We should have established schedules for daily eating. An important part of a healthy intake, in addition to proportions, ingredients and combinations, is the time at which we make each intake.
On the one hand, we should not go too long without food after we get up in the morning. The same goes for snacks and meals. But what is always in doubt is dinner, what is the best time to have dinner?
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Find out what time is the best time to have dinner.
Nutritionists recommend specific times for each food. That is the reason why diets normally include two snacks (or hors d’oeuvres) a day. This is because the body must “recharge” with energy throughout the day.
However, dinner is different because it takes place before we go to sleep.. A good night’s sleep is essential for good health, and the time we eat dinner, as well as what we eat, plays a major role in the quality of our sleep. For that reason it is important to know what is the best time to have dinner.
The importance of dinner
It is not always advisable to go to bed without dinner. In addition to the fact that it seems like a daily punishment for some mothers who send their children to bed without having eaten the last meal of the day, many adults resort to this as a strategy to lose weight. While there is a logic to it and it might work, the truth is that it is not always the best thing to do.
During the sleep cycle, the body spends too much time without food and although physical and mental activity decreases, there is still effort and energy expenditure. That is why it is advisable to have something to eat before going to sleep, but the difference for a healthy dinner, lies in what we eat at this time of the day and our habits and schedules to ingest this last one. and schedules to ingest this last food.
So rather than skipping dinner and going to sleep without eating, it is better to establish a routine of schedules throughout the day and be careful especially with dinner time. In addition to this, the food we eat at the end of the day must be adequate to promote a restful rest and at the same time avoid a drop in sugar levels due to lack of food.
Herein lies the importance of dinner. But for it to be a moment that favors us and that helps our nutrition and health, we must follow some tips, for example, something very important is the type of food we are going to eat and above all: make dinner at an appropriate time.
The right foods for dinner
We must be careful with what we eat at dinner.. The most important thing is that they are light foods, we must take into account that the body goes into inactivity and it is difficult to process heavy food, high in fat or sugars. This also makes it difficult to have a deep and restful sleep.
Among the foods you should definitely avoid are those high in carbohydrates. That is to say that cookies, bread, pizza and industrialized cereals are not a good idea at all. Red meat should also not be consumed at dinner.. Pasta, rice and potatoes should also be avoided at this time. And in general, all junk food is discarded.
Fried food should also be discarded at dinner time. As for alcohol, it is best that its ingestion is long before dinner or at least that it is not habitual or daily drink it before going to sleep. Although many people claim that drinking alcohol helps you sleep better, in the long run it is counterproductive.
What should be consumed are foods that, in addition to being light, provide tryptophan, which helps produce melatonin, the hormone that promotes restful sleep. Some options are: yogurt, milk, cheese, nuts, eggs, chicken and oily fish. Vegetables are always recommended and a salad is also an excellent option.
The best time to have dinner
In addition to the food, the time is essential to have a good dinner. You should not eat food immediately before going to sleep, nor should too many hours pass between your last meal and the time you go to bed to rest. So you have to create a routine with all the foods of the day.
Breakfast should be eaten before 9:30 and no more than two hours should pass after waking up to eat our first meal of the day. Lunch should be no later than 3:00 pm. And between these meals should make a snack. It can be a fruit or a handful of some dried fruit.
As for dinner, the maximum time to carry it out is maximum at 21:30 pm.. But it is important to have it 3 hours before going to bed. So depending on the time when we are used to go to rest, we must calculate 3 hours before and then eat the last food. So if we sleep at 23:00, then dinner should be maximum at 20:00.
Between lunch and dinner there can be an intermission a little stronger than a snack, i.e. an afternoon snack. You can choose yogurt with fruit or whole wheat bread with cheese. This way, when you get to dinner you will not feel so hungry and it will be enough with the light food that is recommended for the last meal of the day.
So the best thing to do is to organize a routine with schedules for the three most important foods of the day. With this you will be favoring that the metabolism works properly, that there is no accumulation of fat, that your sleep really provides you a good rest and that you do not feel anxiety to go to bed without dinner because you think that with this you will help to lose weight.