My mum and I have always preferred eating our main meal at lunchtime, though we can’t really explain why and there always seemed to be reasons not to; it didn’t fit well with work and school schedules; dinner time was a time for us to come together as a family and talk about our days, to reconnect; there was time to prepare the main meal at lunchtime… the list goes on.
With my poor appetite thanks to gastroparesis, a meal is always something I have to talk myself into, but if I waited until ‘dinner time’ then I tended not to eat at all until 3pm. By that point my blood sugar would be at rock bottom, I’d feel fatigued and faint, and I’d reach for sugar and carbs as a quick fix that required little to no energy to prepare. Having done that I wouldn’t be hungry for dinner later on.
So I’ve been trying to get back into the habit of having my main meal at lunchtime (by lunchtime I mean about 3pm, because I confess I don’t get up until mid-morning (blame fatigue and painkillers)).
I know that this works for me on a number of levels; while I live with my parents, cooking at lunchtime leaves the kitchen free for them to cook their dinner in the evening. I also tend to snack and eat less if I eat at lunchtime, I have more energy through the afternoon, which helps me make better food choices, and I sleep better.
I thought I’d look up why this is the case.
Digestion disturbs sleep
Our digestive system is geared up to processing food as fuel during the day in order that our minds and bodies can be alert, before relaxing and ‘housekeeping’ at night to clear and cleanse the system before the cycle starts again the next day.
If we eat too close to going to bed, we may still be digesting our food. If we sleep too close to having eaten, our stomachs often still go into ‘housekeeping function’ where it “will dump solid or undigested food into the small intestine, which will have problems breaking down and absorbing everything.” The effort then needed by your body to process this food could disrupt your sleep and leave you feeling (even more) groggy and tired in the morning.[1]
Science says there should be at least a 3 hour gap between eating and sleeping, but for those of us with delayed gastric emptying and other forms of functional gastrointestinal inertia or failure, that time could be much longer.
Cooking and eating a main meal in the evening can lead to poor choices
It’s not rocket science to know that when you’re hungry and tired you’re more likely to scrap your plans for a healthy meal cooked from scratch in favour of a quicker but less healthy option.
But we also eat more over the course of the day if we eat our main meal later in the evening. I know if I plan to eat dinner later on, I’ll have lunch but I’ll also have an afternoon snack, telling myself I need something to ‘tide me through to dinner’. However, if I eat at lunchtime, I won’t eat again until I have something light in the evening and that’s it.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m also more liable to eating dinner in front of the TV than I am lunch. More and more of us are eating our meals in front of the TV, and it’s not good for us. Eating in front of the TV (or being distracted in other ways) makes us eat faster, which encourages us to over-eat. It takes about 20 minutes for the average body to send the ‘I’m full’ signal to our brains, which turns our appetite off. But the faster we eat, the more we’re going to manage to shovel in before that signal gets triggered, and thus we over-eat and gain weight. Memory also plays a part in how much you eat later on in the day, so if you have eaten too fast to process and remember what you’re eating, you’re more likely to eat more later in the day.[2]
There is also evidence that shows that when you eat on the sofa, in bed or in similarly relaxed positions, your stomach us compressed and squashed by your posture[3]. As such, gravity is less able to assist your stomach in the process transiting your food through your digestive system, which makes digestion harder. Slouching, like rushing, also hinders the body’s ability to
recognise when it’s full, and as such, poor posture when eating (and immediately after) can increase bloating and weight gain.
Find out more about eating mindfully here.
When you eat doesn’t just affect weight
Studies have found that eating later in the day increased not only weight but also levels of insulin, glucose and cholesterol, while eating earlier in the day produced hormones that helped people to feel fuller for longer.
In addition to that, research has also showed that eating late at night has a negative impact on memory, can cause disturbing dreams, increases risk of heart attack, creates acid reflux and makes you hungrier the next day[4].
Making lunch your main meal can also be good for your mental health. Being forced to take a break in the middle of the day allows you to recharge and refocus, which will help you to avoid the mental and energy slump mid-afternoon, and will make you feel better equipped to get through the rest of the day.
Having to spend less time on preparing and eating dinner leaves more time in the evening for socialising or doing activities you enjoy, or even going to the gym, and with restaurants often offering lunchtime deals, eating out could become cheaper (not to mention quieter) too.[5]
The list goes on, and scientists continue to research the impact of the timing of meals, but all signs point towards a larger lunch being better for us in several ways.
Of course eating a main meal – whatever that means to you – at lunchtime won’t suit everyone. My husband and I have had to get used to me sitting with him at the table in the evening with nothing in front of me while he eats his main meal, which felt weird at first. But it’s worth trying out and finding what works for you. Who knows, it could make a big difference!
[1] https://www.health24.com/Lifestyle/Healthy-you/5-worst-and-3-best-things-to-eat-before-bed-20170812
[2] https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/distracted-eating-may-add-to-weight-gain-201303296037
[3] https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/1999/may/23/life1.lifemagazine2
[4] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/body/shouldnt-eat-late-night-according-science/
[5] https://www.prevention.com/food-nutrition/a20506383/i-made-lunch-the-biggest-meal-of-the-day-for-a-month-and-here-s-what-happened/
