Has Lunch Become the New Main Meal?
Remember when you were a child and your mother always made sure you had three hearty meals throughout the day? Well, this has changed somewhat over the years as health experts have found that eating 5 or 6 smaller meals is a better option for most people. However, another change has also occurred with the size and timing of these meals. One might wonder: Has lunch become the new main meal?
Whereas dinner has historically been the main meal of the day, that seems to be changing. More and more people are having their largest meal of the day at lunch and opting for a small snack for dinner. When you think about it, the reasoning behind this change is actually pretty sound.
Eating a big (and often carbohydrate-laden) meal right before bed is not a great idea. Because most people do not exercise at night, it is not a great idea to eat that much food and then go to bed a couple of hours later. It is also not a great idea for your digestive system because it is supposed to rest at night. Therefore, you will end up with a stomach full of food just sitting there until morning. This leads to weight gain as well as messing up your digestive process due to having large amounts of food sitting for hours on end.
It is a better idea to eat the majority of your calories in the middle of the day (or even at the beginning of the day) so that you have time to burn them off before going to bed. By just having a healthy snack at dinner, you will have time to digest your food before going to bed. Another strategy is to always eat your dinner snack at least 4 hours before going to bed as well.
To your food heaven
Dominic
January 18th, 2010 at 2:47 pm
Great post. I totally agree with you. Eat the majority of your starchy carbs during the day when your body is more apt to use it as fuel.
Juan
January 19th, 2010 at 8:05 pm
Interesting. I think that dinner being the main meal is actually dependent on the culture. I know that in the rural, agricultural South, lunch was often the main meal of the day. My grandparents always, always had their main meal at lunch time (called dinner, whereas what we know of as dinner was always referred to as supper). It gave a break from field work in the heat of the day. Dinner would then be leftovers or something lighter. It made a lot of sense - both from a work perspective and from a general health perspective.