Raise your hand if you randomly crave Maggi at 11pm while watching your favourite chick flick on Netflix. Truth is, according to health and wellness experts, you should not, I repeat, not, be having your dinner or eating any sort of unhealthy food past 8pm. The number of times I discovered my Instagram friends proudly posting their nasi goreng dishes at 10pm or roti canai at around 12am is terrorizing to my soul.
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I know Malaysians are probably scoffing at the idea of dinner by 6pm at the latest – but wellness, weight maintenance, and energy levels say yes. This is because early dinner times can support intermittent fasting, weight-loss goals, and digestion for a multitude of reasons. The term “early dinner” is highly subjective. This can be considered 6pm for some, whereas others may consider it 8pm. So having some construct around this conversation will be helpful. Nutritionally, we are defining “early dinner” as one that allows for a two- to three-hour fasting window to take place before bed.
Capping your intake more than two hours before bed allows for an extended overnight fasting window to take place – the essential downtime your body needs to facilitate detoxification and cellular repair,” an expert explains. But that’s just the obvious part. Evidence in humans suggests that eating out of sync with our circadian rhythm (like eating a late dinner during the biological night, so to speak) can promote weight gain and metabolic dysfunction.
This is one of the main reasons to avoid eating large meals late at night. It’s fascinating to think that we can stack the deck for favourable metabolic conditions simply by when we eat, completely independent from what we eat. We’re used to light breakfasts, skipping lunch, and glorifying a heavy, complex meal at dinner time. Science suggests we flip-flop that, and consume more calories earlier in the day for better energy assimilation, proper digestion, and sustained daily energy.
