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- The time at which we eat can significantly affect our overall health. Research shows that not only the quality and quantity of food consumed are important, but also when exactly we eat. For example, eating regularly at specific times can help improve metabolism and regulate blood sugar levels.
Some experts note that delaying dinner or eating it late can lead to weight problems and sleep disturbances. Furthermore, eating breakfast in the morning often helps boost metabolism and energy levels throughout the day.
There is also an opinion that snacking throughout the day can be beneficial, but it is important to ensure that they do not disrupt the main eating pattern. Ultimately, a mindful approach to meal timing can play a significant role in maintaining health and well-being.
- Determining the optimal time for breakfast and the risks associated with skipping it are important aspects of a healthy lifestyle. It is generally recommended to eat within the first hour of waking up. This time allows the body to receive the necessary energy and nutrients that contribute to an active start to the day.
Skipping breakfast can negatively impact your health. Firstly, it can lead to low blood sugar levels, which in turn causes fatigue and decreased concentration. Also, skipping a morning meal can provoke overeating in the following hours, as the body will try to make up for the lack of energy. Furthermore, regularly skipping breakfast is associated with an increased risk of developing various diseases, such as diabetes and obesity. Maintaining a breakfast habit not only helps maintain physical fitness but also improves overall well-being, contributing to a better mood and productivity throughout the day. What to eat for breakfast; When should you schedule a lunchtime and why is it important to be on time? What to eat for lunch; The optimal time for dinner plays an important role in maintaining health. Experts recommend eating approximately 2-3 hours before bedtime. This allows the body time to digest food and prepare for a night's rest.
Eating dinner too late, however, can have a number of negative consequences. Firstly, you risk digestive issues, as your body doesn't have time to process food before bed. Secondly, a late dinner can impact the quality of your sleep, as active digestion can interfere with relaxation. Furthermore, regularly eating late meals can contribute to weight gain, as metabolism slows in the evening. Therefore, it's best to plan your evening meal in advance to avoid any unpleasant consequences.
- What to eat for dinner.
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The Impact of Meal Timing on Overall Health
Eating right involves not only choosing healthy foods, but also eating them at optimal times. As Jeannette Hyde, a nutritionist and author of The 10-Hour Diet, notes, "timing is everything." Eating at specific times promotes more effective weight loss, reduces the risk of chronic diseases, and improves sleep quality. The key is to align breakfast, lunch, and dinner times with the body's circadian rhythms.
Circadian rhythms are biological clocks that control sleep-wake cycles and also influence appetite and digestion. Hormones play a crucial role in these rhythms. For example, melatonin promotes sleep, while cortisol helps us wake up. In addition, there are hormones that are activated depending on the time of eating or fasting.
The liver, pancreas, and fat cells have their own "working clocks" known as peripheral circadian rhythms. These rhythms are slightly dependent on daylight, but are influenced by diet.
It should be noted that the issue of circadian rhythms in the context of nutrition is so significant that a new direction in the field of nutrition has emerged, called chrononutrition. The main goal of this direction is to study the influence of the time of mealtimes, as well as the consequences of, for example, lack of regular breakfast, on health.
Optimal time for breakfast
In English, the word "breakfast" is translated as "break fasting," which emphasizes the importance of this meal. According to Kim Larsen, a Seattle-based registered dietitian who specializes in nutrition, the sooner you eat breakfast after waking up, the more positive impact it will have on your metabolism. It is recommended to eat your first meal of the day within two hours of waking.
If you prefer to exercise early in the morning, consider having a light pre-workout snack, such as a banana or avocado toast. However, if you feel that your body functions more efficiently on an empty stomach, you can delay breakfast until after your workout.
Experts from the Harvard School of Public Health strongly advise against skipping the morning meal. A 16-year study of 26,902 men aged 45 to 82 found that those who frequently skipped breakfast were 27% more likely to have a heart attack. The authors of the study also emphasize that skipping breakfast can lead to overeating in the evening, which negatively affects metabolism. This can cause a number of problems, including excess weight, an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes and arterial hypertension.
