Ask Keri: Is it bad to eat past 7 or 8pm?And will eating late at night ruin my diet?
Keri Says: Maybe you worked late last night and needed extra fuel. Or you had a dinner date across town that didn’t start until 8:30 p.m. Or you had 10 errands to run before you made it home to whip up dinner.
Whatever your reason for eating late at night, (whether it’s your actual dinner or an after-dinner snack) the good news is that your body does not have a built in calorie clock. The bad news is, this doesn’t mean you can eat whatever you want whenever you want. You knew this bad news already, so no surprise there.
Your body processes and manages caloric consumption over many days, weeks and months. It’s not the exact time you stop eating that’s most important. It’s about not eating more calories than you need and about eating the right types of calories. I don’t advocate counting calories. Keeping your calories in check is going to be a result of eating whole real foods, consistently through the day and listening to your body.
If you are a late sleeper, you may start your day at 10:00 a.m. and have dinner later than 8:00 p.m.—that’s potentially okay. If you eat breakfast within and hour and a half of rising and eat consistently through the day your lateish dinner may be perfectly acceptable. And if you’re an early riser, your dinner may be at 5:00 p.m. and an 8:00 p.m. nutrient-dense snack may be just what your body needs.
The problem isn’t necessarily what time you’re eating dinner, it’s that most calories eaten after dinner are additional calories that you don’t need and they’re usually the wrong types of calories. Cheese fries sound familiar? Nibbling post dinner or eating late at night is commonly mindless eating due to a habit, boredom or other emotional eating. Regardless of the reason, it’s generally additional calories you don’t need. When you eat late at night you’re usually also missing out on the break to the digestive system that we could all use. Even if you’re not an intermittent faster, most of us could still benefit from a 12 hour fast.
If you eat your dinner at a more traditional time, but find yourself still hungry later on, you need to be aware of the why you’re hungry. Did you not eat consistently throughout the day? Did you get in adequate protein throughout the day? Was your dinner well balanced and proportioned? Is your stress level off the charts? Are you eating healthy foods and an overall healthy diet or are you shoveling in mostly highly processed foods?
Reflect on your day, and as a rule of thumb, you should fuel your body with healthy snacks or meals every three to five hours. It’s a better guideline than the time on the clock. If you find yourself walking to the kitchen but you shouldn’t really be hungry, check in with your emotions, tweak that night time routine and go for a cup of herbal tea instead. If you’re starving because it’s 3:00 a.m.? Go to bed!