The best times of day to eat, according to Science
you ‘ve long heard that eating your biggest meal in the morning and your smallest in the evening is the best way to stay lean and trim. But what is the truth? What does science say about the optimal time to eat to maintain weight and prevent cardiovascular disease, diabetes and a host of other chronic diseases?
Experts say that while the quality of the food you eat is most important, the timing is second. Research shows that when people eat the same amount of calories each day, but most of them in the morning and at lunch, they lose more weight than people who eat most of their calories in the evening, says Courtney Petersonassociate professor of nutrition at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
She says they were also less hungry throughout the day. “It’s a one-two punch because those who ate the most calories at night lost less weight, but they were also hungrier,” says Peterson.
best times of day to eat, according to Science
According to experts, it all depends on how your body reacts to hunger. “Subjective hunger,” or how hungry you say you are, is higher later in the day, as are levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin, Peterson says. It’s the hormone that signals your brain that you’re hungry and it’s time to eat.
Read more: The science behind why we get hungry
You also burn fewer calories when you eat later in the day, due to what’s called the “thermic effect.” This is the number of calories your body needs to digest, absorb and metabolize food. “Genes that are involved in burning and storing fat seem to perform worse later in the day and tend to activate pathways in the brain that store fat more easily,” says Peterson.
But not only weight loss depends on the time of day you eat. Eating earlier in the day can also be beneficial for overall health, such as maintaining blood sugar, as well as lowering blood pressure and improving thyroid health. A July 2021 study published in the journal nutrients an earlier dinner has been found to improve blood sugar levels. Also, a November 2021 study published in the journal Epidemiology and Health found that eating later in the day increased cardiovascular risk factors such as blood triglyceride concentration.
All of these mechanisms depend on the time of day due to the body’s circadian system or internal biological clock. The circadian system is also why your best athletic performance is in the afternoon and you sleep better in the evening.
Read more: How your circadian rhythms control your every waking and sleeping moment
“Your body is optimized to perform certain tasks at certain times of the day, which makes sense from an evolutionary perspective,” says Peterson. Millions of years ago, the sun produced most of the light that early humans depended on to live, and therefore, we were much less active at night.
When should you eat?
Nutritionist and author Carolyn Williams says it’s also important to note that our bodies need to have certain times when we eat and when we don’t. The body is hormonally and metabolically wired to require at least a 12-hour window when we don’t eat, Williams says.
That’s how we lived until the 1970s, when snacks and 24-hour food availability became a staple. The body is better able to shed pounds when there is at least a 12-16 hour window when we are not eating. “Half a century ago, most meals were eaten at home, there weren’t as many snacks, and the kitchen was closed for the night after dinner,” says Williams.
Read more: We’ve all heard that eating late is unhealthy. Is it true?
If you tend to eat dinner later at night, it is still important to fast for 12-16 hours. This means that if you eat dinner at 9:00pm, then you should not eat again until between 9:00am and 1:00pm the next day.
Just because you eat dinner late at night doesn’t mean you’re doomed. But it pays to make your last meal of the day the smallest of the three. And most importantly, every evening after dinner the kitchen must be closed for work until it is time for breakfast the next morning.
You’ve long heard that eating your biggest meal in the morning and your smallest in the evening is the best way to stay lean and trim. But what is the truth? What does science say about the optimal time to eat to maintain weight and prevent cardiovascular disease, diabetes and a host of other chronic diseases?
Experts say that while the quality of the food you eat is most important, the timing is second. Research shows that when people eat the same amount of calories each day, but most of them in the morning and at lunch, they lose more weight than people who eat most of their calories in the evening, says Courtney Petersonassociate professor of nutrition at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
She says they were also less hungry throughout the day. “It’s a one-two punch because those who ate the most calories at night lost less weight, but they were also hungrier,” says Peterson.
What happens in the body?
According to experts, it all depends on how your body reacts to hunger. “Subjective hunger,” or how hungry you say you are, is higher later in the day, as are levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin, Peterson says. It’s the hormone that signals your brain that you’re hungry and it’s time to eat.
Read more: The science behind why we get hungry
You also burn fewer calories when you eat later in the day, due to what’s called the “thermic effect.” This is the number of calories your body needs to digest, absorb and metabolize food. “Genes that are involved in burning and storing fat seem to perform worse later in the day and tend to activate pathways in the brain that store fat more easily,” says Peterson.
But not only weight loss depends on the time of day you eat. Eating earlier in the day can also be beneficial for overall health, such as maintaining blood sugar, as well as lowering blood pressure and improving thyroid health. A July 2021 study published in the journal nutrients an earlier dinner has been found to improve blood sugar levels. Also, a November 2021 study published in the journal Epidemiology and Health found that eating later in the day increased cardiovascular risk factors such as blood triglyceride concentration.
