Breakfast, lunch, and supper are all beneficial to the body. But what about a late supper, a midnight snack, or a midnight snack in the middle of the night?
Individuals who eat late at night are routinely shown to be heavier than those who consume all of their meals earlier in the day, according to research. According to a 2007 research published in the International Journal of Obesity, those who consume the most of their meals at night had higher body mass indexes than people who consume the majority of their food earlier in the day. According to research published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, individuals who ate between the hours of 11:00 pm and 5:00 am acquired more weight than those who did not eat between the hours of 11:00 pm and 5:00 am.
But what is it about the evening hours that causes the fat to accumulate?
Nothing Happens After 10 p.m. on any given night.
"Over the years, I've examined literature that suggests that the only thing that counts is the overall amount of calories consumed throughout the day," says Dr. Caroline Cederquist, a board-certified bariatric specialist and author of "The MD Factor Diet." "I believe that this is the fundamental essence of the matter. Chicken and salad are seldom made around midnight in most households. The high-fat or high-sugar meals that our bodies store so efficiently as the fat will be consumed by them, such as ice cream or chips."
According to research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, those who ate at night consumed 12 percent more calories than people who ate exclusively during the day. In addition, according to research published in the International Journal of Obesity, nocturnal diners engaged in greater binge-eating behaviours than those who did not eat after supper.
The consumption of high-sugar, high-fat meals results in higher blood sugar levels when you go to bed that night. According to Lori Zanini, a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator with the HealthCare Partners medical group in California, these may occur at any time of day and set the body up for future sugar crashes and weight gain, with the body swiftly storing extra sugar as fat. However, since your body utilises less sugar as fuel while you're sitting in bed rather than racing about, it's possible that more sugar ends up in your fat cells when you consume such meals late at night.
Getting Your Rhythm Off-Kilter
However, the difficulties associated with late-night eating extend well beyond the food that individuals consume before going to bed.
According to an animal study conducted by Northwestern University, eating late at night might result in weight gain — even if you do not consume excessive calories. Researchers assert that this is due to the fact that eating late at night might interfere with the body's natural circadian cycles.
For example, insulin – the hormone responsible for transporting sugar from your bloodstream to your body's cells for use as fuel – is regulated by your body's internal time clock. A 2013 animal research published in Current Biology found that your body's cells grow more resistant to the hormone throughout the night (when your body believes you should be sleeping and fasting), as a result. Consuming big evening meals may result in elevated blood sugar levels, which can eventually lead to fat storage and the development of Type 2 diabetes over time.
Furthermore, eating soon before night might cause sleep disruption, resulting in a biological certainty of desires the next day.
The act of eating, particularly a substantial meal, late at night increases your chance of experiencing heartburn. According to Cederquist, "esophageal reflux frequently happens when our stomachs are full and we lay down, enabling the stomach contents to reflux into the oesophagus, producing pain and interfering with sleep."
She also points out that when patients have metabolic dysfunction (which is frequent in overweight adults) and consume high-carb meals before bed, their blood sugar levels continue to drop throughout the night. The hypoglycemia, she explains, "wakes individuals up immediately out of their sleep and makes it difficult to go back asleep thereafter, interfering with regular sleep patterns."
According to a 2013 research published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, when you have a terrible night's sleep, your body's levels of appetite-triggering hormones rise, while the levels of chemicals that suppress hunger fall. People's bodies grow more resistant to the effects of insulin, increasing the likelihood of fat buildup, obesity, and Type 2 diabetes. As a result, according to a meta-analysis published in Sleep in which researchers studied 634,511 individuals from across the globe, those who often miss out on sleep are more likely to gain weight and become obese.
Eat Properly at Night
In order to allow for digestion, I often suggest that people cease eating 1.5 to 2 hours before going to bed. Due to the fact that we digest our meals more efficiently while we are upright, this position permits our bodies to properly relax and mend while we sleep in preparation for the following day," adds Zanini.
However, even when it is late at night, if a person is hungry, he or she should consume some food." "It's critical to pay attention to our bodies' hunger signals at all times," she explains. After being hungry for an extended period of time, you will experience low blood sugar levels, high cravings, and binge eating when you do eat anything.
If this describes you, resist the temptation to grab for high-fat, high-sugar treats and instead choose a nutritious protein-packed snack. "In this manner, the meal will be far less likely to boost blood sugar levels and subsequently induce a dramatic drop in blood sugar levels in the early morning hours," Cederquist explains. Almonds, low-fat cottage cheese and tomatoes, Greek yoghurt with cinnamon, and veggies dipped in hummus or guacamole are some of the foods Zanini advises as healthy snacks.
