WHY DINNER AT FIVE IS A RECIPE FOR LOSING WEIGHT

IN the busy nature of life it’s easy to leave dinner until 8 or 9pm each night, however getting your meal in early might just be the easy hack to drop those stubborn kilos.

A study led by Harvard Medical school found that those who ate within a 10-hour window and had their last meal earlier were less likely to overeat, have better energy levels and stored less fat.

The study asked 16 overweight participants to eat at different times of the day. One group ate at 9am, 1pm and 5pm while the other group ate at 1pm, 5pm and 9pm.

The former group found that late eating increased their hunger and affected their energy expenditure and the way that they stored fat, due to the decrease of the hormone that controls our hunger levels, leptin.

“We found that eating four hours later makes a significant difference for our hunger levels, the way we burn calories after we eat, and the way we store fat,” Nina Vujovic, author of the study, said.

The study came about after previous research had found late eating was associated with weight gain, which led the authors to question the exact reasons why.

“We wanted to test the mechanisms that may explain why late eating increases obesity risk,” added senior author Frank Scheer, a Harvard Medical School professor.

“Previous research by us and others had shown that late eating is associated with increased obesity risk, increased body fat and impaired weight loss success. We wanted to understand why,” he added.

The researchers found their results to be consistent with other previous studies which showed that meal timing was key in managing weight loss.

“This study shows the impact of late versus early eating. Here, we isolated these effects by controlling for confounding variables like caloric intake, physical activity, sleep, and light exposure, but in real life, many of these factors may themselves be influenced by meal timing,” Scheer said.

To add to that point, eating dinner earlier means that you are in essence fasting for at least 12-16 hours overnight before your next meal.

Research shows intermittent fasting provides heaps of benefits including improved digestion, gut health and weight loss.

Faye James is an accredited nutritionist, member of Nutrition Council Australia, recipe developer and author of cookbooks The 10:10 Diet and The Long Life Plan