How do night meals affect weight and our well-being?
We are trying to more consciously approach the problem of excess weight: we regularly go in for sports, we avoid simple carbohydrates, we try to eat more vegetables and fruits. But even those who are very careful about their diet, often allow themselves one small weakness – a late dinner. But it is precisely this error in a carefully thought-out menu that can become fatal. It is no coincidence that many Soviet diets promoted one simple truth: do not eat after 6:00 pm. This rule is not universal, but scientists have indeed proved that overeating at night leads to a significant weight gain.
Why are we particularly acutely hungry at night?
Most breaks from the diet happens in the evening. There are three reasons for this:
- Physiological, or, more simply, lack of food during the day.
- Hidden hunger. An unbalanced diet during the day leads to a lack of nutrients in the body.
- Psychological, when we simply seize the stress.
How night meals affect the body
At night, as a rule, a person sleeps, the body is set to rest, and suddenly a beef steak with french fries and a salad poured with red wine enters the stomach. Almost asleep intestines trying their best, but, alas, unable to cope with such a volume of food. Food is not digested properly, is not absorbed into the walls of the small intestine, and in the thick is exposed to pathogenic microflora, which leads to the formation of toxins. The body suffers, overall well-being leaves much to be desired. Moreover, an excess of carbohydrate foods at night leads to a high insulin release, the redistribution of sugar in the liver and adipose tissues is disturbed, and fat is deposited in the body.
How to prevent night overeating
- Eat well during the day, about 5 times.
- Diversify the diet and monitor the amount of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, macro-and micronutrients.
- Find an alternative way to deal with stress: evening walks, sports, yoga, watching the series (without harmful snacks) or lectures on the Internet, etc.
When can I eat at night?
Not everyone needs to strictly limit himself in the evenings. A few years ago, Israeli scientists conducted a study and found out the following: people who eat well after 8:00 pm often lose extra pounds faster than those who prefer to eat breakfast and not eat after 6:00 pm. It should be noted that those who have dinner before bedtime, usually skip breakfast and eat not so much during the day. That is, the calorie content of a late dinner does not exceed the energy value of the daily diet. Simply put, if you do not have time for breakfast, you can move the dinner a few hours later without harm to the figure. But it is important to remember that before bedtime it is useful to eat foods rich in easily digestible protein (egg whites, fish, steamed with a small amount of green vegetables) to avoid insulin spikes and calmly fall asleep.
Picture Credit: CyberComputers