Everyone loves to think they are healthy and eating a healthy diet. A lot of people are, and have a healthy eating routine. However, a lot of people are not as healthy as they think, even if they eat plant based or vegan diets. I’ll tell you why. They are eating their food at the wrong time.

For the purpose of this short post, I’ll focus on the biggest meal of the day which is typically for most people and evening meal or dinner. Once upon a time people could enjoy breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner (called tea as well) and supper. There are more to this list, things like elevenses make another option. Nowadays people simply can’t afford to eat all of these and the majority of people don’t and haven’t for many years. In the past I might have breakfast, a snack for lunch and dinner.

My new routine for a long time has bypassed breakfast completely. I don’t bother anymore, because I don’t eat bread the majority of the time (if at all). I prefer to have wraps or pasta for carbs. But I think the majority of people have dinner. It is important to eat early though for the following reasons. By early I mean before 6pm or 7pm at the latest.

1. You will find you are less hungry throughout the evening. If you tend to snack or eat food throughout the evening or late at night, you will find eating early will help to suppress those urges. I suspect it is because those late night hunger pangs are due to not eating enough and early. By eating early, you are signaling your body that it can in fact sleep without feeling like it is starving. Which in turn, will aid sleep and you should not be hungry.
2. Reduces indigestion / hearburn. Late night food and snacks in any variety can and will cause your digestive system to be on continuously, and being horizontal will mean your food won’t be digested properly. Heartburn is common result, and you can either use extra pillows, take pills, or eat earlier. Don’t forget, you should be asleep at night, not digesting food. It can take a few hours to digest, which is why an early meal is best.
3. Helps aid fasting. You’ll find if you eat at 5:30pm for example that by the time you wake up, say 7pm or 8pm, that is at least 12 hours fasting. Your body should fast every night as this is the healing stage, and if you are constantly digesting, you will never enter a fasting or fat burning state (although probs need to go more than 12 to be fat burning). My point is that your body will heal quicker if you fast by eating early. Most people do it without realising.
4. Prevent weight gain and aid weight loss. Yes, late night snacking and meals after 7pm will cause you to gain weight, you might not notice, but it will be happening. If you counteract it you can offset this. Eating early kicks your metabolism inter high gear, and then into rest for sleep which is where the fasting state takes over. So, you will also lose weight, and it will be at first stored fat and glucose etc.