There's a lot of diet information that focuses on what you eat, but very little attention is paid to WHEN you eat. In fact, the timing of your meals can have a big impact on your diet plan.

How familiar does this scenario sound? You get up in the morning, race out the door because you're running late, and grab a coffee and muffin on your way to work. By mid-morning you're feeling wound up, so have another coffee and a packet of crisps. Lunch is a slice of pizza on the run, with a soda. Mid-afternoon you're getting tired, so time for a candy bar. Dinner is steak, potatoes with sour cream, maybe some pasta, followed by pie and cream. Finally it's TV time, with some popcorn on your lap.

It doesn't take much to see that there's a lot bad food choices in that scenario, and yet how many people basically follow this kind of routine? Interestingly enough, many nutritionists actually recommend eating 6 small meals a day, rather than 3 big meals, but then again, they're not talking about snack foods and candy.

Apart from the poor food choices, there's another problem with this scenario. Mostly, the person ate food for the wrong reasons. Our bodies are designed to eat when they're hungry, and yet people commonly reach for food because of:

• Boredom
• Habit
• Stress
• Sad
• Afraid
• Emotional Comfort

One of the first steps to gaining control of your weight is to make the conscious choice to only eat when you're hungry, and not for any other reason. This is particularly the case with snacks. Having a bad day with the kids? It's easy to grab a coffee and a candy bar as an excuse to sit down in peace for five minutes. First, decide if you're actually hungry or really just want to sit down. If you really are hungry, then eat a piece of fruit instead.

If you really do find the long stretches between 3 main meals are just too long, that's okay. Reduce the size of those meals, and eat healthy snacks in-between. Perhaps some fruit, a small cup of yoghurt, or some low-fat cheese and crackers. Aim for some food intake no more than 4 hours apart, and it's a good idea to time those meals to coincide with times when you're usually hungry. It may work better for you to have 5 meals, for example, if that suits your metabolism.

It's also a good idea to avoid late night snacks. Once you go to bed, your metabolism slows right down, so it's more likely to store those calories as fat because it has no opportunity to burn it off. Again, are you snacking out of habit or because you really are hungry?

Although the key to losing weight and eating a healthy diet is your food choices, it's also worth taking a look at when you eat and why. You might be surprised how much difference a change in your eating routine can make!