LATE NIGHT EATING MYTH BUSTED
How often have you read a headline: Eating After 8pm Will Ruin Your Goals?
Putting constraints on what time you are allowed to eat is a common diet culture tactic. Let's talk about what this means to understand more about how the time of meals affects your body:
First of all, night snacks can not only be helpful but necessary. Ever work late or go see friends and cannot have dinner until 9? It happens. Your body still needs fuel despite the time on the clock. I personally love night snacks and also make a desert before bed every night. The idea of not eating after 8pm stems largely from day time restriction (no breakfast, a small lunch) that can lead to "throwing in the towel" at night and binging. In turn, you go to bed full and attempt the same routine the next day, only to fail again. It's Miserable!
The question should not be if you eat after 8pm, but rather how much you should eat right before bed and how much you should eat through the day so you do not feel the need to binge at night.
Studies show that sleeping on an overly-full belly can lead to disruptions in your natural sleep cycle, which can cause lethargy the following day. Your body will be spending extra energy metabolizing your large late meal. The parasympathetic nervous system, which controls bodily functions when a person is at rest, will not be able to focus its energy on your rest, but is rather distracted by the food it is trying to breakdown in your body. This means that your sleep will be disrupted, your heart rate can be inconsistent, and you may experience acid reflux.
On the contrary, eating a small portion before bed can be helpful. Eating a small portion 30 minutes before rest starts your parasympathetic nervous system, and when you lie down it is already activated, ready to switch from "digest" to "rest." Small snacks include: yogurt with oats, fruit and chocolate chips, or a rice cake with peanut butter.
Make sure that you plan your meals out so they are evenly dispersed through the day. For example, if you are eating 2100 calories for the day, try to have 700 early in the day, 700 mid day, and 700 in the evening. Diet culture's desire to keep you eating as little as possible will lead you STARVING at the end of the day, which can trigger night time binges, where you would eat much more than you would if you had kept consistent with nutrition though the day.
Remember... Your body doesn't know if its 7:59 or 8:01, but your body knows it needs nutrients to keep it going!
Questions? Comments? Let me know!