The primary objective of this study was to describe eating patterns (e.g., breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacking, number of eating episodes, temporal patterns of eating across the 24-hour day, and the frequency of eating out) in a healthy U.S. population in order to provide a basis for future studies on the association between eating patterns and disease. Twenty-four hour dietary recalls were used to assess eating patterns, and cross-sectional analyses were conducted. Ninety-six percent of subjects usually consumed breakfast, 78% consumed lunch, 95% consumed dinner, and 60% consumed snacks. On average, participants ate 3.92 times daily (standard deviation(SD)=0.8). Caloric intake on weekend days was significantly greater than on weekdays. There was a tendency of participants to eat meals frequently outside of the home.