Table of contents:
- There are no health benefits of skipping meals, including dinner
- Dinner provides fuel intake during sleep
- So, when is the perfect time to have dinner?
- What are the dinner rules to stay healthy and not make you fat?
Many people think that dinner is a routine that should be avoided, especially for those who are on a diet program. In fact, just like breakfast and lunch, you should not miss dinner. So, what are the dangers of not having dinner often? Find out the answer in this article.
There are no health benefits of skipping meals, including dinner
Apart from breakfast, many people choose to skip dinner. The reason is that eating time contributes greatly to weight gain. So those who want to lose weight choose not to eat at night.
Not only that, there are also many assumptions that say that when a person sleeps, the body's digestive system will stop. So that the food consumed at night is not digested properly which will actually result in weight gain.
However, Pooja Makhija, a consultant Nutritionist and Clinical Dietcian in India, said that there are no health benefits that can be obtained if someone often skips meals. Including skipping dinner.
The first thing you will feel when you skip dinner frequently is the onset of intense hunger the next day. Then you will feel nauseous and have acid reflux because your stomach is left empty for a long time - especially if you also missed lunch beforehand. In addition, your sleep will not sound good because you often wake up in the middle of the night because of hunger.
So, in the end, you will be tempted to eat sweet foods at night because you feel tired from not falling asleep. This actually triggers an increase in appetite due to excessive hunger due to frequent skipping meals.
Dinner provides fuel intake during sleep
Actually, dinner is the last energy intake for the body before you go to sleep until breakfast time arrives. Therefore, you must ensure that before going to bed, you have met the supply of glucose in the body to be used as fuel during sleep.
The cause you often wake up in the middle of the night is often because blood sugar levels have decreased. Which is where the body has to release the glucose reserves that the body stores so that it causes you to wake up during sleep due to running out of energy - starvation. Well, this is what sometimes makes a person snacking midnight to get rid of hunger.
That is why, it is very important for you not to skip a healthy and nutritious dinner so that when you sleep, the body is able to release glucose stably into the bloodstream.
So, when is the perfect time to have dinner?
Basically, dinner is not something that is prohibited if you are on a diet, it's just that you have to pay attention to eating hours that follow your body's biological clock. A study conducted at Harvard University Medical School explains that no matter how healthy the food you eat, if your meal schedule doesn't follow your body's biological clock, your metabolic system can go awry.
Well, the best time to eat is actually 5pm to 7 - 8pm late. This meal time is considered the most appropriate because it is estimated that your body has finished digesting food completely before you fell asleep. In essence, give it about 3 hours so that the food can be digested by the body completely before you sleep.
What are the dinner rules to stay healthy and not make you fat?
Apart from paying attention to meal times, there are several other things that you should pay attention to so that your dinner remains healthy and without disturbing your health, including:
- Always pay attention to the intake of food you eat. It's a good idea to eat snacks but healthy at night. A bowl of fruit and a glass of milk is a good solution.
- It takes about 20 minutes for the body to feel when the stomach is full. Therefore, eat slowly, don't rush. This will prevent you from overeating and ending up full.
- If you want to eat heavy, avoid eating fatty and spicy foods late at night. The reason is that these two types of food are difficult for the body to digest, which allows you to experience digestive disorders such as stomach pain, which can disturb the quality of your sleep.
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