Can I Eat After 7 O'clock at Night?

It never fails, one out of every five patients will tell us, "I do what Oprah says, I don’t eat anything after 7pm." Does that sound familiar? Have you ever quoted Oprah’s golden rule? Most people have! But, before you make this a nutritional law to abide by, read this article!

The thought that most people don’t perform a lot of physical activity in the evening is one thing that has guided this rule of thumb. A lot of us tend to become couch potatoes and inactive after a certain point in the night, so we don’t need the energy/calories. This doesn’t mean that when the clock strikes 7, a message is sent to our body that makes everything we ingest turn to fat. There is no magic time to stop eating, it is very dependant on your body and even your Diet Type. The truth is no matter what time it is, if the calories you take in are in equilibrium with the calories you expend, you will not gain weight.

There are two specific cases in which following this rule can actually be harmful. The first is if you are an evening exerciser. After a workout you need to replenish the nutrients you just lost. Depending on the time of your work out, you may be taking in food right up until you go to bed. That’s okay; you won’t wake up with an extra pound of fat! You just need to stay within your calorie limits on a consistent basis if you are trying to maintain or lose weight. Remember, after working out your metabolism is increased for a certain amount of time, so don’t be afraid to eat.

Another time when this line of thinking can backfire is if you tend to be hypoglycemic in the morning. Here at CMRS we do a Modified Glucose Tolerance Test that would show if you have hypoglycemic tendencies. If after having the test we see that you are hypoglycemic (having a fasting blood sugar of less than 80), we may actually recommend that you eat something protein/fat based right before going to bed. This will help to keep your blood sugars in normal range throughout the night, helping you to feel more energized when you wake. Often this is a characteristic of those on the Hauser Diet who are Otters or Lions. On the other hand someone on a Monkey Diet may not have to worry about low fasting blood sugars. In this case perhaps not having food close to bedtime won’t hurt them.

If you have been following this principle, and are now having second thoughts, give us a call. By having a simple in-house Diet Typing Testing done you will be able to tell right away if it’s time for you to break away from this Golden Rule!