There’s nothing better for your metabolism than a consistent, healthy diet and routine. Naturally, your body needs energy throughout the day that a good breakfast helps you start with, a healthy lunch helps you maintain, and a filling dinner assists in your ability to wind down and prepare for the next day.
For many of us, that little time frame in-between dinner and bedtime is our snacking time, but experts say eating heavily in this window won’t help your metabolism break down and digest as much as it would if you ate earlier. We spoke with Dr. Olivia Joseph, co-owner of The Wellness Connection, and nutritionist Lisa Richards, creator of The Candida Diet, and learned how limiting (or stopping) snacking after dinner can help you lose weight and promote a healthier metabolism.
How Intermittent Fasting Can Help With Weight Loss
The word "fasting" can sound alarming, especially since not giving yourself the proper energy and nutrients you need will not allow you to lose weight healthily. "Intermittent fasting," however, (in this case, after dinner until breakfast) just means that if you want to snack, there is a best time and worst time to do it. Eating dinner and then winding down/ preparing for bed every night, Joseph says, will help your body adjust to a consistent routine (and make you less likely to snack more than you think later on).
"Intermittent fasting can be helpful, which essentially means no evening snacks, and that your dinner is your last meal [before bed]," says Joseph. "Then you go anywhere between a 12 to 16 hour window of not eating again. When you do eat breakfast, make sure all your meals and snacks help keep your blood sugar level stable."
Joseph stresses that stable blood sugar (provided by a consistent routine and diet) is what will help your metabolism and overall weight loss goals, the most. "First and foremost, keep your blood sugar stable. When you have too much sugar, it converts to fat in the bloodstream and on your body," she says. "When blood sugar levels dip, your body needs to break down muscle tissue. It does so by releasing cortisol, which can also be a belly fat storing hormone."
Joseph explains that "you might lose weight this way" but usually the weight rebounds (and then some) "because you’re actually hurting your metabolism by losing muscle tissue." So, how does one keep blood sugar levels stable? Joseph notes that once you eat breakfast, you should make sure you are eating a protein every 2 to 4 hours after that, ideally with lots of fiber, which you can get from vegetables. "Consuming good, healthy complex carbohydrates such as fruit or sweet potatoes is fine, you just want to make sure you don’t eat carbohydrates without a protein present, because it tends to bring blood sugar levels up and down," she adds.
How To Avoid Late-Night Snacking
Richards says there are several questions to ask yourself if you frequently snack late at night, after dinner. "When it comes to eating at night ,there are two primary factors you'll want to consider— weight gain and sleeplessness," she says. "Will what you are eating cause you to put on extra pounds or will it keep you up at night due to gastrointestinal (GI) issues?"
She also points out that what you are consuming for dinner could be another reason why you feel the need to keep snacking, or why you might struggle to lose weight. Richards advises avoiding the following dinner ideas: "greasy hamburgers" (excess grease can cause stomach and digestion issues), "pasta made from refined carbohydrates" (not an ideal food to eat at night because it's usually broken down and stored as fat quickly) and lastly, "spicy food that can cause GI upset like heartburn and reflux" (foods like these can cause restlessness and pain that will keep you up and potentially cause undue stress and anxiety).
If you're like me and love pasta for dinner, Richards suggests "considering a whole wheat or whole grain pasta to help prevent weight gain," although "pasta before bed is still not ideal." Overall, the key to a healthy metabolism is consistency in your diet and in your evening routine. Making a schedule for meals, snacks and exercise and sticking to it will help you not only feel better, but will also support your weight loss goals.
Joseph adds, "Most people don’t realize that as you age, your protein intake requirements increase to prevent Sarcopenia, which is age-related muscle loss." She notes that age-related muscle loss is one of the reasons why your metabolism starts to slow down around age 30 and it will "slowly decline if you do not make a conscious effort to maintain that muscle through the appropriate diet, lifestyle, and even supplementation." Visit your doctor for more information, and remember that creating a healthy routine and losing weight both take time, but the process of developing consistency is very rewarding.
