How many times a day to eat: why I advise two meals
Dr. Boris Wydoff · 2026-09-10We were all taught the same thing: eat often and in small amounts, "keep the metabolism going". For half a century I have seen the opposite: people who eat less often hardly suffer from their digestion at all. In my system for restoring the vessels and cleansing the body, the course rhythm is two vegetarian meals a day, and I advise keeping to it for forty-five days or more.
WHAT HAPPENS BETWEEN MEALS
Digestion is the most expensive work the body does. While the stomach is full, the body is busy digesting; it has no time to repair, clean and rebuild its tissues. Real cleansing happens precisely in the pauses: the intestine finishes clearing what is left, the liver takes apart what has accumulated, the blood is freed from the load of food. Snacking every two hours robs the body of those pauses — it is permanently on shift.
What a day of two meals looks like
- Morning — not food but water: a glass of warm water, a quiet start. If going without breakfast is hard, let it be simple and plant-based: porridge, vegetables, fruit, bran bread — as a transitional step.
- The first meal — around midday. The best time for protein food: gastric juice is secreted most actively during these hours.
- The second — early in the evening. Carbohydrate or vegetable, lighter, so that the night goes to recovery and not to digestion.
Who should move across gradually
A sudden change of rhythm is a stress. Drop your snacks one at a time, one a week; quench the hunger between meals with water — most often, half an hour later, "hunger" turns out to have been thirst. I do not suggest two meals a day to people doing heavy physical work, to children or to pregnant women: their bodies have other tasks.
Common mistakes
Making up for rarer meals with volume — eating "in reserve". The portion stays the usual size, it simply has no snacks around it. The second mistake is keeping tea and biscuits between meals: that is the same snack, and the pause is broken.
A word of caution
In diabetes, in stomach disease during a flare-up, and when taking medicines that must be taken "strictly after food", the eating rhythm is changed only together with your doctor.
Frequently asked questions
Won't eating less often slow down my metabolism?
Half a century of practice shows the opposite: in the pauses the body switches from digesting to cleansing and repairing. The heaviness goes, the energy evens out.
What should I do if I feel hungry between meals?
First drink water and wait 20–30 minutes: most often it is thirst. Real hunger will wait calmly until the next meal.
Can I drink tea between meals?
Water — yes, whenever you are thirsty. But tea with something edible is already a snack, and it breaks the digestive pause.
Where to start — step by step
This article is part of my system of natural healing. Start with the free guide "7 Steps to a Cleaner Body": water, nutrition, juices, warmth and mindset — one step a week.
Get the free book Full methods — in the books →
Boris Wydoff — naturopathic doctor, Ph.D. For over fifty years I have helped people restore health through nutrition, cleansing and the power of the mind — in Europe, America and Asia. About the author →