An extensive study conducted by Korean scientists involving over 14 thousand men and women demonstrated that if you have breakfast 25% of total calories, this leads to a reduced risk of developing metabolic syndrome. This syndrome includes a number of disorders, such as excess accumulation of fat in the abdominal area, high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar levels, deterioration of tissue sensitivity to insulin, and disorders of cholesterol metabolism.
Julia Zumpano, a clinical nutritionist at the Cleveland Clinic in the United States, advises starting the day with a protein-rich breakfast. She suggests options such as egg whites combined with turkey or chicken sausage, as well as cottage cheese or Greek yogurt. For those who follow a vegetarian diet, a tofu-based omelet is an excellent solution.
Optimal time for lunch
The best time for lunch is between 12:00 and 15:00. By sticking to this interval, it becomes easier to maintain a healthy weight or lose excess weight. For example, in countries where lunch is considered the most filling meal, like France, there is a lower prevalence of obesity and cardiovascular disease.
It is important to eat within the activation period of adiponectin, a hormone produced by fat cells. Levels of this hormone in the body begin to increase in the morning and reach their peak between 12:00 and 14:00, after which they gradually decrease. Adiponectin improves cellular sensitivity to insulin, which, in turn, leads to more efficient glucose uptake. In addition, this hormone activates fat burning processes.
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Obesity is a complex condition characterized by excessive accumulation of fat tissue in the body, which can negatively affect a person's health. It is usually determined by the body mass index (BMI), which is calculated by dividing the weight in kilograms by the square of the height in meters. If the resulting value exceeds 30, this indicates obesity.
This condition is associated with a number of serious health risks. Obesity can predispose to various diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and some types of cancer. It can also significantly impair quality of life, leading to limited physical activity and increased stress levels.
By 2-3 PM, energy levels tend to decline, so eating lunch during this period can help restore energy, but only if you make wise food choices. It is recommended to choose foods rich in protein and fiber, while you should stay away from overly sweet and fatty treats, otherwise you may feel a loss of energy after the meal.
When is the best time to eat dinner?
Lisa Young, a nutritionist and associate professor of nutrition at New York University, says that an early dinner and a moderate number of calories in the evening meal contribute to better health. Dietitian Julia Zumpano adds:
"Eating earlier allows the body to better process the food and eliminates the possibility of going to bed with a heavy stomach" [11].
The ideal time for dinner is considered to be between 6:00 and 7:00 PM if you are a "lark" type, which means you start sleeping around 10:00 PM. For "night owls" who are most active after 4:00 PM, dinner time can be shifted to 10:00 PM, since their internal clocks are only prepared for sleep at 1:00 AM.
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First of all, it is worth noting that a late dinner can lead to difficulty achieving a feeling of satiety. This is due to the fact that after 7 p.m., levels of leptin—a hormone responsible for suppressing hunger, promoting fat burning and preventing its accumulation—begin to gradually decline. As a result, the feeling of satiety becomes less pronounced, which increases the likelihood of overeating.
Secondly, people who eat late in the evening experience a slower calorie burn, which leads to an increase in fat reserves. Researchers suggest that this may be due to a decrease in the thermic effect of food—the energy expended on processing and assimilation of nutrients. In other words, the later dinner is eaten, the less energy is expended on the digestive process, and as a result, the remaining calories can be converted to fat.
Thirdly, a late dinner contributes to an increase in blood glucose levels. This is explained by the fact that melatonin, which is produced by the brain at night, affects the body, preparing it for recovery and rest. However, this hormone does not participate in the digestion process, which leads to its “conflict” with insulin, reducing its synthesis. Without insulin, glucose absorption becomes impossible.
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For dinner, you can choose something light, for example, a salad with grilled fish, or a vegetable stew with beans and lean meat. In general, it is better to give preference to dishes containing proteins and vegetables that are rich in fiber. It is worth noting that potatoes do not fall into the category of such vegetables, as they contain a large amount of starch, which is converted to glucose during digestion.
