(digestion). Everything shuts down for awhile while everybody works hard to clear off the loading dock! If the meals are always high in fat, then the warehouse manager is going to have to build a bigger fat storage unit and send more workers to the fat warehouse. Now, these workers love to have things to do, so a few hours after the meal - after all the fat, protein, and carbohydrates have been distributed, they are going to get impatient.
Oh, by the way, if there are too many carbohydrates to fit in the engine room, they just get sent to the fat warehouse.
If your warehouse has a large fat storage area, and lots of workers there, they might form their own union and start lobbying for higher pay, also known as CRAVINGS!
On the other hand, if the body is getting 6 smaller meals a day, the loading dock is not going to get as full, which means not as many employees are needed everytime a shipment comes in. The other workers are able then to specialize in other areas of the warehouse, working on improving the way the engine works, cleaning out the fat warehouse (burning it!), and building things in the protein wing, especially if the demand for quality performance is high (regular cardio and weight training).
Additionally, cravings are lowered because everybody is working on more than just storing fat every five or six hours or so. The Fat Storage Union is less powerful due to lower numbers, and the engine room doesn't need as much fuel, because workers have the time to keep everything working efficiently.
Anyway, I'm obviously not a doctor or nutritionist or anything, but I do know that when I started eating six meals a day, I noticed I always had energy and my cravings went way down. I didn't have to worry about feeling like I was about ready to faint at 5:00 in the afternoon because I hadn't eaten anything since my lunch at 12:00 when I wolfed down a huge subway sandwich, a bag of potato chips, a banana, and two cookies!
Switching to 6 meals a day worked for me! When I do get hungry, I never worry because I know I'll be eating in an hour or two at the most. If I'm REALLY hungry, I eat an apple or a banana and drink a glass of water and then I'm fine until the next meal.
