Late night eating has been discouraged by a lot of dieticians for the longest time. However, there have been people who argue that it does not matter what time of the day you eat as long as you eat healthy. Regardless of the opposing views, here are 5 Reasons you should not eat after 8 P.M.
Reason #1 – To avoid nighttime heartburn
It is a fact that eating late at night keeps your stomach busy, continuing to produce gastric acids in an excessive amounts. When you lie down shortly after your meal, the acids are pushed into your lower esophageal sphincter, irritating the latter resulting in heartburn. This worsens when you lie down on your stomach. To prevent this from occurring, eating after 8 p.m. should be avoided.
Reason #2 – To get a good night’s sleep
Studies show that eating does have an effect on your sleep since those who ate late at night had a difficult time going into deep sleep. It is because when you eat close to your bedtime your stomach is still working hard to digest your food, during this time your stomach is required to rest and recuperate. In effect, sleep deprivation slows down your metabolism leading to faster weight gain.
Reason #3 – To prevent weight gain.
One of the 5 Reasons you should not eat after 8 P.M is to keep you from gaining weight. Studies reveal that there is a relation between eating especially large meals late night and weight gain. When you eat late, it causes the rising of triglyceride levels which in turn signals the body to store fat used to produce energy. Since no physical activity is done during nighttime, the fats remain in our body without being burned. Hence, this results to weight gain.
Reason #4 – To refrain from overeating
When you eat beyond 8 p.m. chances are you are too hungry that you forget to consider your caloric intake. Due to the need to satiate yourself after a long gap from your last meal you eat more than necessary. This ensures that needless calories will be consumed then stored as fat once it is processed.
Reason #5 – To decrease your risk of having type 2 diabetes
The last of the 5 Reasons is, to lower your chances of contracting diabetes. This is important if you eat your dinner late night despite not consuming anything for about 5 hours prior. This causes your insulin level to spike over a period of time, leading to diabetes.
Developing a healthy schedule for your dinner which is ideally before 8 p.m. is indeed beneficial. It is the key to weight loss and to a healthier you.
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