What to eat 2 hours before bed. What to eat before a workout: expert advice Classic bodybuilder lunch

I've been going to the gym for over a year now. The weight has dropped a little. Those recommendations that were given on fitness (snack 2 hours before training - up to 17.00 with carbohydrates, and then do not eat until morning) are not very suitable for me for medical reasons: the doctor recommended fractional meals 5-6 times a day with an interval of about 3- x hours. I have been going to the pool since September. At 17.00 before training on work easy snack 2 hours before swimming. Training ends at 21, until I get home by 22.00 I'm hungry like a wolf.
Of course, the muscles are now felt, but the volumes do not go away.
Maybe someone knows how best to eat in a sports mode in order to build weight, without harm to health and not break loose, overeat before going to bed due to the fact that you can’t fall asleep from hunger?
I found something on the Internet, I wanted to try it, but even one article contradicts itself in places.
I don’t want to give up sports, but I also don’t want to become a thunder-woman.
Here is a more or less decent article from the Internet.
After the article there is a questionnaire. In it, you can vote for a suitable post-workout diet for building. thank you in advance.

ARTICLE
Nutrition before and after training
Today you go to the gym! Someone looks forward to this event and prepares for it in the morning, carefully gathering the form, postponing gatherings with friends in a cafe for another day, preparing dinner for the household, and by the end of the working day quickly turns off the computer and runs to the nearest sports club. The other perceives this as a necessity to maintain the image of an active fashionable person or as a habit acquired since childhood, spent at the training camp. But for everyone who has plunged headlong and all other parts of the body into the world of fitness and a healthy lifestyle, the main result is what they see in the mirror after many hours of stepping over the step or swimming in the pool. Unfortunately, not always the desired effect of training becomes noticeable. After all, many people forget that the active rhythm of life implies a special regimen and composition of nutrition.

Nutrition before training

So, in the diet before training you need:

1. Enable:

Proteins;
- carbohydrates.
2. Exclude:

Fats (or no more than 3 g).

CARBOHYDRATES in the pre-workout diet are essential in order to provide the muscles and brain with energy. During exercise, 'fuel' is burned very quickly, and it is necessary that it be glycogen, since the body cannot supply the required amounts of energy from fat (due to lack of oxygen).

PROTEINS in the pre-workout diet will not be a source of energy, they are a source of amino acids for working muscles. As a result, immediately after training, protein synthesis in the muscles increases dramatically.

FAT in the pre-workout diet should be absent, because it slows down the work of the stomach and the speed of digestion. Fatty foods stay in the stomach longer and can cause colic, nausea, and burping during exercise.

The best pre-workout meals:
- poultry meat (turkey, chicken breasts) with coarse bread or rice;
- low-fat steak with potatoes;
- egg white omelette with oatmeal.

The calorie content of food before training should be normal, as well as at other times. Bulky food (a large portion of salad or a bowl of soup) is best eaten an hour or two before training so that it has time to digest and the stomach is empty. More dense food (half a plate of porridge or cottage cheese) can be eaten 30 minutes to an hour before the start of the workout.
If you are training to build muscle mass, then 30 minutes before training, eat one large fruit with a low glycemic index(apple, pear, strawberry or any other berry) and wash it down with a protein drink (preferably whey protein). The calculation of the protein in this shake is as follows: 0.22 g of whey protein per kilogram of weight. For example, if you weigh 68 kg, then in a cocktail (mixed with water) there should be 15 g of protein.
Also drink a glass 30 minutes before your workout. strong black coffee (possible with a sweetener, but not with cream) or very strong green tea. This will help secrete epinephrine and norepinephrine, which mobilize fat from fat cells so that the body can use it as fuel. Thus, during training, you will burn more fat and less glucose, glycogen and amino acids. Fatigue in the process of training will come much later. The head will think better, and you will be able to train more intensively. The effect of coffee before training lasts approximately 2 hours. It’s better not to eat anything immediately before training, because physical activity distracts from the process of digestion (rhythmic contractions of the stomach to digest food). As a last resort, if you are very hungry, you can drink a glass of protein shake or milk.