Judy Kaplan, a certified specialist in dietetics and nutrition from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in the United States, shares her observations: “If you visit Europe or other regions where the obesity problem is not as acute as in most of the world, you will notice that the locals often have dinner quite late, but excess weight is not as common. This is due to the fact that they are actively walking and, as a rule, do not overeat. Their evening meal may include dishes such as avocado toast and soup” [18].
If you do have a late dinner, Dr. Zumpano recommends not rushing to bed. Instead, take a short 10-20 minute walk or do something around the house, like tidying up the kitchen. A little physical activity will help your body digest food and promote better sleep.
In the 1960s, nutritionist Adele Davis made famous the phrase, "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper." This expression clearly emphasizes the basic principles of a balanced diet: breakfast should be substantial, lunch moderate, and dinner light. In this way, you can adapt your diet to circadian rhythms. These biological clocks evolved to support specific types of activity and behavior depending on the time of day. Daytime is for physical activity, eating, and metabolism, while nighttime is for sleep and periods of fasting. The opposite approach would be a mistake.
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Anna Berrill. How timing your meals can positively impact your health. The Guardian. May 16, 2022.
Manoogian E. N. C., Chaix A., and Panda S. raise the issue of nutrition in their article “When to eat: the importance of eating patterns for health and disease,” published in the journal Biological Rhythms in 2019. In this study, spanning volume 34, issue 6, pages 579–581, the authors analyze how the timing of food intake affects overall health. DOI: 10.1177/0748730419892105.
Circadian rhythms. National Institute of General Medical Science.
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7. Noma Nazish. According to a nutritionist, this is the optimal time for breakfast. Forbes.
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Sorokin M. Yu., Pinkhasov B. B., and Selyatitskaya V. G. Circadian rhythms of carbohydrate metabolism in health and disease. Current biomedical research (East Siberian biomedical journal). 2023. 8(2). 124–137. DOI: 10.29413/abs.2023-8.2.12.
Skipping breakfast may increase the risk of coronary heart disease. Source: Harvard University School of Public Health, 2013.
Ha K. and Song Y. examined the relationship between meal timing, meal frequency, and conditions such as obesity and metabolic syndrome in Korean adults. The results of their work were published in the journal Nutrients in 2019, in issue 11, number 10, under article number 2437. DOI: 10.3390/nu11102437.
When is the best time to eat dinner? According to Cleveland Clinic Health Essentials.
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Almoosawi S., Vingeliene S., Karagounis L. G., and Pot G. K. presented a review entitled "Chrono-nutrition" that examines current evidence from observational studies regarding global trends in the timing of energy intake and its association with obesity. This work was published in the journal "Proceedings of the Nutrition Society" in 2016, Volume 75, Issue 4, Pages 487–500. DOI: 10.1017/s0029665116000306.
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Nakamura K., Tajiri E., Hatamoto Y., Ando T., Shimoda S., and Yoshimura E. conducted a randomized crossover study that showed that an early dinner improves blood sugar levels for 24 hours and activates lipid metabolism for breakfast the next day. The study was published in the journal Nutrients in 2021, volume 13, issue 7, article 2424. DOI: 10.3390/nu13072424.
McHill A. W., Phillips A. J., Czeisler C. A., Keating L., Yee K., Barger L. K., Garaulet M., Scheer F. A., and Klerman E. B. conducted a study that found that eating later in the day is associated with an increase in body fat mass. These results were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2017, volume 106, issue 5, pages 1213–1219. DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.117.161588.
The study by Bandín C., Scheer F. a. J. L., Luque A. J., Ávila-Gandía V., Zamora S., Madrid J. A., Gómez-Abellán P., and Garaulet M. examined the relationship between meal timing and measures of glucose tolerance, substrate oxidation, and circadian parameters. This randomized crossover trial was published in the International Journal of Obesity in 2014, including issue 39, issue 5, pages 828–833. DOI: 10.1038/ijo.2014.182.
18. Optimal time for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. TIME.