There has been quite a lot of research into whether eating late at night is detrimental to your health, and whilst some scientists and doctors say it makes no difference to your body when you eat, new evidence suggests otherwise.
The Spanish are renowned for eating extremely late at night, often between 10 and 11pm in the summer and they have among the highest life expectancies in the world - it obviously doesn’t do any harm you might say? Well, that’s not quite the whole story because they only eat a very small serving of food at night as they have their big meal at around 2pm which gives them the rest of the day to ‘burn’ it off through general day to day activity.
Eating red meat in particular late at night is not good for us as it is quite difficult for the body to digest and requires a lot of energy to do so. So when we go to bed (which is meant to be a time for the body and mind to totally relax and recover from the day’s activity) our bodies have to go into overtime to digest the food consumed. This can lead to interrupted sleep and leave us feeling lethargic in the morning. Our bodies quite simply aren’t allowed to rest when we follow the pattern of eating very late at night.
If you are one of those however who like to have their largest meal at night, there are some small changes you can make to ensure you don’t suffer any of the consequences. Use vegetables as the bulk of your meal to enable your body to digest the food quickly and easily. Fruit is another good group that the body can digest without too much ‘effort’. Taking a brisk walk after you eat will give your body some help with digestion too and help you get a better night’s sleep.
It is possible to retrain your body into good habits and to stop craving heavy and sugary foods late at night. By bringing your supper time forward by even just a few minutes each night, you will gradually want to eat earlier which your body will thank you for! If you do find yourself hunting around for a late night snack, try drinking a cup of hot water with lemon and honey, or a nice cup of herbal tea. Making small changes here and there will do wonders for your body and your health. Do you find that eating late at night had adverse effects on you? What do you do to combat the snack attacks late at night?
