Dinner Diet Rules Made To Be Broken

There’s no reason to starve yourself just because it’s after six o’clock. In fact, outdated food edicts can sabotage your health and even your weight-loss efforts.

- A.J. Hanley

Breakfast may be touted as the most important meal of the day, but when you’re trying to shed pounds, a healthy dinner is just as essential. In addition to rounding out your nutrient quota, it can promote good digestion, boost brain function and mood, and help you sleep better.

Unfortunately, when it comes to the p.m. repast, the diet police have issued many hard-and-fast decrees. And while each rule may stem from a kernel of truth (or at the very least, logic), this black and-white thinking can actually backfire, leading to unnecessary discomfort, overeating and even binging.

We asked experts for the skinny on some common but misguided dinnertime tips—and how to get the most out of your evening meal.

OLD-SCHOOL DIET ADVICE: DON’T EAT AFTER 5 P.M. (OR 6 OR 7). It’s one of the canons of weight-loss law—that you burn up the food you eat earlier in the day, while late-night calories linger, gradually turning into fat. But fortunately for those of us who hit the Pilates studio after work or stay up late watching TV, calories can’t tell time.

“Your body will metabolize food throughout the day and evening,” says Rachel Dreibelbis, RDN, a nutritionist and certified health coach for Core Studios in Pawtucket, RI. Even if you eat after the “deadline,” whenever that is.

That said, eating a large meal before bed can inhibit a restful night’s sleep as our bodies work hard to digest the food, she says. In addition, “when we lie down, the sphincter valve that connects the esophagus to the stomach relaxes, washing acid up the esophagus and causing heartburn.”