Studies show that people who skip meals tend to be heavier, have higher blood pressure and cholesterol levels and be pre-diabetic, Cleveland Clinik reports. All of these increase the risk for cardiovascular disease.

A study published in Circulation reports that men who skipped breakfast had almost a 30 percent higher risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) than men who didn’t skip breakfast. When the men skip their breakfast, they eat late at night, so they have a more than 50 percent higher risk of developing CHD.

After you start out the day on the right track with a high-fiber, low-fat breakfast, keep on doing the right thing by eating small meals at frequent intervals throughout the day.

Research has shown that eating frequent small meals helps keep your cholesterol levels lower

Cleveland Clinic dietitians Julia Zumpano, RD, LD, and Katherine Patton, MEd, RD, CSSD, LD, of Preventive Cardiology & Rehabilitation, highly encourage people to eat breakfast in the first two hours of waking up and to ideally have a meal or small snack every three to five hours.

Don’t “save up” calories for later in the day. Try to distribute calories as evenly as possible throughout the day.

Focus on healthy fats and exclude trans fats and most saturated animal fats.

Eat fresh fruits, veggies and some nuts along with low-fat dairy (yogurt and cottage cheese) instead of chips or processed snack foods.

Drink water or iced green tea instead of sodas.

Stop eating at least 3 hours before you turn in for the night.

Daily diet suggestions, hour by hour

7:30 a.m.: 1 cup cooked oatmeal topped with ground flaxseed and fresh blueberries (Beverage: skim milk, black coffee)

10 a.m.: 6 ounces of non-fat yogurt topped with a tablespoon of walnuts (Beverage: water)

12:30 p.m.: Spinach salad topped with carrots, radishes, onion, cucumber, light tuna (packed in water) and 2 Tbsp. light vinaigrette dressing; six whole-wheat crackers and an apple (Beverage: unsweetened iced tea)

3 p.m.: One cup of raw vegetables dipped in ¼ cup hummus (Beverage: water)

6 p.m.: Three ounces of grilled chicken breast, 2 cups steamed broccoli drizzled with olive oil, a cup of brown rice and a bowl of berries for dessert

8 p.m.: 3 cups of light microwave or air-popped popcorn