Drinking regimen during exercise

The most important thing during training is not to forget to drink! Already with 2% dehydration, training will be sluggish and ineffective. Do not focus on the feeling of thirst. Intense exercise depresses the thirst receptors in your throat and gastrointestinal tract, so that by the time you feel thirsty, your body will already be dehydrated. In addition, with age, the thirst sensors in the body lose their sensitivity. Adults need to drink water because they need to, not because they want to.
If you notice symptoms of dehydration (two or more at the same time):
- feeling of thirst
- dry mouth,
- dry or even chapped lips,
- dizziness,
- fatigue,
- headache,
- irritability
- lack of appetite,
start drinking water immediately and stop exercising for a few minutes until symptoms subside.

Nutrition training DRINKING REGULATION is as follows: right before the start of training, drink a glass of water and drink a little every 15-20 minutes during training. The amount drunk will depend on the amount of sweat. You need to keep your body hydrated and even super-hydrated during your workouts.
If the workout lasts more than an hour, then it is advisable to drink special sports drinks. With sugars, about 30-60 g of carbohydrates per hour should come from them. More than 60 g of carbohydrates the body will not absorb during a workout, and the productivity of the workout may decrease. Drink high-calorie drinks should be little by little, drinking every 10 minutes. Sports drinks also contain beneficial electrolytes (salts) that the body loses through sweat and urine.
During training, you can also drink fruit juices, preferably freshly squeezed, and not store-bought. It's safe to say that all purchased juices, even those sold labeled "100% juice without added sugar", are diluted with water and contain mixed sugars. Orange juices most often contain beet sugar, apple juices contain corn syrup and inulin. The best juice is freshly squeezed orange, diluted with water in a ratio of 1:1.

Nutrition after training

You need to eat immediately after training, preferably in the first 20 minutes. If you abstain from food for 2 hours after the end of the workout, then the workout loses all meaning - as a result, NOTHING IS TRAINING, fat will be burned a little, and that's it, but there will be no increase in strength, muscle density, harmony and metabolic rate. In the first 20 minutes after a workout, the so-called post-workout (anabolic) window is opened in the body for the consumption of proteins and carbohydrates (but not fats). Everything that will be eaten during this period will go to muscle recovery and growth. muscle mass, not a single calorie from food will go to fat. It is very important.
Post-workout carbohydrates are best consumed in liquid form from simple, high-glycemic sources. You need to get a spike in insulin levels, with its anabolic and anti-catabolic (helps build lean muscle tissue) properties. Cranberry and grape juice are considered the best because they have a high ratio of glucose to fructose. Consume approximately 1g of carbs from juice for every pound of IDEAL weight. A glass of grape juice contains 38 g of carbohydrates (155 kcal), while a glass of cranberry juice contains 31 g of carbohydrates (115 kcal). You can also eat any carbohydrate food that does not contain fat (bread, jam, sugar, potatoes, rice, pasta, fruits, vegetables, etc.).
In addition, immediately after training, you need to load up on proteins. Best in powdered protein drink form. In this way, protein synthesis in muscles after training will increase by 3 times (compared to starvation). So bring a bottle of protein powder and juice shake with you if you're exercising outside the home, and drink it all at once as soon as you stop exercising. The amount of protein from the powder should be 0.55 g per kilogram of ideal weight. If you can't drink protein shakes for some reason, rely on egg whites.
If it is possible to eat within an hour after a workout, then choose any protein food, just calculate right amount squirrel. Your dose of protein food can be determined very simply: it should fit in your palm. Since post-workout nutrition has only one important goal - to promote muscle growth as quickly and efficiently as possible - this meal should not contain fat at all. Fat will slow down the flow of carbohydrates and proteins from the stomach into the blood.
Protein food should be lean, that is, if the chicken is breasts, not legs. If eggs, then only proteins. Beef and pork should be avoided as they are always very fatty, prefer veal. You also need to be careful with cheese, milk, yogurt and cottage cheese - as a rule, they contain at least 5% fat. The only exception is fatty fish (not fried!). It can and should be eaten as often as possible.
After training, within two hours, it is desirable to exclude everything that contains caffeine: coffee, tea, cocoa and everything chocolate (even protein powders with chocolate flavor). The fact is that caffeine interferes with insulin and thus prevents your body from reloading glycogen in the muscles and liver and using protein for muscle repair. So if you train in the morning, endure 2 hours, and only then drink real strong coffee. A cup of coffee before a workout should help you stay alert and energized. If you can’t give up coffee or tea at all, choose their decafinized counterparts.

