From Japan, China, India and the ancient Mayan cultures, many traditional societies intuitively knew that eating late at night was not good for our digestive systems.
Our medical science has repeatedly attempted to show that it shouldn’t matter how late we eat just as long as we are burning the calories. Well I think we all know by now how wrong the information provided by our modern medical system can be. We currently have more digestive and health problems than anytime in recorded history!
Ancient cultures on the other hand, tell us that our ideal digestion requires us to eat an earlier, lighter dinner.
How Eating Late Affects Your Body
Eating late affects the body in a different way than eating a larger meal at mid-day. If we consume most of our calories at night, our bodies are not able to process the food as efficiently as we do during the day.
Furthermore, unless you work the night shift, most of us are tired after a hard day of work. After dinner, we want to rest and settle in for the night. This is a good idea! It prepares our bodies for sleep and relaxation. Unfortunately, if we lie down with a huge belly full of food, we are putting a strain on our system.
This usually leads to a feeling of lethargy in the morning. We also experience disrupted sleep if the body is working so hard to digest what we ate the night before.
Red meat is an especially toxic food to consume late at night. Meat takes longer than any other food item to digest. We should particularly avoid the intake of meat late at night, as it tends to stay in our digestive track longer than grains, fruits or vegetables.
Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine believe the late evening and early morning hours are the time for cleansing and healing the body from the day before.
If we are using the body’s energy to digest food (which should have occurred during the active day-time hours), we are not giving the body that precious cleansing time that it needs to help fight off disease, as well as help heal ourselves naturally.
Research Into Late Night Eating
Studies by Dr. Louis J. Aronne, director of a weight control program for the Weill Cornell Medical Center, have shown that people who eat late, eat more than they would during a day-time meal.
Furthermore, these studies found a link between larger evening meals and an increase in triglyceride levels associated with diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and overall weight gain.
When our triglyceride levels are high, our body thinks that it needs to store the fat from this excessive night-time eating for later use. Quite literally, when we eat large meals at night, we unwillingly inform the body that there will be a shortage of food soon, so it needs to make us fat in the mean time!
Many people complain that they are able to eat healthy meals all day long, but at night they begin to crave sweets and heavy foods. This may involve an emotional component to eating. Are you stressed from a long day? Are you left exhausted? Look at how you missed out on areas of “sweetness” in your own life. What emotional comfort are you seeking from large amounts of late night food? Try taking a warm bath with essential oils to comfort yourself.
Tips to Avoid Eating Late At Night
- Eat a moderate breakfast and a heavier lunch.
- Try eating a light dinner that still fulfills a healthy emotional “nourishing” component. A good dinner food is soup. It is warming, filling, and easy on our digestive tract. Particularly in the winter and fall, it is the perfect later meal.
- If you aren’t a fan of larger lunches, go for a larger dinner before 6 PM.
- When you feel like eating late at night, drink a cup of warm lemon water or an herbal tea with raw honey. Hot liquids are soothing, warming and nourish the emotions.
- Remember that if you have habitually eaten late over a long period of time, you will have to retrain your body not to crave that habit. Start slowly by reducing your portion sizes and choosing healthier meals.
- Stop eating foods that cause high energy peaks, followed by large energy plummets. Trade in junk food, white sugar, processes foods and white flour for whole grains, warming soups, fruits and vegetables.
- Brush your teeth earlier! It may sound too simple, but some people find that if they just brush their teeth, they are less likely to indulge in late-night eating patterns.
- Turn off the tube. Studies have shown that the television can subconsciously trigger our desires for more food, too late.
- Take a warm bath before bed. Turn on some soothing music. Read a light book. Enjoy some new night-time rituals that don’t involve heavy eating.
- Go on a brisk walk after dinner. Ayurvedic medicine says that we should eat no later than six o’ clock, and afterwards take a walk of at least 108 steps!
November 10th, 2011 at 1:31 pm
This article proves nothing. The fact that the first statement was ” we know how wrong they are” already shows nothing verifiable.
Eating late night has nothing to do with weight gain!
just because the country is fatter than ever and has the highest digestive issues from elsewhere, does not relate it to late night eating, but eating garbage in general.
McDonalds, Burger King, Wendys, Sonic, Taco Bell, Del Taco, AppleBees, and so on, those are the culprits and roots of the causes!
A healthy person eating, can eat any healthy food anytime of the day or night! Digestion typically takes on between 4-12 hours in some individuals, and after digestion begins, thats when the nutrients, sugars, and all, start to take effect. So the whole idea of gaining fat because you sleep is rediculous, when studies shown time and time again, that our bodies use more calories and burn them when we sleep!, So this article is flawed.
