Too many times we hear that we should eat at certain times, nothing after 6pm or is it 8pm?
- Should we eat breakfast?
- Should I eat before I train?
- What about after?
So, let’s go through them…
Should you Eat after a Certain Time?
So many of my clients come to me and are surprised when I say I eat at 9pm sometimes. Some people reason that you can’t eat late, because when you sleep on a full stomach, you can’t burn it off. This isn’t true, you burn calories even as you sleep just at a resting level. If you do eat before bed, your body wont suddenly stores it as fat, your body takes a while to start to metabolise substrates into adipose/fat tissue (~72 hours).
The reason that people gain weight when they eat past 6-8pm, is because people tend to sit in front of the TV, watching Netflix or their favourite programme whilst snacking on crisps, chocolate and maybe a glass of wine. ALL of which are highly palatable and highly calorie dense foods, meaning calorie consumption escalates.
Carbohydrates indirectly increase serotonin (a hormone that makes us feel good), this can help us get to sleep. That being said, the insulin spike that may be caused through consumption of carbohydrates and/or protein may interrupt sleep. Whilst the jury’s still out on whether it’s good or bad to eat directly before bed, and I would recommend you stick to which ever benefits your sleep. However, if you’re training early the next day, then I would say you would benefit from eating carbohydrates late in the evening (carb backloading).