Workout and nutrition for weight loss

Nutrition trainingDrinking and nutrition regimen before and after training for weight loss

If you want to lose weight, namely to lose weight, and not to build muscle, pull yourself up, etc., then:
- 5 hours before training, do not eat proteins,
- 3 hours before training, do not eat at all,
- 30 minutes - 1 hour before training stop drinking,
- during training, it is DESIRABLE not to drink,
- an hour after training do not drink,
- 3 hours after training do not eat.
The results will be tangible.

2 week fitness diet

Fitness diet involves five meals a day.
With an average calorie content of about 1400-1800 calories per day, such a diet provides safe weight loss. An exemplary fitness diet is low in fat, high in carbohydrates and protein. When following a diet, you need to drink up to 2 liters of fluid per day. Even if your weight increases on the scale, it's okay, it means that you are losing fat and gaining muscle. Do not rely entirely on the scales. The main thing is how you look when looking in the mirror, and changes can also be judged by clothes. If you can not eat strictly on a diet, then try to count the calories consumed and choose the menu according to the calorie table, trying to eat the least fatty foods. If possible, do not take too long breaks in nutrition, they contribute to body fat!

Fitness diet menu

1st day
Breakfast: 2 eggs (1 yolk, 2 whites), 100 g oatmeal, 1 glass of orange juice, 50 g fat-free cottage cheese.
Second breakfast: fruit salad, fat-free yogurt.
Lunch: 100 g boiled chicken, 100 g rice, green salad.
Snack: baked potato, fat-free yogurt.
Dinner: 200 g of stewed fish, salad, apple.

2nd day
Breakfast: 100 g of muesli, 1 glass of skim milk, 2 eggs, some fruit.
Second breakfast: 1 glass of carrot juice, 50 g of cottage cheese.
Lunch: chicken salad (150-200 g of meat), 1 potato, apple.
Snack: low-fat yogurt, fruit.
Dinner: 150 g of fish, 1 cup of boiled beans, salad (optional with low-fat salad dressing).

3rd day
Breakfast: 200 g strawberries, 100 g oatmeal, 2 egg scrambled eggs.

Lunch: 200 g fish, 100 g rice, salad.
Snack: fruit, yogurt.
Dinner: 100 g turkey, 1 cup corn, salad.

4th day
Breakfast: 1 grapefruit, 100 g of hercules, 1 glass of milk.
Second breakfast: banana, 100 g of cottage cheese.
Lunch: 150 g chicken, 50 g rice.
Snack: 1 glass of vegetable juice, bran.
Dinner: 120 g beef, a cup of corn.

5th day
Breakfast: peach, 100 g of oatmeal, scrambled eggs, a glass of juice.
Second breakfast: 1 glass of vegetable juice, 100 g of rice.
Lunch: pita, 100 g turkey, apple.
Snack: salad, 100 g of cottage cheese.
Dinner: 100 g chicken, salad.

