2024-02-16 17:47:00
Above all, don’t eat starchy foods in the evening if you want to lose weight, or at least not gain it! This recommendation is circulating everywhere. We will see together if it is justified. And I will give you practical advice, the one I give to my patients, regarding your evening meals.
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In animals, it has been shown that limiting food consumption during periods when one is active prevents weight gain and even the occurrence of diabetes. In healthy humans, people who are fed late dinners burn less fat at night. This seems logical. If we bring calories in the evening, they will be consumed as a priority to make our organs function. And our fat stores will therefore not be used as a source of energy when we sleep.
Stop preconceived ideas!
But watch out for shortcuts. This absolutely does not mean that eating starchy foods in the evening makes you gain weight. It may even be the opposite!
For example, eating carbohydrates in the evening can reduce feelings of hunger during the day. This is what was shown in research carried out on obese police officers. When they were asked to consume most of the carbohydrates in the evening, their appetite was lower during the day compared to those who were recommended to distribute carbohydrates throughout the day. And there is a hormonal explanation for this: eating carbohydrates in the evening increases the circulation of leptin in the blood, leptin being a hormone that causes the feeling of satiety. But again, no shortcuts, this does not prove that eating starchy foods in the evening makes you lose weight!
There is another interesting observation from statistical calculations. For the same daily calorie intake, people who consume a greater proportion of calories in the evening have a doubled risk of developing obesity in the following six years. And there is other scientific work that links food consumption late at night with fat gain.
What can we conclude from all this information for practice?
No, it is not proven that starchy foods consumed in the evening make you gain weight.
The main problem in the evening for many people is overeating. We happily eat more pasta, we enjoy a piece of cheese with bread of course. It is therefore above all the excess consumption of carbohydrates which promotes weight gain, and not the fact of eating carbohydrates in the evening.
Here are my 3 practical tips to finish:
Distribute starchy foods as you wish throughout the day, according to your felt needs.
Avoid being hungry at meal time. Plan ahead with a late afternoon snack.
Finally, rather than refilling on starchy foods at dinner, if necessary, plan a delicious snack to enjoy mindfully later in the evening.
Every Friday, find on Le Point.fr the nutrition column by Professor Boris Hansel, endocrinologist and nutritionist at Bichat hospital in Paris. He is also host of the PuMS health channel on YouTube.
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