health dinner

Eat Your Dinner Early

Three new health benefits from eating dinner early.

        We all know we should be getting to sleep earlier than we do. (Skimping on sleep, not only makes you feel sluggish the next day, it can also increase your risk for heart disease, depression and high blood pressure—just to name a few risk factors.) Now recent studies are showing that we would also benefit from turning the clock forward when it comes to dinner. Of course, you save money by going for the early-bird special; but here are three more healthy reasons why an early dinner is a good idea.

—Gretel H. Schueller, Contributing Writer

1. Slimmer Waist

           Mice who eat an early dinner and then fast for 16 hours are slimmer than those who eat the same amount of calories, but snack around the clock, according to a study in Cell Metabolism. Researchers suspect that the longer lapse between meals allows the body to process the food more efficiently. They noticed that even mice fed a high-fat diet gained less weight when they fasted for 16 hours than those who eat more frequently. Good news for mice—and perhaps just another reason for us to say goodbye to late-night meals and snacks.

2. Sweeter Dreams

        Avoid large meals late at night. According to the National Institutes of Health, late-night meals can cause indigestion that interferes with sleep. The same goes for alcohol. While a nightcap might help you relax before bed and initially fall asleep, drinking as little as two alcoholic drinks actually robs you of deep sleep and REM sleep, which means you wake up more frequently. Alcohol-related sleep disturbances are worse for women, say researchers at the University of Michigan.

3. Better Health

          According to Dr. Louis J. Aronne, Director of the Weight Control Program at Weill Cornell Medical College-New York Presbyterian Hospital, people who eat late at night tend to eat more. In addition, studies show that late-night noshing increases triglyceride levels, a type of fat found in your blood. When you eat, your body converts any calories it doesn't use right away into triglycerides; and high levels may increase your risk of heart attack and stroke. 

Find out what dinner foods can help you lose weight healthfully.

When you’re trying to slim down, every meal—and calorie—counts. But that doesn’t mean that dinner has to be a skimpy salad. You can build a filling, diet-friendly dinner (that includes dessert) around these four slimming ingredients.

1. Salad Greens

         Start your supper with a simple salad: it’s low in calories and research out of Penn State shows that eating a first-course salad can cut your overall calorie intake at a meal by up to 12 percent. Plus, a vegetable-packed salad delivers fiber, a must-have when you’re dieting. Fiber helps you stay satisfied longer—and, according to one study, upping your fiber intake may help prevent extra pounds from creeping on and even promote weight loss.

2. Lean Protein

 

       Beef, chicken, pork, fish, tofu or beans—it doesn’t matter which you pick—all are protein-rich. Gram for gram, protein will keep you feeling fuller longer compared to carbohydrates and fat (read: help keep those midnight snack attacks at bay). And don’t forget about low-fat dairy: recent research, published in the Journal of Nutrition, found that the protein in dairy (called whey protein) may help ward off weight gain and help build lean body mass.

3. Whole Grains

         You probably already know that for overall health you should be making at least half of your grains whole grains. But for dieters, choosing whole grains—such as brown rice, quinoa and whole-wheat bread—100 percent of the time may give you an extra edge, says a recent study. When researchers put volunteers on a three-month weight-loss program and instructed one group to eat only whole grains for their grain servings and the other group to choose only refined grains (and avoid whole grains entirely), the whole-grain eaters melted significantly more abdominal fat. While the fiber in whole grains may deserve some of the credit, researchers note that whole grains are rich in magnesium, a mineral instrumental in regulating fat metabolism.

4. Dessert

          Though this isn’t exactly an ingredient, what dieter doesn’t want to hear that it may be easier to stick to your diet if it includes a little sweet treat? Well, it’s true. According to a study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, banning sugary foods could lead to overeating. One reason may be that removing access to sweet foods stimulates the release of a molecule in your brain called corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), produced when you’re afraid, anxious or stressed, says Pietro Cottone, Ph.D., lead study author. And increased stress levels may lower your motivation to eat more nutritious foods, making it more likely that you’ll binge on junk food.