6th day
Breakfast: scrambled eggs, 100 g of buckwheat, 1 glass of milk.
Second breakfast: cottage cheese, banana.
Lunch: 200 g fish, 100 g rice, salad, 1 glass of orange juice.
Snack: baked potato, yogurt.
Dinner: 150 g shrimp, vegetable salad.

7th day
Breakfast: an apple, an omelet from 2 eggs, 100 g of buckwheat.
Lunch; 100 g cottage cheese, peach.
Dinner; 100 g beef, mixed vegetables (corn, carrots, peas).
Snack: yogurt, 100 g of rice.
Dinner: 150 g chicken, vegetable salad.

8th day
Breakfast: 1 grapefruit, 100 g muesli, 1 glass of skim milk, 2 eggs.
Second breakfast: 70 g of rice, 1 peach.
Lunch: 120 g chicken, salad, half a plate of pasta, 1 glass of orange juice.
Snack: yogurt, apple.
Dinner: 120 g of beef, vegetable salad.

9th day
Breakfast: scrambled eggs, 100 g of buckwheat, fruit, 1 glass of orange juice.
Second breakfast: banana, cottage cheese.
Lunch: 100 g fish, 100 g rice, peach, 1 glass of orange juice.
Snack: yogurt, 50-100 g dried apricots.
Dinner: 200 g fish, baked potatoes, vegetable juice.

10th day
Breakfast: 1 cup blueberries, 100 g oatmeal, scrambled eggs.
Second breakfast: 100 g fat-free cottage cheese, 50 g raisins.
Lunch: 100 g chicken, baked potato, 1 glass of vegetable juice.
Snack: low-fat yogurt, orange.
Dinner: 100 g of fish, vegetable salad.

11th day
Breakfast: a slice of watermelon, 2 eggs, 50 g of bran bread, 1 glass of orange juice.

Lunch: 100 g rice, 200 g squid.
Snack: 150 g fish, salad.
Dinner: 100 g chicken, corn salad.

12th day
Breakfast: 1 glass of carrot juice, 100 g of oatmeal, scrambled eggs.
Second breakfast: 100 g of rice with raisins and dried apricots.
Lunch: 100 g chicken in pita, salad.

Dinner: 120 g beef, 100 g broccoli.

13th day
Breakfast: grapefruit, 100 g of oatmeal, scrambled eggs.
Second breakfast: 50 g of cottage cheese, peach.
Lunch: 120 g of turkey in pita, boiled corn on the cob.
Snack: fat-free yogurt, apple.
Dinner: 150 g of fish, vegetable salad.

14th day
Breakfast: 1 glass of orange juice, 2 eggs, 100 g of muesli, 1 glass of milk.
Second breakfast: banana, 50 g of cottage cheese.
Lunch: 150 g chicken, green salad, 100 g rice.
Snack: yogurt, peach.
Dinner: 150 g of river fish, vegetable salad.

This diet is exemplary sample how you can eat. It should be noted that all the aforementioned dairy products are necessarily fat-free. Beef, chicken, turkey, fish, seafood - boiled or stewed (in extreme cases, if you are not eating at home, grill). Also keep track of the amount of fruit eaten, give preference to citrus fruits, green apples. It is advisable to use brown rice, natural juices.
Diet means regular exercise!

There are many opinions about how many hours before bed you can eat. There is confusion among people in this concept, as there is a divergence of opinion. Some nutritionists say that dinner should be no later than 6-7 pm, and there are also studies that the last meal should be 4 hours before bedtime. And if you have to go to bed at 1 am, then what opinion should you follow?

Should you eat before bed?

First, you need to figure out if you can eat before bed. The fact is that the processes of digestion during sleep slow down and the food eaten at night does not have time to be digested. For this reason, diseases of the stomach, dysbacteriosis develop and immunity worsens and, as a result, excess weight appears. But gaining extra pounds is not the worst thing that can happen.

Violation of the hormonal system leads to the appearance of such serious diseases as atherosclerosis, osteochondrosis, hypertension followed by strokes, etc. Depression, psychosis and others nervous disorders- This is a consequence of eating at night.