All of these mechanisms depend on the time of day due to the body’s circadian system or internal biological clock. The circadian system is also why your best athletic performance is in the afternoon and you sleep better in the evening.
Read more: How your circadian rhythms control your every waking and sleeping moment
“Your body is optimized to perform certain tasks at certain times of the day, which makes sense from an evolutionary perspective,” says Peterson. Millions of years ago, the sun produced most of the light that early humans depended on to live, and therefore, we were much less active at night.
When should you eat? The best times of day to eat
Nutritionist and author Carolyn Williams says it’s also important to note that our bodies need to have certain times when we eat and when we don’t. The body is hormonally and metabolically wired to require at least a 12-hour window when we don’t eat, Williams says.
That’s how we lived until the 1970s, when snacks and 24-hour food availability became a staple. The body is better able to shed pounds when there is at least a 12-16 hour window when we are not eating. “Half a century ago, most meals were eaten at home, there weren’t as many snacks, and the kitchen was closed for the night after dinner,” says Williams.
Read more: We’ve all heard that eating late is unhealthy. Is it true?
If you tend to eat dinner later at night, it is still important to fast for 12-16 hours. This means that if you eat dinner at 9:00pm, then you should not eat again until between 9:00am and 1:00pm the next day.
Just because you eat dinner late at night doesn’t mean you’re doomed. But it pays to make your last meal of the day the smallest of the three. And most importantly, every evening after dinner the kitchen must be closed for work until it is time for breakfast the next morning.
You’ve long heard that eating your biggest meal in the morning and your smallest in the evening is the best way to stay lean and trim. But what is the truth? What does science say about the optimal time to eat to maintain weight and prevent cardiovascular disease, diabetes and a host of other chronic diseases?
Experts say that while the quality of the food you eat is most important, the timing is second. Research shows that when people eat the same amount of calories each day, but most of them in the morning and at lunch, they lose more weight than people who eat most of their calories in the evening, says Courtney Petersonassociate professor of nutrition at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
She says they were also less hungry throughout the day. “It’s a one-two punch because those who ate the most calories at night lost less weight, but they were also hungrier,” says Peterson.
What happens in the body?The best times of day to eat .
According to experts, it all depends on how your body reacts to hunger. “Subjective hunger,” or how hungry you say you are, is higher later in the day, as are levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin, Peterson says. It’s the hormone that signals your brain that you’re hungry and it’s time to eat.
Read more: The science behind why we get hungry
You also burn fewer calories when you eat later in the day, due to what’s called the “thermic effect.” This is the number of calories your body needs to digest, absorb and metabolize food. “Genes that are involved in burning and storing fat seem to perform worse later in the day and tend to activate pathways in the brain that store fat more easily,” says Peterson.
But not only weight loss depends on the time of day you eat. Eating earlier in the day can also be beneficial for overall health, such as maintaining blood sugar, as well as lowering blood pressure and improving thyroid health. A July 2021 study published in the journal nutrients an earlier dinner has been found to improve blood sugar levels. Also, a November 2021 study published in the journal Epidemiology and Health found that eating later in the day increased cardiovascular risk factors such as blood triglyceride concentration.
All of these mechanisms depend on the time of day due to the body’s circadian system or internal biological clock. The circadian system is also why your best athletic performance is in the afternoon and you sleep better in the evening.
Read more: How your circadian rhythms control your every waking and sleeping moment
“Your body is optimized to perform certain tasks at certain times of the day, which makes sense from an evolutionary perspective,” says Peterson. Millions of years ago, the sun produced most of the light that early humans depended on to live, and therefore, we were much less active at night.
When should you eat?
Nutritionist and author Carolyn Williams says it’s also important to note that our bodies need to have certain times when we eat and when we don’t. The body is hormonally and metabolically wired to require at least a 12-hour window when we don’t eat, Williams says.
That’s how we lived until the 1970s, when snacks and 24-hour food availability became a staple. The body is better able to shed pounds when there is at least a 12-16 hour window when we are not eating. “Half a century ago, most meals were eaten at home, there weren’t as many snacks, and the kitchen was closed for the night after dinner,” says Williams.
Read more: We’ve all heard that eating late is unhealthy. Is it true?
If you tend to eat dinner later at night, it is still important to fast for 12-16 hours. This means that if you eat dinner at 9:00pm, then you should not eat again until between 9:00am and 1:00pm the next day.
Just because you eat dinner late at night doesn’t mean you’re doomed. But it pays to make your last meal of the day the smallest of the three. And most importantly, every evening after dinner the kitchen must be closed for work until it is time for breakfast the next morning.