If you’re serious about losing weight, it’s important to take into account the best time of day to eat. According to a new study, eating certain foods at specific times of day could help you shed those extra pounds.
The study – published in the journal Appetite—compared food consumption patterns of people who lost weight and people who didn’t. To determine the best time of day to eat, researchers examined food intake over a fourteen day period among eighty-six adults who reported to have either lost or maintained a healthy weight.
On days one to seven, the participants reported to have eaten the following amounts of food per day:
- 3 meals
- 1 snack
- 3 snacks
- 1 dessert
- 5 fruits
- 3 vegetables
- 1 dairy product
- 3 non-dairy products
- 1 bread product
- 1 beer or wine
The results showed that the participants who lost weight ate mostly snacks and beverages between eleven a.m. and seven p.m. However, those who stayed the same weight ate mostly during the day and between five and nine p.m.
According to the researchers, this is likely because many people who are trying to lose weight feel that they aren’t making good food choices during the day. As people get tired of the day, they might want something to sustain them and turn off hunger pangs. This is why snacks and lunch are often seen as the ‘bad’ food choices among people trying to lose weight. However, the truth is that these are the times when your body needs carbohydrates the most.
When you eat during the day, the food is generally emptied from your stomach into your small intestines for digestion. Once there, the food begins a process of chemical change that results in energy being released. Because the food is broken down more quickly, your body requires more energy to digest it. So while eating during the day may not be ideal, it’s not necessarily bad. It’s simply different.
Nighttime Eating Is Bad
When you eat at night, you are largely ignoring the bodies need for energy during this time. This is why many people who are trying to lose weight avoid eating in the evening. It’s also one of the reasons why people with diabetes often have problems with nighttime hunger—they have to take their medication at night, and it sometimes doesn’t take effect until morning. Eating after dark causes the food to stay in your stomach for a longer period of time, preventing some of the benefits that come from eating regularly.
Eating at night also disrupts your body’s metabolism. Studies have shown that eating can increase your body’s insulin levels. Insulin is a hormone that regulates the amount of sugar in your blood. When your body is fed at night, the sugar level in your blood can remain high for much longer. This means that even if you do manage to get a good night’s sleep, you’ll wake up feeling more tired than when you went to bed. It’s also likely that you’ll wake up with a headache, so if this is your first night awake in a while, it might be a good idea to drink some herbal tea or eat a snack to help you digest food more effectively. Alternatively, you could try eating something small right before bedtime to help your body adjust to going without food for a while. This way, you’ll get the boost of energy you need to make it through the night without feeling sluggish or tired in the morning. Keep in mind also that too much food during the day can lead to heartburn, indigestion, or reflux. If you know that this is something that occasionally affects you, it might be best to avoid eating large meals during the day so that you don’t aggravate these conditions. Instead, you could try eating smaller meals more frequently throughout the day. This is easier for the body to process, which often results in smaller waistlines and healthier hearts.
Eating Frequently Is Important
It is well known that people who eat frequently tend to lose more weight than those who eat less frequently. This is because when you eat frequently, your body doesn’t have time to sit down and process a large amount of food. This means that even though you might eat a lot, you’ll still feel hungry for more. In contrast, if you ignore your body’s hunger pangs for long periods of time, they’ll eventually become accustomed to being ignored. This is why it is important to give your body what it needs and eat frequently during the day even if you aren’t feeling particularly hungry. Try to eat at least once every two hours to keep yourself from becoming lethargic, and to keep your metabolism active. In some cases, this could mean eating three meals per day. However, because your body requires more energy when it is fueled by frequent meals, it is generally better to eat fewer frequent meals and instead eat a lot when you’re actually hungry. The key is to listen to your body and feed it what it needs. Eat to fuel your body, not to satisfy your hunger. This will help you lose weight faster and prevent many of the health problems that come with being overweight. It also helps prevent binge eating, which is common among people who try to lose weight. If you find that you are constantly feeling hungry, even when you try to follow a healthy diet, it might be a good idea to consult a physician so that he can perform a clinical assessment of your general health. This is because some health problems, such as diabetes mellitus, can cause your body to go through periods of time when it needs more frequent meals than usual. In some cases, this could mean that you need to eat as much as four or five times per day. In other cases, it might be that you need to eat more often than normal. It’s usually a good idea to get this checked out because it could be a sign that something is seriously wrong and that you need to see a physician immediately. If you try to self-diagnose and treat yourself with home remedies, you could put yourself at risk of serious health complications.