Experts note that while sleeping on an empty stomach, the body triggers a rejuvenation mechanism, and if you eat in front of it, the level of sex hormone and stress hormone increases in it. This leads to accelerated aging of the body.

Best time for dinner

It is advisable to have dinner before 18:00 if the time for sleep comes between 20:00 and 21:00. Otherwise, there will be a very long break between the last and first (morning) meals. And this provokes fluctuations in sugar and insulin levels, which leads to a great feeling of hunger, and further to overeating.

Light dinner

Gastroenterologists and pediatricians, arguing about how many hours before bedtime you can eat, came to the conclusion that patients with diseases of the digestive system and children under 14 should not go to bed hungry. Nutritionists in this case suggest eating low-calorie foods. If we talk about the lungs, then they include boiled chicken with vegetables, baked fish with salad, cottage cheese.

Therefore, everyone else, except for the above-mentioned categories of people, is not recommended to eat at night. But nutritionists also advise, if you really want to, then an hour before bedtime you can eat light meals: a serving of green salad, stewed vegetables, a small portion of oatmeal in water, a glass of milk or kefir, a couple of apples, yogurt without additives, banana. They will be able to satisfy hunger well and will not harm the body.

This food is not suitable for dinner

But if you still have doubts about whether you should eat at night, then you should always listen to your body.

There are people who allow themselves any errors in nutrition and do not gain excess weight. For those who are inclined to be overweight, it is necessary to eat before going to bed no later than 3-4 hours before bedtime. During this period of time, the body will digest food and at the same time will not be hungry, and will not store fat in reserve. But you should know what foods can not be eaten for dinner. These are coffee and other drinks containing caffeine.

And also this and especially french fries, fatty meat, sweet cereals and sweets, spicy, smoked and pickled foods. For dinner, you should eat protein light food and avoid carbohydrates.

How many hours before bed can you eat? Answering the question, it is necessary to take into account the lifestyle of a person, the time of sleep and awakening, what kind of food and in what quantity was consumed during the day. Here everything is calculated individually.

The opinion of nutritionists

Previously, foods that should not be consumed in the evening were considered. Nutritionists offer recipes for dinners and late snacks. 2-3 hours before bedtime, it is better to cook pollock fillet, chum salmon, salmon. The fish must be baked in the oven. The ideal option there will be fish cakes or meatballs baked in the oven or steamed.

You can cook mussels or shrimp for dinner. Poultry meat and lean beef should be cooked with vegetables. 1-2 hours before bedtime, it is useful to eat salads from fresh herbs, which can be poured with 1 tablespoon linseed oil. It is sold in a pharmacy. Half an hour before bedtime, you are allowed to drink a glass of kefir or eat some cottage cheese, washed down with herbal tea.

Athletes' opinion

There is also the opinion of athletes: for those who play sports, what to eat before bedtime is extremely important, and sometimes even necessary, since a snack will reduce hunger and the body will have enough protein for muscle growth. But you need to correctly distribute the time of dinner. Athletes recommend eating a small, 250 gram, portion of protein food in an hour and a half.

Making Dinner Healthier

If you have already developed the habit of eating before going to bed, and in the morning you have to wake up with a feeling of heaviness, fatigue and bags under the eyes and swelling appear, then you need to gradually moderate your evening appetite. To do this, you need to change the dinner diet - remove high-calorie foods and replace them with less high-calorie ones.

It is important to avoid consumption at night alcoholic beverages, it is preferable to drink water or green tea. It is recommended to use aromatherapy: the smells of fir, vanilla and mint help relieve hunger and promote restful sleep.

Conclusion

Now it’s clear how many hours before bedtime you can eat. After analyzing the opinions of scientists, doctors, athletes and girls who follow their figure with great zeal, it was very difficult to come to an unambiguous decision.

