Eating after dinner or all those late night snacks in front of the TV might seem like a necessity to see you through till the morning – but actually it’s more than likely the reason you’re disappointed with your results.
In the course of a day, the activity of your metabolism changes: While your body is programmed towards activity and performance in the morning, it gets into regeneration mode in the evening and night. Your metabolism slows down and your digestion goes into sleep mode. This is all controlled by our inner clock, the so-called “circadian rhythm”.
Here are 3 good things that happen to your body when you go on a late night snacking strike:
Your sleep improves
Your digestion works poorly at night. Therefore eating a heavy meal for dinner or a late night snack will overstrain your digestion. (Watch out: Especially raw food is difficult to digest in the evening!) The consequences are bloating and a restless sleep, and it is scientifically proven that a bad sleep leads to weight gain in the long-term.
Your muscles thrive
Your internal clock is also regulating the excretion of your hormones. Specific hormones are released in the evening and night. One is for example melatonin, which makes you sleepy, while at the same time the hormone somatotropin, which is also known as the growth hormone, will help you gain muscle mass. The crucial factor with somatotropin is that its secretion will increase if you haven’t eaten anything for 12 hours. That’s why it’s especially important to skip the after-dinner snack.
Your weight drops
While consuming less calories overall contributes to the obvious benefit of losing weight, it also affects the hormone somatotropin. Why? Because it’s also responsible for getting rid of those bugging fat pads. As mentioned before, its secretion will increase when we have a period of approx. 12 hours without any food intake.
Even if you’re a late night eater or midnight snacker, give the 12 hour rule a try and see what happens. If you have dinner at 7pm you should aim at not eating anything before 7am the next the morning. It’s difficult at the beginning and you’ll for sure experience nasty night time hunger pangs, but overtime every body gets used to it. And the benefits to your health in the long term are well worth the struggle at the start.
Start your late night snack strike now.
