Does skipping dinner help lose weight?
Does this rule apply if dinner is included in your calorie count?
And does it matter if I take it early?
Scientific studies have not proven the dangers of eating at night, or its effect on the 3 most important things in weight regulation: your appetite, the number of calories your body burns, and your tissues storing fat.
But 2022 brings an answer to the effects of nighttime meals, and the best time to eat every meal if you're striving to lose a healthy weight.
Breakfast as soon as you wake up
Researchers at Brigham Hospital investigated the link between eating time and the risk of obesity, so they planned two diets containing the same meals, with an interval of 4 hours between meals. In the second system, breakfast should be eaten 4 hours after waking up.
Two groups of obese patients followed the two diets for 3 weeks, and the patients adhered to fixed sleep-wake schedules, and recorded their daily activity, times of hunger, appetite, and duration of exposure to sunlight. They also underwent laboratory tests that included collecting small blood samples throughout the day, measuring temperatures, and examining fatty tissue .
The results appeared last October, and revealed the effect of eating late on the second group's sense of hunger, and appetite-regulating hormones, namely "leptin" and "ghrelin";
The level of the hormone "leptin" responsible for feeling full decreased, after 24 hours of eating at night, and the desire to eat starchy and salty foods increased, the rate of burning calories slowed, and the formation of fatty tissue increased.
If a person eats calories during inactivity, he will feel more hungry at the time he is supposed to sleep (Deutsche Welle)
Eating at fixed times
The results of that study coincided with another explanation from Northwestern University, that night eating is linked to obesity and diabetes.
The researchers discovered that eating food at random times harms the metabolism. Fatty tissues in the body deal with what a person eats differently, if it does not correspond to the biological clock of his body;
Therefore, researchers warned of what they called the “cafeteria diet,” in which a person eats his food at different times, according to his feeling of hunger, and not according to a schedule.
The researchers also explained the role of the human body’s biological clock in weight gain, as the biological clock differentiates between the times of activity (day) and inactivity (night), and increases the metabolic rate during the day, considering that it is the time of activity, and then declines at night because the body does not need energy.
But if a person eats calories during inactivity, and his biological clock is disturbed, he will feel more hungry at the time he is supposed to sleep.
Therefore, researchers recommend respecting the biological clock - not only in bedtimes - and using periods of activity to burn calories.
Researchers advise respecting the biological clock and using periods of activity to burn calories (Shutterstock)
intermittent fasting
We understand from the two previous experiences that breakfast should be eaten within the first hour after waking up, and food should be eaten during daylight hours, and at fixed times.
But how many hours are we allowed to eat?
Researchers at the University of California Department of Cardiovascular Medicine tested a diet that restricted eating within 10 hours and fasting for the rest of the day.
The researchers applied the system to firefighters working on 24-hour shifts, and 71 percent of them had at least one risk factor for heart disease and diabetes, as a result of their body clocks being disturbed.
Those who were researched committed themselves to eating within 10 hours a day, without interfering with the number of calories or the number of meals, a diet known as “intermittent fasting”, that is, eating food during a specific period of the day, and fasting for the rest of the day, while maintaining Keep the body hydrated, by drinking water and low-calorie drinks.
The number of hours that intermittent fasting people fast varies, but the researchers preferred to fast only 14 hours from food, to ensure that the system is easy to follow and avoid unhealthy weight loss, muscle loss, or poor energy.
After 12 weeks on the regimen, the researchers examined the workers and found they had a lower risk of developing blood pressure or abnormal blood sugar levels, and a lower body mass index than before the experiment, without losing muscle, and firefighters reported higher levels of activity. The quality of their sleep improves, and they feel less tired.
The researchers published their results last October, in which they emphasized the ability of moderate intermittent fasting to improve lifestyle and physical and mental health, but recommended eating in a period of 10 hours a day, to avoid the side effects of a fast and harsh diet.