But everyone who cares about this problem adheres to the rules: you can’t eat right before bedtime, it’s better to do it for an hour and a half. It is necessary to exclude evening reception and alcohol. Food portions should be small. Then an evening dinner or a small snack will not be able to harm your health.

Of course, you are determined to get the most out of your workouts in the gym. And for this it is important not only to eat correctly, but also to eat on time. Improper nutrition before training or lack of it can make the session useless or add stress in the form of colic, bloating and nausea.

Overeating and foods that irritate the gastric mucosa are fraught with lethargy and disorder of the corresponding organ. Hunger is the other extreme, which leads to decreased stamina, dizziness, fainting, and injury.

When and how much to eat before training

“Regardless of what kind of training is ahead, you should eat 1.5–2 hours before it,” advises dietitian Elena Tikhomirova. Are you planning a super-nutrient intake of heavy and high-calorie foods? Then forget about active actions for 3 hours after.

If for some reason it was not possible to eat a balanced and complete meal on time, you can have a snack 30 minutes before the start of the lesson - grab a fruit, light yogurt, fruit juice or smoothies. Determine the portion size based on how you feel. The main thing here is to avoid feeling of heaviness in the stomach.

Proper nutrition before training largely depends on individual features person. Actual nutritional needs differ based on body type, goals, genetics, exercise duration and intensity. The training experience is no less important: the longer it is, the better the system of energy reserve and consumption is developed.

“Very often, newcomers come to the gym who do not calculate their strength. And even after a not very intense workout, they catch hypoglycemia (a sharp drop in blood sugar), which leads to nausea, cold sweat, dizziness, loss of consciousness and tinnitus,” says personal trainer Natalia Saitova.

This is because the muscles have not yet adapted to the accumulation of glycogen (stored glucose) for intense work. Experienced athletes, on the contrary, even after a light snack can train for a long time without manifestations of hypoglycemia.

Sports menu: basic rules

Before aerobic exercise the main source of energy is carbohydrates, which will keep blood sugar levels stable throughout the session. We are talking, of course, about complex carbohydrates with a low glycemic index. And these are not fragrant buns, but oatmeal, vegetables and fruits, berries, whole grain bread, brown rice, smoothies and nuts.

Among people who follow their figure or dream of losing weight, there is a popular myth that you can’t eat after six in the evening. But it turns out that the main principle of evening nutrition is a certain time period. It is 4 hours, and it is during this time before a night's rest that you need to have dinner so as not to gain weight. At 18, 25 and sometimes even at 30, this rule can be neglected. But every year from last appointment food before sleep should gradually increase. However, as you know, hunger is not an aunt, and falling asleep on an empty stomach, and even out of habit, is very difficult. Leading nutritionists recommend some list of products from what you can eat at night. The list of allowed dishes is strictly limited and divided into hour segments. If you follow the rules of eating in the evening, then it is quite possible to avoid unpleasant consequences with weight.

The list of products depends on the gender and age of the person. This is due to the fact that the metabolism of men and women is different. It should be noted that the first ones were a little more fortunate: they have a more satisfying diet, and the allowed foods are more caloric. Yes, and about the figure and excess weight, men do not bother too much. It should also be noted that for young people, the recommended list is much larger than for those who have passed the age gap of 30 years. The principle is based on slightly saturating the body and maintaining strength, and not overloading it with heavy high-calorie food before going to bed.

What can you eat 4 hours before bed?

For a woman, 4 hours before bedtime, 100 grams of boiled white fish will be a good dinner. You can replace it with white poultry meat in boiled or stewed form, but not more than 2 times a week. But fried foods should be completely abandoned and consumed only in the morning. As a side dish for fish or meat dishes, any vegetable stew except potatoes. It is better to eat it in a baked form, when the starch, harmful to the figure, has already been destroyed.

