The interval of 4-6 hours between meals best meets the digestive needs of the human body

What is the recommended schedule for eating on time?

　　Everyone wants to be healthy, and an important basis for a healthy body is to eat regularly and eat three meals a day.

So, what time is it for nutrition experts to eat on time?

　　The time it takes for the human body to digest and absorb food determines the need for three meals a day and the interval between the three meals.

For various reasons, everyone’s meal time is different, but the interval between meals should be relatively fixed.

　　The interval between breakfast and lunch is about 4-6 hours, and the interval between lunch and dinner is about 6 hours; after deducting sleep time, the time from dinner to breakfast the next day is about 5-6 hours.

　　The interval of "4-6 hours" meets the time required for the human body to digest and absorb food.

This is not prescribed by nutrition experts, but determined by the law of human gastrointestinal and physiological metabolic reactions.

　　Breakfast: 7-8 o'clock

　　When a person sleeps, most of the organs are fully rested, but the digestive organs are still digesting and absorbing the food left in the gastrointestinal tract during dinner, and only gradually enter a state of rest in the morning.

　　If you eat breakfast too early, it will inevitably interfere with gastrointestinal rest, make the digestive system in a state of fatigue and challenge for a long time, and disturb the rhythm of gastrointestinal peristalsis.

　　Therefore, it is most suitable to have breakfast 20-30 minutes after getting up at around 7 o'clock, because people have the strongest appetite at this time.

In addition, it is better to have breakfast and lunch 4-5 hours apart, that is to say, it is better to have breakfast between 7-8 o'clock.

　　Lunch: 12 o'clock

　　Lunch is the most important meal of the day. The energy it provides accounts for 40% of a person's energy consumption throughout the day.

　　Nowadays, many office workers have a short lunch break. They always spend a dozen or twenty minutes for lunch. In the middle, they have to answer the phone, send text messages, check Weibo, and read Moments. After eating, they don’t even remember what they ate. .

　　We advocate that lunch should not only be full and well-eaten, but also a kind of "realm."

　　What state?

The half-hour of lunch must be your own. It does not belong to work, entangled state of mind or unbalanced state of mind. It only belongs to you and your food.

　　Dinner: 5-7 o'clock

　　It is best not to eat anything after 8 o'clock in the evening, except for drinking water.

And, try not to go to bed within 4 hours after dinner, so that the food has enough time to digest.

　　It should be noted that the stomach is most afraid of non-punctual and irregular situations, but many friends who are busy with work are the easiest to have dinner not on time.

　　For example, I usually eat dinner at 18 o’clock, but for a few days it’s changed to 20 o’clock for various reasons, and then it’s eaten at 17 o’clock in advance two days later, and it will be eaten at 21 o’clock in a few days. This will cause stomach problems. Punctual confusion: The gastric juice has been secreted, but there is no food in the stomach, which causes the gastric juice to directly erode the gastric mucosa, and it is easy to cause gastric ulcers over time.

　　In addition, not eating regularly may also cause cholestasis and increase the risk of stones.

If you eat too late, it will affect your sleep at night and increase the risk of obesity.

　　Supper: 9-10 am, 3-4 pm

　　For some overtime workers, the interval between lunch and dinner is too long, and we can add supplementary meals between meals to make up for the problem of insufficient nutrition.

　　Between meals is the best time to eat fruit.

Generally, you can eat some fruits, yogurt, nuts and other foods at 9-10 am and 3-4 pm every day.

　　Text/Yu Kang (Professor of Department of Clinical Nutrition, Peking Union Medical College Hospital)