Skim one of the original newspaper articles and you might decide that there's nothing tried and true in health and fitness, that every belief resulting from research is merely a hit-or-miss proposition.

Even if you take your time reading one of the articles, you still might decide that most health and fitness research creates speculations, not solutions.But that closer reading would also support a belief of mine I've shared with you at least a dozen times.In order for you to recognize that, you need the details of those original newspaper articles about what was really a research study about research studies.In late August, the journal Science released the results of a study designed to see how often the results of previous psychological studies could be replicated. Researchers used 100 studies that were published in major psychology journals, contacted the original researchers to make sure the second version of the study accurately followed the first, and then did the tests again.Only 40 of the second studies produced results supporting the first findings.While this discrepancy certainly supports the long-held scientific belief that final determinations should never be made after a single study, it also strengthens a personal theory of mine, one I call the snowflake approach to health and fitness.No two snowflakes are said to be alike, and I believe we are like snowflakes when it comes to the factors that create health and fitness.For instance, your personality, degree of motivation, aerobic ability, ratio of slow-twitch to fat-twitch muscles, and many of other elements of your physiology determine what exercises best suit you in the short term and especially the long term.Moreover, there are at least as many variables - and probably more - when it comes to creating an eating program to either lose weight or maintain a certain one.If you ascribe to the snowflake theory, you see all conclusions to scientific research not as a final destination but merely a signpost on your journey to the land of optimal health and fitness. You also see my advice in the same manner.Because today's topic is not only personal but also loaded with variables, I needed to review the snowflake theory and my belief in it to handle the today's topic: How long is too long between meals?Correct answers can range from two hours to 12 because the answer depends on what you just did, what you're planning to do, why you are eating, and - of course - all the variables of human physiology that make you you.If you follow the sort of diet I endorse, one that features five to eight mini-meals of high-quality protein and complex carbs, you should be eating every two to three hours. In most daily situations, going four hours without food is too long and reduces the effectiveness of the food plan.Yet if you follow the diet I endorse and work out for more than 90 minutes, the time frame changes, especially if you want to work out - or even feel your best - the next day. Now, it's essential to eat as soon as possible after exercise, preferably within the first 15 minutes - as well as change the composition of your meal.This change accommodates a change in you. After prolonged exercise, there's up to a one-hour window where your muscle cells readily accept refueling. After that, the process takes progressively longer, and is really irrelevant after two hours or so.If you eat a sufficient amount of food (which is contingent upon the type, duration, and intensity of the exercise) in a ratio of 4 to 1 carbohydrates to protein (some simple carbs can even be ingested) preferably within 15 minutes of ending exercise and eat a second similar meal before the two-hour mark, your muscle cells will be fully restocked within 20 to 24 hours.Failing to do so after prolonged exercise makes it just about a certainty that your muscle cells won't be fully refueled until 48 hours later and that you will feel lethargic and less-than-100 percent until then. It's not that the workout was too tough, necessarily; it's that you deprived your body of what it needs to recover quickly from it.But if you're making every attempt to lose weight, a number of studies suggest that 12 hours without any food - the hours immediately before you fall asleep and the time you spend in bed - creates a hormonal response conducive to burning fat and losing weight. So now, the longer the gap between meals, the better.If you're a hardcore bodybuilder headed to bed, though, you want to consume a protein drink just before bed and then again in the middle of the night to blunt the aforementioned process that aids in weight loss because you're fearful of the catabolic process that can occur overnight leading to a loss of muscle mass.In short, you need to know what you want to achieve by eating to best determine when you do it.If you learn to time your meals to be in concert with your objectives and the physiology of your body, meals will do more than just taste good. They will make you feel good and more effective doing whatever you do.