There are many opinions on how many hours before bedtime you can eat. People get confused about this concept, as there is a difference of opinion. Some nutritionists say that dinner should be no later than 6-7 hours, and there are studies that the last meal should be 4 hours before bedtime. And if you have to go to bed at 1 am, what opinion should you follow?
Should I eat before bedtime?
First, you need to figure out if you can eat before bedtime. The fact is that the digestion processes during sleep are slowed down and the food eaten at night does not have time to digest. For this reason, stomach diseases, dysbiosis develop and immunity deteriorates and, as a result, excess weight appears. But gaining an extra kilogram is not the worst thing that can happen.
Disruption of the hormonal system leads to the appearance of serious diseases such as atherosclerosis, osteochondrosis, hypertension, followed by strokes, etc. Depression, psychosis and other nervous disorders are the result of eating at night.
Experts note that during sleep on an empty stomach, the body starts the rejuvenation mechanism, and if it is in front of it, the level of sex hormone and stress hormone increases in it. This leads to accelerated aging of the body.
Best time for dinner
Dinner before 18 o’clock is advisable if the time of sleep comes from 20:00 to 21:00. Otherwise, there will be a very long break between the last and first (morning) meal. And this provokes fluctuations in sugar and insulin levels, which leads to a great feeling of hunger, and in the future to overeating.
Light dinner
Gastroenterologists and pediatricians, arguing about how many hours before bedtime you can eat, came to the conclusion that patients with diseases of the digestive system and children under 14 years old should not go to bed hungry. Nutritionists in this case suggest eating low-calorie foods. If we talk about light dishes for dinner, then they include boiled chicken with vegetables, baked fish with salad, cottage cheese.
Therefore, everyone else, except for the above categories of people, is not recommended to eat at night. But also nutritionists advise, if you really want to, then one hour before bedtime you can eat light meals: a portion of green salad, stewed vegetables, a small portion of oatmeal in water, a glass of milk or kefir, a couple of apples, yogurt without additives, banana. They will be able to satisfy hunger well and will not harm the body.
This food is not suitable for dinner.
But if you still have doubts about whether it is worth it at night, then you should always listen to your body.
There are people who allow themselves any errors in nutrition and do not gain excess weight. For those who are inclined to be full, eat before bedtime no later than 3-4 hours. During this period of time, the body will digest food and at the same time will not be hungry, and will not save fat in reserve. But you should know what foods you can not eat for dinner. This is coffee and other drinks containing caffeine.
It also includes
pizza, potatoes and especially french fries, fatty meats, sweet cereals and sweets, spicy, smoked and pickled products. For dinner, eat light protein foods and avoid carbohydrates.
How many hours before bedtime can I eat? When answering a question, one must take into account a person’s lifestyle, time of sleep and awakening, what food and in what quantity was consumed during the day. Here everything is calculated individually.
The opinion of nutritionists
Earlier foods that should not be consumed in the evening have been considered. Nutritionists offer recipes for dinners and late snacks. For 2-3 hours before bedtime, it is better to cook pollock fillet, chum salmon, salmon. Fish should be baked in the oven. The ideal option would be fish cakes or meatballs, baked in the oven or steamed.
You can cook mussels or shrimp for dinner. Poultry and lean beef must be cooked with vegetables. 1-2 hours before bedtime, it is useful to eat fresh greens salads, which can be watered with 1 tablespoon of flaxseed oil. It is sold in a pharmacy. Half an hour before bedtime, you are allowed to drink a glass of yogurt or eat a little cottage cheese, washed down with herbal tea.
Athletes Opinion
There is also the opinion of athletes: for those who play sports, what is before bedtime is extremely important, and sometimes even necessary, since a snack will reduce the feeling of hunger and the body will have enough protein for muscle growth. But you need to properly arrange dinner time. Athletes recommend eating a small, 250 gram, portion of protein food in an hour and a half.
Making dinner more healthy
If you have already developed the habit of eating food just before going to bed, and in the morning you have to wake up with a feeling of heaviness, tiredness and bags under your eyes and swelling appear, then you need to gradually moderate your evening appetite. To do this, you need to change the dinner ration - remove high-calorie foods and replace them with less high-calorie ones.
It is important to exclude alcohol consumption at night, it is preferable to drink water or green tea. They recommend using aromatherapy: the smells of fir, vanilla and peppermint help relieve the feeling of hunger and promote a quiet sleep.
Conclusion
Now it’s clear how many hours before bedtime you can eat. Having analyzed the opinions of scientists, doctors, athletes and girls who are very eager to watch their figure, it was very difficult to come up with a definite decision.
But everyone who cares about this problem adheres to the rules: you can’t eat right before bedtime, it’s better to do it in an hour and a half. It is necessary to exclude the evening intake of
carbohydrate food and alcohol. Servings should be small. Then an evening dinner or a small snack will not be able to harm health.