"To maintain a consistent energy level, 5+ small snacks is better than 3 large meals." Anecdotally, that's not been my experience, except in the time periods w

"To maintain a consistent energy level, 5+ small snacks is better than 3 large meals." Anecdotally, that's not been my experience, except in the time periods when I've been transitioning between feeding on that short schedule and feeding once a day. I recognize that this experience is wholly anecdotal, but the only time that I've felt "paralyzed with starvation" is not when I am actually in starvation mode (that is, 48 or so hours of not eating, which I do every couple of months), but rather when I've been eating often and switch to eating less often. That is to say, when I used to have candy and donuts and juice as part of my diet, then I would occasionally crash and lots of smaller meals prevented that crash. In that case, your advice is good. In other cases, it doesn't fit my experience. When I am in a period where I am eating a single large meal every 24 hours or so (mostly rice and beans and some other plants with a lot of fat), then I don't feel those crashes at all. I don't eat outside of that meal except for a short period of time before or after. I occasionally feel hungry, but I generally on-point mentally, and certainly not "paralyzed with starvation". If I get out of that pattern (usually because I am traveling or around folks who prevent that kind of eating from happening) I will often need to go through a longer fast to get back into that daily eating schedule. So my hypothesis (untested, of course) is that most folks have never gone more than 24 hours without eating, so if they are crashing after 3-5h then that's specific to their diet and not a universal human constant.