So when exactly should you stop eating at night? Scientists can't agree on a single set time, but the consensus seems to be within three hours before bedtime. So if you go to bed at 11 p.m., don't eat after 8 p.m.
“The studies suggest that eating out of our normal rhythm, like late at night, may prompt weight gain” and higher levels of blood sugar, which can raise the risk of chronic disease, Allison says.
In America, the average dinner time is 6:22 p.m. Some folks choose to eat well after 9 p.m. Dorothy Bain, a 63-year-old retired nurse in Laurinburg, North Carolina, sometimes cooks steak for dinner, sometimes chicken. What's constant is when she eats dinner—always between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m.
There's no be-all and end-all on what time you should close the kitchen. Some researchers define "eating late" as eating your last meal less than two hours before bedtime, while other research suggests cutting yourself off by 6 p.m. delivers the greatest health benefits.
You should eat dinner approximately four to five hours after eating lunch. If that falls in the 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. window, you hit the last hour of your body's heightened metabolic rate before it starts to slow. Keep in mind that the longer you give your body between your last meal and your bedtime, the better.
Researchers from Loma Linda University Adventist Health Sciences Center in California studied meal timing and frequency and the correlation with BMI in more than 50,000 people. The results, published in The Journal of Nutrition, show that timing does, in fact, matter in weight loss.
Recent medical studies have shown that eating between the hours of 12pm-11pm resulted in higher levels of blood glucose, insulin and cholesterol, than eating between the hours of 8am-7pm. So, if your goal is to reduce your body fat or your cholesterol, it may be beneficial to try curbing your late night eating habits.
So when exactly should you stop eating at night? Scientists can't agree on a single set time, but the consensus seems to be within three hours before bedtime. So if you go to bed at 11 p.m., don't eat after 8 p.m.
Even if your lunch or dinner mate is easygoing, it's disrespectful arrive more than five minutes late. Aim to arrive at least five or ten minutes before the curtain goes up. Arriving after showtime can spoil the whole evening. Appointments with doctors, hairstylists, etc.
Besides the extra calories, eating too close to bedtime can have other health implications such as digestive issues. When sleeping, our digestion naturally slows down as our metabolism enters a resting state. Lying down in bed immediately after eating can lead to symptoms such as indigestion, acid reflux and heartburn.
Australian families usually have dinner between 6 and 7pm, but I see older people having dinner as early as 5pm and young busy professionals can have dinner as late as 8 or 9pm.
How Long Before Bed Should You Stop Eating? While estimates vary, most experts recommend eating a meal two to four hours before bedtime. People who eat meals well ahead of bedtime have enough time to properly digest their food.
The Typical Italian Dinner
Italian dinner or la cena, usually from 8:00 to 10:00pm, is another time that Italians enjoy sitting down together and socializing. Dinner can be much later than 10:00pm, especially if eating out or dining at a friend's house.
Your body might actually be pushing you towards the pantry or fridge. A recent study published in the International Journal of Obesity found that participants who felt stressed saw their levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin rise in the evening.
Because of the way our internal clocks operate, our bodies are primed to digest and metabolize food early in the day. As the day progresses, our metabolisms become less efficient. Studies show that a meal consumed at 9 a.m. can have vastly different metabolic effects than the same meal consumed at 9 p.m.
The consensus? It can impact your digestion and metabolic processes, but a late dinner is better than no dinner. According to a 2020 article published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, the time between your dinner and your bedtime is what matters when it comes to a late dinner.
An early evening meal is sometimes called tea, and a late evening meal is sometimes called supper.
Supper – light meal eaten in the late evening; as early as 7pm or as late as midnight.
The usual advice from experts is to stop eating three hours before bed. This period of time gives your body time to digest a meal, limiting the indigestion, possible weight gain and acid reflux that could keep you up when you get into bed. So if you aim to be in bed by midnight, try to eat dinner before 9 p.m.
It is familiar advice that eating late at night can cause weight gain and health complications. But research has now found it's perfectly fine to finish dinner at 9.30pm – if you also have a late breakfast the next day.
“Previous research by us and others had shown that late eating is associated with increased obesity risk, increased body fat, and impaired weight loss success.
A recent study, The Big Breakfast Study: Chrono‐nutrition influence on energy expenditure and bodyweight, showed that breakfast as the biggest meal is the best strategy for weight control.