The optimum time for dinner is between 7pm and 7.30pm, maximum by 8 pm.
Eating late at night, especially heavy foods/ or food specifically high in carbohydrates/ sugar, and going to sleep shortly after that is a key contributor to acid reflux and weight gain.
It even disturbs your hormonal cycle and could lead to a severe condition.
For many years, low-carb diets have been in fashion - based on the belief and science that eating lots of carbohydrates, particularly in the form of sugary treats such as white bread, white rice or refined flour pasta, is bad for your waist and for your blood-sugar control, and moreover leads to weight gain. All this aggravates specifically when carbs are eaten at odd timings, in a late night routine.
The reasoning is if you eat lots of carbohydrates /sugars, particularly the sort without fibre that get quickly absorbed like maida/ refined flour, they will rapidly push up your blood glucose (sugar) levels.
Unless you burn this glucose off by doing exercise, your pancreas will pump out lots of the hormone insulin to bring these levels back down to normal. Which is not done in normal days. So, your pancreas comes in the cycle of releasing excessive insulin, leading to the condition of diabetes Mellitus.
It even adds on to you lipid profile as the excessive sugar from the carbs is stored as fat. Too much stored fat, particularly visceral fat (the fat layer covering your abdomen and around your organs like kidney, liver etc) can lead to serious health problems such as heart disease, type-2 diabetes, fatty liver disease etc.
Q&A Courtesy Bipasha Das, a certified health coach and nutritionist. She runs a diet and wellness clinic ‘Sugati’. She has been awarded Most Recommended Nutritionist of the Year 2018-19 by Brands Impact. She has worked with top hospitals, and is a life member of the Indian Dietetic Association and on the panels of renowned corporate houses like Ericsson, GE Power. Bipasha is working with Municipal Corporation of Delhi - Public Health Department( South Zone) as a consultant, and creating awareness programmes on Women and Children Health, Health for Public Health Workers, Office Sedentary Workers etc.
*Answers are based on general queries. Please contact a professional for any personal treatment.
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