is a big lunch the secret to slimming?
Eating the majority of calories in the middle of the day could shave off inches
‘it’s ALL down to fasting insulin Levels’
if you’re trying to drop the pounds this January, chances are you’ve prepared yourself a light lunch – soup (no bread), perhaps, or crudités and low-fat houmous. You may think you’re being virtuous after your off-thecalorie-chart Christmas indulgence, but a new study has revealed that consuming a low-calorie meal in the middle of the day could be working against you. It’s finally time to load up your lunch plate…
Midday munchies
According to new research, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, when we eat is becoming just as important as what we eat. Scientists have found that eating the bulk of our daily calories at lunchtime, as opposed to dinner, could help us lose fat over time. So that means switching our cucumber salad for chicken curry and those dry crispbreads for a bowl of pasta.
The study recruited 80 overweight and obese women between the ages of 18 and 45. All the volunteers had 15% of their daily food allowance reserved for breakfast and 15% for snacks. However, half of the recruits ate their biggest meal of the day at lunchtime – 50% of their calorie intake – and the other half had the same portion for dinner. The remaining 20% of their daily food allocation was then assigned to either dinner or lunch, depending on the group.
On top of this calorie splitting, the women ate a diet that was high in carbs and low in saturated fat. To break it down – 17% of the calories came from protein, 23% from fat and 60% from carbs. Plus, they ate 400g of fruit and vegetables. They also completed one hour of moderate exercise, such as brisk walking, five days a week.
the results
When it came to higher average fat loss, the midday munchers came out on top, losing on average 13lb, compared to the dinner group’s 9.5lb. And they also had a greater reduction in BMI. The study authors believe it’s all down to fasting insulin levels. ‘These are the levels of insulin that circulate your body three or more hours after a meal,’ explains Holland & Barrett nutritionist Emily Rollason.
Researchers found that fasting insulin levels were higher in those who ate the majority of their calories at night. ‘When insulin
levels are elevated, it promotes the nutrients from the food you eat, such as carbohydrates, fat and protein to enter your cells and be stored in your body,’ says Emily. ‘Because of this “food storage”, continuously elevated levels of insulin can affect weight loss.’ In other words, you may find you’re putting on weight (or at least holding on to some postchristmas pounds), rather than shedding it.
This cycle can be hard to stop and may even lead to long-term problems. ‘High circulating insulin levels over long periods of time may eventually lead to a biological response, in which the cells in the fat, muscles and liver do not respond as well to insulin,’ explains Emily. ‘This means glucose uptake is impaired and also leads to a continuous increase in insulin levels.’
Emily also believes that lunchtime eaters may feel more satiated, and choose to consume fewer calories later on. In fact, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, found that daytime eating encouraged ghrelin (a hormone that stimulates appetite) to peak earlier in the day and levels of leptin (which promotes fullness) to peak later. By eating earlier, the lunchtime group stayed satiated for longer. Plus, if you opt for a nutritious meal at 1pm, you’re more likely to make more positive food choices in the evening, too.
Late-night feasters
Aside from keeping off the weight, consuming our main meal in the middle of the day could help our nighttime routine. ‘Eating a large meal in the evening may affect our digestion of certain nutrients and disturb our sleep,’ says Emily. Going into digestion mode just before bed, could clash with our body going into sleep mode – impacting the timing and quality of our shut-eye.
This conflict between ‘sleep’ and ‘digestion’ could disrupt our hormonal balance, too. Hormones are chemical messengers that make us sleepy, hungry and stressed, and are linked to our circadian rhythms. It’s like eating on the run – it’s best not done!
switch it up
Swapping your main meal from dinner to lunch could be just the radical change to your New Year routine you need. ‘Making a significant alteration to your eating habits may make it easier to adhere to a new healthy diet,’ says Emily.
But what does eating 50% of your daily calories at lunchtime look like? ‘The amount of calories every individual needs will vary depending on a variety of factors, including size and activity levels,’ explains Emily. So to keep it simple, a 1,500-calorie diet would mean allocating 750 calories for lunch, 450 calories for breakfast and 300 calories for dinner.
‘A 750-calorie meal could be a portion of teriyaki king prawn stir-fry with noodles and lots of veg, a portion of Thai red curry and rice, or a small mushroom risotto and a side salad,’ says Emily. And you won’t go hungry at night either – 300 calories still goes a long way. Emily suggests a small baked potato and a small tin of beans, home-made leek and potato soup or a wholegrain ham sandwich.’
Not ready to give up your dinner routine just yet? Make sure you eat at least two to three hours before bed to give your digestive system time to settle down and avoid heavy meals with large quantities of meat, which can be hard to digest. ‘Certain dairy products, such as cottage cheese, are a good choice for a late meal,’ recommends Emily. ‘It contains } a protein called casein, which releases slowly, but still aids repair and recovery while you sleep.’