Many people often believe that they should not eat their last meal later than 3-4 hours before bedtime. At night, metabolism slows down, and adipose tissue begins to play a key role in metabolism. In other words, the presence of food in the stomach really prevents fat burning.
However, studies suggest that, in the end, the total calorie content of food plays a role – people who dine at night are usually less able to control calories and the overall correctness of the diet. How many hours before bed can you eat dinner – and what should be the serving size?
How many hours before bed should I eat?
During sleep, metabolic rate drops by about 15-35%, blood glucose (and insulin) levels drop, and fat-burning hormones rise. Also, at night, the hunger hormone leptin, produced in adipose tissue, plays an active role in the metabolic process.
In fact, at night, the body actively uses the existing fat as fuel – while the presence of food in the stomach introduces a certain imbalance, forcing the body to burn the calories of the dinner just eaten in the first place. Moreover, the more simple carbohydrates were in food, the worse.
Another interesting fact is that although only 1-2% of the population awakes from a night’s sleep and goes to the refrigerator, for 25% of obese people this is quite normal². Serving as confirmation that the habit of eating dinner late leads to weight gain.
What is the best time to have dinner?
The human biological clock is closely related to the rhythms of day and night. That is why the brightness of the light affects not only the level of the sleep hormone melatonin, but also many other metabolic parameters. For example, in the dark, the work of the digestive system and stomach significantly slows down.
However, it is extremely difficult to name a specific hour at which these changes begin. Among other things, the optimal time for dinner depends both on the length of daylight hours and on the immediate time of going to bed. But most often, experts recommend having dinner no later than 7-9 pm.
Dangers and harms of eating at night
The key problem of “evening calories”, according to nutritionists, is banal overeating – and not at all in the time of eating. If a person did not have the opportunity to have a normal breakfast and lunch, then by dinner he will be very hungry – and, as a result, will eat more calories than the body needs.
Unfortunately, this is a typical case. For most hardworking people, it is the evening that becomes the main meal of the day – and many cannot afford to have dinner 3-4 hours before bedtime. The situation is aggravated by the fact that attempts to reduce the size of portions eaten in the evening often lead to uncontrolled nighttime gluttony.
How to avoid gluttony?
There are several tips to help you eat less. First of all, remember that food satiety comes only after 15-20 minutes – that is, you need to eat slowly and consciously (for example, without simultaneously watching TV or scrolling through the Instagram feed).
In addition, in the evening you need to especially closely monitor the nutritional composition of food – reducing simple carbohydrates and saturated animal fats, and replacing them with sources of fiber and all kinds of vegetable fats. This will help create a stable feeling of fullness.
What can you eat before bed?
Because the body runs primarily on free fatty acids during sleep, the quality of the oils and fats you eat at dinner is critical. It is important to limit saturated animal fats (butter, lard) as much as possible, as well as to abandon refined vegetable oils.
In terms of KBJU, proper nutrition for dinner is a serving of 450-500 kcal, containing approximately 25-35 g of protein, 15-25 g of fat (mainly beneficial omega-9 in the form of olive oil) and 50-75 g of carbohydrates (from which 8-10 g of fiber and no more than 7 g of sugars).
An ideal choice before going to bed would be 100-150 g of lean meat with a side dish of buckwheat (50-80 g) and a large portion of green vegetables seasoned with olive oil. However, whether you eat this meal 3 hours before bed – or 30 minutes before bed – ultimately makes no difference.
From a theoretical point of view, for the body there is no difference in the time of consumption of calories – that is, you can even eat right before bedtime. However, in practice, people who eat dinner too late in the night tend to overeat – due to which they gain excess weight.