Food time!

In America, the average family is expected to eat three meals a day. Sometimes I wonder why we do this. Like whether we are truly hungry at dinner time, or whether we just think we are hungry around dinner because we have been raised to believe that dinner time is when we need to eat. So I am basically wondering whether our brain is telling us to eat based on our schedule, or if we are truly hungry. This article :http://ezinearticles.com/?Eating-3-Meals-a-Day-Helps-to-Keep-You-in-Shape&id=1554214 says that it is bad not to eat three meals a day because your body stores calories and conserves energy, so the less time you take to eat the more weight you can gain because your metabolism goes down. Part of the reason people say not to eat the smaller meals six times a day is because your body will not conserve any energy or calories. That means if you skip a meal, chances are you will not feel good.
Do you think it is a good idea to eat three meals a day? or do you have a different eating schedule?