Dinner after 10 p.m., then dessert and … something else to eat. It would seem that such eating habits cause weight gain. Meanwhile, American scientists announced that meals eaten in the evening and at night have no effect on weight gain. So why is evening snacking for years considered unhe althy and contributing to overweight and obesity?

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For a long time, the habit of eating at night has been seen as one of the factors leading to overweight and obesity. Suddenly, American scientists have published research that has shaken this belief. According to them, meals eaten at night are not more fattening than those eaten during the day.

A team of scientists from the National Center of Primates at the University of He alth and Science of Oregon conducted an experiment on a dozen female rhesus monkeys. This species has been used for years to assess the causes of obesity. The animals were fed with foods rich in fat. In a word, theirdietwas composed almost in the same way as the inhabitants of highly developed countries.

Can you eat after 18? Dr. Ania answers

Evening and night meals do not affect weight as long as they are not caloric

The monkeys ate according to strict guidelines for twelve consecutive months. Some of them ate mostly during the day, others at night. To your liking. The animals were weighed in detail once every few weeks. They found that whether their meals were consumed during the day or at night, the monkeys gained the same weight. And that putting on weight is only a matter of fat, not the time of eating. `` This means that people who eat usually in the evening and late at night are not at risk of obesity at all, '' said Dr. Judy Cameron, who leads the research team, has been questioned about the value of nutritionists' recommendation that the last meal be eaten at 6 p.m.? According to scientists from the USA, we can eat well after 6 p.m., but only if we adhere to the daily caloric intake. Otherwise ourweightwill increase. However, many people induring the day he does not feel hungry or appetite, but he also does not have time to eat a decent meal. Instead of eating empty calories during the day to make it by zero (read 6:00 p.m.), they can go home and eat a decent and he althy meal, no matter what the time, according to what scientists have found. At 8 p.m. or 11 p.m. Or whatever they want.

According to an expertMagdalena Wojciechowska, a dietitian from the Food & Diet clinic

Eating in the evening or at night in many overweight people is associated with other mistakes, e.g. poor selection of products, irregular eating, a sedentary lifestyle. All these problems put together cause weight gain. It is worth noting that one of the key problems of overweight and obese people, apart from an inadequate diet, is eating a small amount of meals, but very large, usually in the late evening hours. This behavior affects our metabolic rate. An organism that is rarely fed reduces energy expenditure, i.e. it reduces the metabolic rate. What does this mean for us? We then operate at "lower speed" and, paradoxically, we are able to gain weight by eating less. Therefore, as a dietitian, I recommend eating meals often in smaller portions. In such a schedule, there will also be a place for an evening meal, which is best eaten about 2 hours before bedtime, so that our digestive tract has time to digest what we ate. It is also important that our diet is adjusted to our daily activity. If we are the proverbial words - we start and end the day later (e.g. we get up at 12 noon and go to bed at 3 am) it is important that we eat regularly smaller portions and eat our last meal no later than 1 am.

Category:

Obesity