diSilvia Turin
How to manage the peculiarities of this meal, especially regarding conviviality and the time in which it takes place
For many, dinner is the main meal, it is the only one in the family (or in any case the only convivial one) and often takes place late.
In recent times it has been “demonized” because it is “responsible” for the accumulation of weight and for the same reason it represented and represents the “right” meal to skip in the new fashionable regime of intermittent fasting.
Leaving the task of explaining what happens to the body when you skip a meal and to whom it is not recommended, let’s focus on the importance of dinner for our organism.
It certainly has peculiarities that must be respected and “managed” and these concern conviviality and the time in which it takes place.
Conviviality
According to a report published in February 2021 by the American College of Pediatricians, Eating dinner together has been shown to improve academic performance, improve nutrition and decrease obesity in children. According to one study published in 2020 in the journal Innovation in Agingolder adults who skipped meals were more likely to experience symptoms of depression anxiety and insomnia compared to those who did not. «The effect of interpersonal relationships is certainly significant: children and adolescents – confirms Stefano Erzegovesi, Nutritionist and Psychiatrist – have a certain improvement in their lifestyle and health when they compare themselves with the “grown-ups” at home. And loneliness for the elderly is a risk factor for all diseases: both mental (anxiety, depression, insomnia) and physical (for example cardiovascular diseases). In this case, skipping meals can be an indirect indicator of loneliness.”
Dinner time
The time you eat dinner can actually be a problem because in a country where you often have late dinner, don’t follow the circadian rhythms (modulated according to the hours of light/darkness) can greatly influence health: «Eating too late puts more strain on our metabolism and increases the risk of obesity (as we go towards night we become more resistant to insulin), but not only that: it also prevents the brain to carry out its precious daily self-cleaning tasks”, says Erzegovesi.
On a digestive level, you should eat at least two hours before going to bed, also because getting too heavy doesn’t help you sleep at night.
Skip dinner
To avoid having a late dinner, more and more people are deciding to skip dinner altogether. When making such a choice you must be careful: the evening meal precedes the longest period without food, and therefore also the last opportunity of the day to give the body the calories and nourishment it needs before going to sleep. According to one study published in March 2023 in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dieteticsskipping lunch or dinner increases the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Furthermore, children, pregnant women and the elderly or sick have specific nutritional needs and must consult a specialist, but is it right for everyone else to decide to skip dinner? «When possible, it would be best not to skip dinner but bring it forward by a couple of hours, so as to finish it at 8pm. Or simply choose to have a more modest dinner, for example with a vegetable soup, a few cereals and a few legumes» , advises the expert.
For those who need to lose weight
Apparently the evening meal clashes with the need to lose weight or at least not gain weight. Eliminating meals then may seem like a shortcut to losing a few pounds. Skipping a meal will reduce an average of 252 to 350 calories from a person’s daily energy intake, according to USDA data.
The problem is that shortcuts are such because they avoid having to deal, in this case, with a longer path (but with safer results) which is that of learning to eat less and better.
A better approach might be to eat more calories at breakfast and lunch, then eat fewer at dinner, making it the lightest meal of the day. According to a systematic review of the studies published on Sciencedirect, people who anticipated their calories in this way lost more weight. «It is the concept of eating according to circadian rhythms, with a more economical dinner», specifies the specialist.
Practical advice
How to proceed then, given that according to many surveys, dinner, for work and social reasons, is often the richest and most complete meal of the day? «The advice, in these cases, is to maintain a complete evening meal, but to make it “poorer”: therefore with fewer refined cereals, less animal proteins and more vegetables, whole grains and legumes. It is always better to avoid the “all or nothing”: it is better to lighten and impoverish than skip dinner”, explains Erzegovesi and concludes: “I remember, however, that those who suffer or have suffered from eating disorders should never skip meals: skipping meals activates the “fasting alert” mechanisms which, in turn, can worsen eating symptoms, both anorexic and bulimic. For the same reason, I advise against skipping meals for all people at risk of eating disorders, for example children and adolescents.”
March 2, 2024
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