Importance of order in meals

One of the issues on which we have seen diversity of opinions for a long time is everything related to the timing of meals. Is it really relevant how we distribute the intakes throughout the day? Is the number of meals we eat and the time we eat important? Should we eat one type or another of food according to the time of day? These general questions give way to much more specific questions about when you can have a certain type of food, for example. We will review what is true in all this.

Does it matter how we distribute our intakes throughout the day?

There are many insights in this regard. Our ancestors did not know what time they lived and were governed by sunlight and the availability of food to make their meals. Today we adjust our meal times to the work and family rhythm and, almost always, this implies eating both during the day and at hours when we no longer have natural light, especially in winter. The situation becomes even more evident when work shifts that involve hours away from daylight hours or changing shifts are followed, in people who suffer from sleep disorders or have to perform tasks as caregivers at night, and many times this entails taking food overnight. All of these situations can contribute to altering the person's circadian rhythms. Various studies have assessed the influence of the alteration of circadian rhythms and it seems that these changes cause different modifications in our body at different levels, being able to cause changes in the intestinal microbiota, inflammatory processes, etc.

That said, should we take into account what time we eat? How many meals do we eat? And what type of food do we consume in each of our intakes? It is interesting to assess it, but most of these issues are aspects that are still under study and we cannot indicate too much conclusive data in this regard.

In the morning

In the morning we wonder if it is better to get up and eat right away, or the morning meal is not important. From what we know so far, we should not worry about eating as soon as possible, in order to respect the minimum hours of overnight fasting. It all depends on the time we have dinner, of course. Some studies suggest that concentrating the intakes in the sunny hours of the day thus maintaining a minimum of about 13 hours of fasting during the night could have beneficial effects on health.

Is it bad to skip breakfast?

It is very common to hear advice about the importance of breakfast, the relevance of making a complete intake, the need to include certain types of food in it, the danger of skipping it ... These phrases are still heard frequently, sometimes even by health personnel. The reality is that having breakfast can have positive aspects, since it is an intake that we make after hours of fasting and sometimes skipping it can mean a very long fast and cause us to start eating "anything" or that we reach the food with a voracious feeling of hunger. And this can make it difficult for us to choose the foods that we are going to consume with the calm and serenity that we would like and that we have difficulties eating slowly and respecting the physiologically necessary time for us to have a feeling of fullness before having eaten excessively. Now, what happens if we eat an eminently sugar-based breakfast? Well, after a few hours we will be as hungry or more hungry than if we had not had breakfast. This happens due to the effect of the release of insulin after a spike in blood glucose (blood sugar) after having made an intake mainly based on sugars, which can be common at breakfast. So, having breakfast can go well, but not at any price, that is, not just anything. On the other hand, despite the existence of studies that extol the importance of breakfast, recent reviews have been downplaying this intake. Therefore, it is not considered that there is enough evidence to strongly recommend breakfast, much less, as we have said, at any price.

During the day

There are many recommendations and myths regarding the number of meals we eat, the type of food and the time we eat them, the reality is that we should not believe anyone who categorically affirms that it is necessary to have a certain number of meals and a certain hour, since despite the existence of many studies in this regard, contradictions still arise that must be clarified.

Does the number of meals and the schedule we make matter?

The advice to eat five meals a day has become popular for years, but it is increasingly being questioned. Should we eat more or less times? It is logical to think that if we eat fewer times we are limiting our food intake and therefore we will have fewer opportunities to incorporate calories, but on the other hand, the fact of making more intakes can help us to better regulate our appetite and in this way we are reducing the risk of eating more copious meals or bingeing or caloric snacks out of the box. As we mentioned, there is no consensus on this. On the other hand, regarding the schedule, some studies have observed a relationship between being overweight and people who eat later, at noon, while others have worked with the hypothesis that restricting food at certain times of the day could have positive effects for health, observing a positive relationship between the hourly limitation of intakes and the effects on health. But, in any case, we must be clear that there is still no clear advice on this issue.

In the evening

The question of whether to eat one or another type of food according to the time of day, is accentuated at night, as statements are heard such as that you cannot eat fruit at dinner, that lettuce at night is not good, and a long etcetera of unsubstantiated claims. In each case we must personalize the advice and adjust the intakes and foods that are to individual needs, offering intakes adjusted to the physical activity carried out, recommending easy-to-digest foods if you have digestive difficulties and especially reflux, as we will recommend advancing dinner to separate the intake from the moment of stretching, etc. But all this is personal advice, not general.

Can you dine on raw fruit and vegetables?

They are foods rich in water, fiber, vitamins, minerals and contain simple sugars in the form of fructose. For some reason they are foods on which all kinds of beliefs are discussed, that if they should be eaten between meals because after the meal they do not go well, that if fasting, that if not at night. To date, no evidence tells us that the caloric intake of food is going to be different depending on the time of day it is eaten, neither in the case of fruits nor that of any other food.

At the digestive level, fruits contribute to satiety and their consumption is associated with a healthy diet that makes it easier for us to maintain an adequate weight. Regardless of when it is taken. If, due to the personal characteristics of each one, it is better for us to have fruit for breakfast than for dinner, or better between meals than for dessert, great, and if it suits us better or we feel like it more at one time or another, fantastic. It is about always adjusting the diet to personal needs, without losing sight of the general recommendations on food. In the case of raw vegetables, the reasoning would be the same: if we have digestive difficulties, it will be more advisable to eat an easily digestible food before going to bed, especially if we do not allow much time to pass between dinner and bedtime. When we speak of an easily digestible intake, we refer to a low-fat dinner, without much protein load and preferably with cooked foods, which are easier to digest.

What you should know:

• Breakfast can be an important and interesting intake if what we eat is too. Otherwise, it will not be beneficial.
• There is a lot of controversy about the most adequate number of meals that we should eat daily.
• A specific food will not gain weight or lose weight depending on the time of day we eat it, much less will it be healthy or harmful at one time or another.

In conclusion…

After commenting on the different hypotheses about meal times and rhythms, we see that there is still no specific advice in this regard that can be supported by scientific evidence. Now, in any case, we must remember that “what we eat” and “how much we eat” are considered more relevant than “when we eat it”.