Should i eat dinner late

For now, many researchers are still focused on understanding some of the broader public health concerns — such as obesity, heart disease, and diabetes — that might be related to eating late at night. So far, the research suggests that our bodies prefer to process nutrients during the day.

Our circadian rhythms, the internal cycles that help regulate when we sleep and when we are awake, influence a host of biological systems. Genes producing proteins needed for, say, muscle firing might be more or less active depending on the time of day, Jun says.

Likewise, there might be a similar relationship between food consumption and when the body is the most efficient at breaking it down. It might be that eating too close to this rest and relaxation period forces cells to delay self-repair in favor of digestive processes — a delay that, if it happens too often, might start to cause harm.

Blood-sugar regulation is another example that might illustrate this theory. Studies have found that eating dinner late at night — or even eating on a flipped schedule, as a night shift worker would — tends to elevate blood-sugar levels more than standard mealtimes do. It's a pattern that's based on mealtime and is independent of the type of food consumed. If you are consuming more than you require, it could result in weight gain. However, there is a caveat. If you have diabetes, she says, you may benefit from having a low-carb, light meal for dinner.

Research from , conducted on obese individuals following a week weight loss treatment plan revealed that eating late may influence weight loss success.

A study released earlier this year looked at participants with obesity, those with and without binge eating disorder, and how eating late in the day can affect appetite. A study on animals in the US shows that the time you eat has no impact on the way your body processes food and on overall weight loss or gain.

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Sign out. The Cook Up recipes. Korean at home. The primary concern for most people is that eating too late may contribute to weight gain. Everyone has an opinion on the best time to stop eating, but you may wonder whether any of it is based on scientific research.

This article examines the best time to stop eating and the health effects of eating late in the day. Many people are interested in when they should stop eating at night due to the perception that late-night eating causes weight gain. Recently, research has examined the timing of meal intake and its effects on health 1. This means that it may not only be what you eat but also when you eat that affects your weight and health.

The hour body clock, also known as your circadian rhythm , may influence the best time to eat based on its effects on hunger, nutrient absorption, insulin sensitivity, and metabolism 2 , 3 , 4. To match your body clock, the recommended eating window is less than or equal to 8—12 hours a day, during daylight hours. Eating outside of this window may lead your body to process calories less efficiently, which may contribute to weight gain 5.

One study found that when mice were fed a high fat meal according to their circadian rhythm, they had significantly lower weights than mice fed the same high fat meal outside of their circadian rhythm 6. Furthermore, eating over a period greater than 12 hours a day may increase your risk of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease 3. In a small study including 8 men with prediabetes , eating within a 6-hour window from 8 a. In another study, fasting blood sugar levels adults in adults with prediabetes were lower when they ate within an 8 a.

This may be why shift workers — whose hours are likely to be irregular — may be at a greater risk of chronic conditions like high cholesterol and diabetes. However, these claims are inconclusive 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , However, the associated increased risk of chronic disease may be due to a combination of poor quality sleep, irregular eating patterns, and other factors Intermittent fasting involves eating within a specific window — often 8—12 hours — over any time during the day.

Thus, it differs slightly from eating according to your body clock. Intermittent fasting has been linked to improved levels of blood sugar, cholesterol, body fat, and inflammation Rumsey agrees, "I recommend not having large amounts of carbs—otherwise that carb turns into sugar in your blood and you get a rise in insulin," she elaborates, "Since you are just going to bed, you aren't using that sugar for energy, so you're more likely to store it as fat.

Sometimes you eat dinner but somehow still feel hungry later in the night. Fahad assures it's okay to have a snack as long as it's small and the right kind. Protein-based snacks like string cheese a handful of almonds, whole grain crackers with a bit of guacamole, greek yogurt, and almond butter with an apple can "stabilize your blood sugar when you sleep. Rumsey says if you do eat before bed, to at least allow an hour for staying upright before going to sleep "for good digestion.

We've all had those days where we ate breakfast at 8am but lunch didn't happen until 4pm Prioritizing having breakfast, lunch, and dinner will train your body to be hungry at appropriate times. Shop Elle. United States.

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