Timing is everything, even in one's daily intake of food.
While there are countless diet fads here and there, nothing beats the good old formula of not skipping meal, drinking lots of water and eating your breakfast in the morning!
Times of India compiled what nutrition experts say about the best times to eat and why.
BREAKFAST
- Should be eaten within 30 minutes of waking up.
- The ideal time to have breakfast is 7am.
- Eat your breakfast not later than 10am.
- Proteins are essential in the first meal of the day.
According to the scientists, skipping breakfast leads to countless cravings during the day which will entice you to eat larger meals to compensate for the meal that has been skipped - that eventually leads to a spike in blood sugar. That can give make the body susceptible to diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels, and all the risk factors that can snowball into a heart attack.
LUNCH
- Keep a gap of 4 hours between your breakfast and lunch.
- The ideal time to have lunch is at 12.45pm.
- Lunch should not be taken later than 4pm.
In 1960's, nutrionist Adelle Davis popularized the quote "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper," - this is just logical since lunch time is the peak where the body needs calories for energy as it performs task until the evening.
DINNER
- The ideal time to have dinner is before 7pm
- Keep a gap of 3 hours between your dinner and bedtime
- Dinner should not be later than 10pm
- Eating close to bedtime can interfere with the quality of sleep
Dinners should be light so as it will not interfere with the body's ability to feel tired and sleepy.
"Eating too close to bedtime increases your blood sugar and insulin, which causes you to have a hard time falling asleep. Therefore, your last meal should be the lightest of the day and should be eaten at least three hours before you go to sleep," says Tracy Lockwood, a registered dietitian at F-Factor Nutrition.
