Dinner is a pretty difficult meal to decide upon. We know that it should be a light meal, because the body’s metabolism slows down considerably, and this leads to a lot of food being turned into fat. On the other hand, we also know that it is important to have a balanced diet that contains proteins, vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, and essential sugars. Again, we are aware that carbohydrates can be tricky additions; too much and it is extremely bad, too little and that can lead to serious health complications. In this article, we will take a comprehensive look at the issue and decide whether or not to include carbohydrates in our dinner diet.
Reserve for the night
First of all, it makes complete sense that you will want to eat some carbohydrates at night. At dinner, you are faced with the prospect of a long night of no food, and that kicks your brain into famine gear. Prehistoric man loaded up on food at all times during the day, and even at night, because they were afraid of not getting anything to eat for a long period. That ancient wiring is still very much present in our brain, without any f the triggers being actually present externally. It is but natural that you want to load up on carbohydrate rich foods that will convert into a lot of energy storage in the body.
Complete nutrition
It is, in fact, a good idea to save your carbohydrate rich meals for the night. This does sound quite against everything you have learned so far, but it is indeed quite true. Logically speaking, it is quite impossible to get almost all your required calories before evening, that is, 6 pm. Irrespective of how you take your meals each day- two main meals or six smaller meals spread throughout the day- around half the calories you take are usually shifted after evening. If you eat more carbs at night, you are basically preparing your body to fight off the hunger that will be sure to plague you during the long nightly hours of no food. This will ensure that your metabolism doesn’t get to sleep as much as you are, and is quite ready for the fight it will put up the next day.
Energy replenishment
Our lifestyles don’t really let us eat a very balanced meal throughout the day, and even restricts us from eating full meals during the day. As a result, we tend to eat at night, which we should, because it is important for us to get the required nutrition no matter what and when. The energy that we burn up during the day gets replenished from the food that we eat at night, which is why we need to eat some carbs for our dinner.
It is important to keep in mind, however, that it is never really a good idea to go overboard with our carb intake a night. It is true that the body’s metabolism slows down at night. It is also true that the carbs we get are first used to replenish the dwindling energy reserves. However, it is important to maintain a balance.