Some more and others less. But, in general, we all spend a lot of time thinking about what, when and how to eat to show our best version. There are many dietitians-nutritionists who today carry out important educational work to destroy all these miracle diets whose popularity has done so much damage. Although they defend that restrictive eating plans should not be followed and they ensure that in nutrition everything has to be personalizedeitherYeah There is an issue that they advocate without “buts”: the 2P dinner. It is healthy and helps maintain the line. We tell you what it consists of.
You have to have a little dinner
With the term “double dinner “P” We wanted to combine the two indisputable recommendations of dieticians for the last meal of the day. The first “P” refers to “little.” Nutritionists SofÃa RuÃz del Cueto and Mar Mira from Mira + Cueto recommend avoiding heavy dinners but What exactly is eating a lot and what is eating little? The experts assure that “this depends on your caloric needs, the type of food you eat and your physical sensation after the meal.
“Yeah you feel bloated either you sleep poorly or you have reflux, you probably ate more than necessary; on the contrary, if you wake up hungry or you have difficulty falling asleep, it means that you have fallen short.” Other factors that should be taken into account, according to Natalia Galán, nutritionist at Blau de Sanitas, are:
- Energy during the night and the next day: it can tell us if we are having more or less dinner. If we eat too much dinner, it is common to feel tired or sleepy after the meal because the body is overloaded with digestion.
- The composition of the dinner It also plays an important role: if our dinner is based mainly on processed foods, rich in fats and sugars, even if the quantity is not excessive, we could be overeating. Foods high in saturated fats, alcohol or caffeine can alter digestion and sleep quality. Therefore, it is advisable to opt for light dinners, such as soups, and lean proteins accompanied by vegetables. It is also important to control sugar consumption, especially at night because they can alter insulin levels and make it difficult to sleep.
It is interesting to note that, as the doctors indicate, There’s no point in having a big dinner when we’re going to sleep early. because we are not going to use the energy that food gives us.
© greta_zuccarelloWe must have dinner soon
The second “P” refers to the time of day at which it is best to dine: always we have to have dinner soon. But here we must make several notes. For a start, Eating early in summer is not the same as dining early in winter.. Circadian rhythms, directly related to daylight hours, have a lot to do with this. This is how Nuria Galán explains it: “In summer, the days are longer and the sunlight lasts until late, so having dinner early does not mean having dinner as early as in winter.
However, Meal times often depend on individual routines and lifestyle. In summer, people tend to have more energy and it is common for activities to last well into the afternoon. In winter, low temperatures play an important role, since the body tends to slow down its metabolism in the coldand eating earlier can help digestion and avoid feeling heavy when you go to sleep.
What can we do then? Nuria Galán recommends “maintain regular meal times“Eating at the same times every day helps regulate the biological clock and stabilize energy levels.”
The doctors at Mira+ Cueto tell us that it is also advisable eat dinner two to three hours before going to bed to improve digestion, reduce reflux, improve sleep quality, reduce inflammation, improve cardiovascular health and have more energy the next day. On the other hand, remember that Eating early allows us to carry out a longer fasting period giving more time for what is called autophagywhich is a process in which the body itself is responsible for purifying the toxic.
AND What would it be like to have dinner early in winter? This is what they tell us from Mira+ Cueto: “We should have dinner between 18:30 and 20:00 to be able to adjust to the circadian rhythm according to the hours of activity and repair. “At this time it allows us to have more balanced routines, we go out less, we can try to have dinner earlier and then read or watch a movie without sacrificing hours of sleep.”
© @josefinehjThat “little” and that “soon” are not the same for everyone
As we said at the beginning, everything in nutrition has to be personalized. Fortunately, there are more and more tools that allow us to do this accurately. They are, for example, the genetic tests carried out at Mira+Cueto. “By studying different genes we can know What is the diet that best suits our body?genetically speaking. Not only the most appropriate time of day to eat, but also which foods are the most recommended. Some of the genes studied help us assess the relationship between the circadian cycle and weight loss“, doctors Mira and RuÃz del Cueto explain to us.
They assure that “the study of these genes can define you, for example, if you are a nocturnal personwho are people who tend to sleep worse and rest fewer hours than people with daytime habits.” They explain that “this directly influences the amount of fat accumulated in the bodyor because one of the times in which the body burns the most fat is during night rest.” “This can you provide us with recommendations like eating meals regularly at the same times and going to bed early,” they conclude.