Eating dinner at 5 p.m. can improve your life. How to make it work for you

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Wherever you sit on the debate over the best time to eat dinner, there’s a growing case that an early-bird meal can help improve your overall health and well-being.?

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It may help prevent heartburn

Eating three to four hours before bed can help prevent heartburn and acid reflux, which can keep people up at night. If you are done eating by 6:30 p.m. and go to bed around 9:30 or 10, you give your body ample time to digest, limiting reflux, indigestion, and heartburn, says Ilana Muhlstein, a registered dietician, nutritionist, and author of Love the Food That Loves You Back.?

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You may lower your disease risk?

Eating late at night has been associated with a higher overall calorie intake and an increased risk for obesity. One study suggests that the hormone responsible for feeling full, leptin A, decreases later in the day, which can lead to overeating when you have a late meal. Particularly for those with diabetes or obesity, eating earlier can also help with insulin sensitivity.?

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“When insulin levels are high, the body’s ability to burn fat is blocked,” Muhlstein says. “Lower insulin levels are essential for those trying to lose weight and convert existing fat stores into energy. Eating dinner earlier and adopting a ‘dinner and done’ approach allows your body more time in a fat-burning state.”

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How to become an early dinner convert

Tara Schmidt, a registered dietician of the Mayo Clinic Diet, recommends these steps:?

• Find the right timing. If you’re still hungry after a 5:30 p.m. dinner, consider a 6:30 or 7 p.m. meal.
• Avoid late-night snacking. An early dinner followed by snacking offsets the benefits: “We know that when people eat later at night, they have a higher risk of obesity,” Schmidt says.
• Plan ahead for the busy days. “I recognize that my kid has sports every Wednesday, so every Wednesday is going to be Crockpot Wednesday,” Schmidt says.?

Keep in mind that what is on your plate is still more important than when you eat. Half the plate should consist of non-starchy vegetables, one-fourth should have lean protein, and another fourth should have a whole grain or starchy vegetable.?

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Read Alexa Mikhail’s full article here .

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