Folks your body doesn’t recognize time, and sleeping is just like laying down for a few hours and watching tv. Before you know it, your up and walking around anyways, burning more as you go.
Think of it like a locomotive on coal! You have to keep feeding it to fire up the power! Battery and so on can be interpretted.
do your research!
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August 20th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
I think that one must really be careful if they are going to eat so late at night. Many of us just don’t make healthy choices when we are eating late at night. I’m glad that I changed that habit! It wasn’t easy but I just had to get into the right habits.
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July 24th, 2009 at 7:17 am
The nighttime binges had begun after she got divorced and had continued through several years of unsatisfying dates and relationships. To stop the binges, Suzanne needed to first make the connection between her eating and her love life, then find a way to get fulfillment from something other than food. It took a lot of hard work. She started keeping a journal to help her understand the feelings that triggered binges and seeing a therapist to talk about the void in her life. A year later, she met a man and got remarried. By this time she had stopped her bingeing and, not surprisingly, had lost the extra fifteen pounds.
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July 20th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
very nice tips but too bad.I like Eat a moderate breakfast and a heavier lunch.
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July 18th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
I agree with this “Take a warm bath before bed. Turn on some soothing music. Read a light book. Enjoy some new night-time rituals that don’t involve heavy eating.” its make me so relax.thx for the tips.
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July 18th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
I agree with with this “Take a warm bath before bed. Turn on some soothing music. Read a light book. Enjoy some new night-time rituals that don’t involve heavy eating.” its make me relax.thx for the tips.
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July 15th, 2009 at 4:14 am
Definitely, it is a useful post… Most of us, don’t realize the effects of eating late night…
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May 13th, 2009 at 3:14 am
I have definitely found that eating late causes fat gain, even with a heavy workout routine at the gym 5 days a week with weight training. By eating late, I mean within 3 hours of bedtime. Ideally, if you’re training and have a good appetite, have a small snack of something low GI such as yoghurt 3 hours before you sleep and this will be much better. A high GI snack late at night is like a double whammy.
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April 3rd, 2009 at 9:02 am
The first time I ever heard about the dangers of eating late at night was when I read a book called “Fit For Life”. If stated that the body has certain cycles and, between 8pm and 4am, is it’s main processing time. Also, it stated that we shouldn’t eat a heavy breakfast, instead recommending only fruits before noon. Quite an interesting book.
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March 24th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Our bodies do a bulk of our digesting and assimilating while we sleep. A big breakfast is retarded. Digestion takes energy. When you’ve just gotten done storing up energy fromt he food you ate during the day and you’re well rested why are you going to bog your body down with more food to digest? Don’t do it. Eat lightly in the morning and eat your big meal at the end of the day.
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Rodmwa replied on April 14th, 2009:
I would prefer to eat like a king in the morning, queen at lunch and pauper or nil supper. This makes someone wake up with energy in the morning. Eating late is not a good idea.
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March 22nd, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Show me one scientific study that shows it’s not good to eat late.
I prefer to say that I eat breakfast then lay down for a 7 hour nap.
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February 27th, 2009 at 10:38 am
I couldn’t agree more. Historically humans have eaten large breakfasts, large midday meals, and less at night. Doctors who research our natural body clocks have found that our bodies processes, including insulin production, function well during the day and early evening. By 8pm, they have slowed so much that digestion is impared.
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February 26th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
I just would like to comment my opinion on why we like eating junk food late at night. It is because that’s when the worms want to come out and eat!!! (smile) And we all know that their favorite is foods laden with sugar. So I suggest a good cleanse with Paratrex, and this problem will eventually be controlled.
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February 26th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
very good article
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February 24th, 2009 at 9:56 am
i have actually heard from diet experts that say that it doesn’t matter what time you eat.
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February 23rd, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Great article. Certainly, the part about if one is craving sweets to check for a lack of sweetness in life, could be a wake up call to many.
I find that a good substitute for sweets for these people who crave the sweets is fresh fruit that is ripe. If the fruit has no smell in the grocery store, it was probably picked too green. Buy fruit that has the fruit smell, and it will have better taste. It is now suggested 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily and many are not getting this in.
They can address the emotional side of things with things like Emotional Freedom Techniques, which has helped thousands.
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February 23rd, 2009 at 7:48 am
Great article and advice for changing those late night naughty habits!
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