A good snack will be any fermented milk products - kefir, yogurt, fermented baked milk. But cottage cheese in the evening hours should be treated with caution. This product is best eaten in the afternoon or as an afternoon snack. Fruits and berries such as blueberries and lemons are very low in sugar, so they are ideal as an addition to the evening diet. It goes well with the listed products and greens. Boiled beets are also suitable as one of the options for dinner. It not only does not load the stomach, but also stimulates the intestines.

Here is a sample list of foods allowed for dinner. But this does not mean that all this can be done in one sitting. Exists Golden Rule"palms", according to which at one meal you should eat as much as it fits in it. And of course, you don’t have to throw everything into yourself. It is better to choose what you want to eat more for dinner, 100 grams of fish or baked potatoes.

Some people believe that in the evening you can eat fruit in any quantity. However, such a judgment is erroneous. For example, if you think that you can eat an apple at night, then you run the risk of gaining excess weight very quickly. After all, along with useful fiber, fragrant fruits contain a large amount of hidden sugars. Therefore, all fruits are strictly forbidden to eat for dinner if you want to lose weight.

What can you eat 3 hours before bed?

3 hours before bedtime, it is permissible to treat yourself to a small piece of the same boiled white fish, stewed vegetables and sour-milk products to your taste. You can eat both greens and white boiled poultry meat, but in very small quantities.

Beets, unfortunately, drop out of the list of allowed products, because they are very sweet. Also, you can not eat bread, even if it is a cracker or whole grain bread. Fruits are also forbidden, especially pears, grapes or melons. They are allowed to be consumed only in the morning and, of course, not daily.

What can you eat 2 hours before bed?

The hourly period of time 2 hours before bedtime becomes even more strict and tough in terms of nutrition. Of the permitted dishes, fish, sour-milk products and greens remain. These products should also not be eaten together, but you need to choose what you want more - fish or kefir. But eating raw vegetables 2 hours before bedtime is not recommended. They put a lot of pressure on the pancreas. Therefore, after eating some tomatoes or peppers at night, a person will wake up in the morning with heaviness in the stomach and hypochondrium.

Some people believe that if you want to eat in the evening, you can have a snack with dried fruits. But they are very much mistaken in this. In such products, there is an extremely high amount of glucose and fructose, which has a bad effect on metabolism, which is why overweight. The same applies to watermelons, which we like so much, especially in hot weather. In this juicy ripe berry contains a huge amount of sugar. Therefore, there will be nothing strange in the fact that you suddenly get better from eating watermelon pulp in the evening.

What can you eat 1 hour before bed?

A fairly common myth is that before going to bed it is useful to drink a glass of milk with a teaspoon of honey. In fact, this is a misconception, because this option is only suitable for children. In adults, unfortunately, a glass of drunk milk will cause a seething in the stomach, bloating and will not let you sleep peacefully. It would be more correct to replace milk with fermented milk drinks - fermented baked milk, yogurt or kefir.

Yes, you often really want to eat before going to bed, but the laws of nature dictate their own rules. With age, people acquire a lot of ailments, including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, varicose veins, a variety of gastrointestinal diseases and being overweight. Compliance with the above nutritional rules will prevent the appearance of such serious problems with health.

It is often believed that eating 3-4 hours before bed leads to weight gain. This is partly true - metabolism slows down in the evening, and during sleep, adipose tissue begins to play a key role in metabolism, synthesizing the hormone leptin. In fact, the presence of carbohydrates in the stomach can negatively affect the body's ability to burn existing fats. In other words, eating at night makes you fat.

On the other hand, the human body, in fact, does not care how many hours before sleep a particular food was eaten - in the end, the body only cares about the total caloric content of food. Theoretically, if you at least approximately observe daily allowance calories, average portion healthy food even 20 minutes before bed will not change the situation and will not turn you into a fat man.

In reality, the quality of food in the evening is important - firstly, you should avoid fast carbohydrates with a high glycemic index. Fitseven already posted full list. Secondly, for dinner it is preferable to eat as many various vegetables as possible and fiber that is useful for digestion and normalization of blood glucose levels.

