Here's How Eating Before 7 PM Can Change Your Life

Eating a balanced and healthy diet is crucial to maintaining physical health. The correct diet not only helps you maintain your weight but also overall fitness. However, while many of us have embraced eating the right foods, we still make one major mistake. Several people tend to eat dinner after or around 9 pm, some even as late as 10 or 11 pm. There are many reasons for this. People often return home late from work or have other duties to attend to.  However, a lot of people are not even aware that eating before 7 pm can change your life, your body and your health.

Why Is Eating Before 7 pm Important?

When you eat is as important as what you eat. Having an early dinner is a very important part of maintaining a healthy body. Our bodies are not meant to digest food late at night. If you talk to your grandparents or elders, you will realise that people used to eat dinner early in the past. Eating before 7 pm has many benefits – it helps you sleep better, improves digestion, aids in weight loss and so much more. Here are a few advantages of eating early.

It is said that the body is wired to the movement of the sun. The later we eat, more are the chances of the food lying in the intestines, affecting the digestion. - Dr Rupali Dutta

Better Digestion

When you eat late, you don’t allow your digestive system enough time to digest the food. There must be a substantial amount of gap between your dinner and when you go to sleep. If you eat late, this gap is reduced. As a result, it can cause indigestion or heartburn.

Clinical nutritionist Dr. Rupali Dutta says, “An early dinner is good for digestion, and anything that is good for digestion aids weight loss. It is said that the body is wired to the movement of the sun. The later we eat, more are the chances of the food lying in the intestines, affecting the digestion.”

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Better Sleep

Sleep is linked strongly with digestion. Eating dinner late, and then going to sleep soon after, can cause a plethora of digestive problems. These interrupt the sleeping pattern and make for an uneasy as well as squirmy night. Eating before 7 pm ensures that you sleep soundly and without any disturbances from your body. When you finish eating your dinner early, it also makes sure that you don’t wake up feeling bloated. Instead, you’re full of energy in the morning.

 Weight Loss

When there is a good amount of gap between your dinner and your breakfast, it aids in weight loss. What eating before 7 pm does is that it creates a chance for your body to use your body fat to generate energy as you sleep, leading to fat burn as a result. This is the process that has given rise to the idea of intermittent fasting, where one is advised to keep a 14-16 hour gap between their dinner and breakfast.

The result of a study by Obesity Society, published by Science Daily found that eating dinner early may be effective in fighting body fat. This can lead to weight loss.

“An early dinner is good for digestion, and anything that is good for digestion aids weight loss.

A Healthy Heart

Eating your dinner late means that your body doesn’t have the time to burn all those extra calories. Especially if the dinner is a heavy one, this can lead to risks of heart attacks or strokes. Eating before 7 pm gives the body time to burn the calories.

Nutritionist Meher Rajput says: “For people suffering disorders like diabetes, thyroid, PCOD and cardiovascular diseases, it is advisable not only to have a light dinner but also an early one.”

Picture Credit: Medical News Today

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Prapti is an intern with SheThePeople.TV