Best food for dinner

Since during sleep the body literally works on free fatty acids ah, the quality of the oils and fats eaten at dinner plays a decisive role in the fight for the health and fitness of the body. It is important to minimize saturated animal fats (butter, lard) as much as possible, as well as limit refined vegetable oils Low quality.

Most useful choice for dinner there will be a serving of food with an energy value of 450-500 kcal, containing approximately 25-35 g of protein, 15-25 g of fat (mainly useful omega-9 fatty acids in the form olive oil) and 50-75 g of carbohydrates (of which 8-10 g and no more than 7 g of sugars) - that is, approximately 150-200 g of lean meat with a side dish of 50-70 g of buckwheat and a portion of green vegetables.

Metabolism after 6 p.m.

Scientific studies show that the human biological clock is closely related to the rhythms of day and night. That is why the brightness of the light affects not only the level of the sleep hormone, but also many other metabolic parameters. For example, we all noticed dark time days, the work of the digestive system and stomach significantly slows down.

However, it is extremely difficult to name a specific hour at which these changes begin. In fact, it is not entirely clear where the remember the rule “do not eat after six in the evening” came from. Most likely, this is influenced by the time of sunset - which is why Ayurveda, the traditional Indian health doctrine, does not recommend eating after sunset.

Are carbs bad at night?

During sleep, metabolic rate drops by about 15-35% (1) and blood glucose (and insulin) levels drop, thus increasing levels of fat-burning growth hormone. Also during sleep, the metabolic process is actively included. In fact, at night, the body minimizes the processes of digestion.

In addition, at night the body activates the use of existing fat as fuel - while the presence of a large amount of food in the stomach will definitely cause an imbalance of these processes, forcing the body to burn the calories of the dinner just eaten in the first place. And the more simple carbohydrates will be in such food, the worse.

The habit of eating in the evening

The main problem of "evening calories", according to nutritionists, is not at all in the time of eating food - but, above all, in banal overeating. If a person did not have the opportunity to have a normal breakfast and lunch, then it is obvious that by dinner he will be very hungry - and, as a result, will eat more calories than he needed.

Unfortunately, this is quite a typical case. For most hardworking people, it is the evening that becomes the main meal time of the day, and they physically cannot afford to have dinner 3-4 hours before bedtime. The situation is aggravated by the fact that attempts to reduce the amount of food eaten in the evening quite often result in uncontrolled night gluttony.

Night gluttony

Although only 1% to 2% of the general population are awake from hunger and uncontrollably go to the refrigerator for food at night, it is quite normal for a quarter of obese people (2) . This behavior is caused by disturbances in the nocturnal fluctuations of leptin and, as well as an inadequate response of the body to insulin.

In order to avoid nighttime binge eating, it is important to saturate the body with the right energy during dinner - which is why you should not just go on a diet and try to reduce portion sizes, but eat as much healthy fiber (in the form of green vegetables) and vegetable fats as possible. While avoiding sugar and other fast carbohydrates.

Even though, theoretically, "calories are always the same" (i.e., speaking in simple words, for the body should not be important time their use), in practice the habit of making dinner the main meal of the day is most often associated with weight gain. As we mentioned in the material ““, fat is accumulated mainly in the abdomen.

That is why best time for evening meals there will be a period of 3-4 hours before going to bed - this will allow the body to digest and fully assimilate carbohydrates, facilitating a smooth transition to the night mode of using free fatty acids as the main source of energy. If you go to bed at 11 pm, dinner should be no later than 9 pm.

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From a theoretical point of view, for the body there should be no difference between "morning" and "evening" calories - however, in practice, this difference is still quite noticeable. That is why, in order not to gain excess weight in the abdomen, it is really best to have dinner 3-4 hours before going to bed and not overeat at night.

Scientific sources: