An early dinner can improve your health: how to make it work for you

Dinner times were trending earlier. According to Resy, an online booking platform, more people made reservations at 5:30 a.m. in New York City and fewer people made them at 8 p.m. compared to previous years. Last year, the number of dinner reservations made before 5 p.m. doubled from 2019, according to Yelp. Not to mention, an unintended benefit of dining at 5:30 is picking through the trash at several restaurants that tend to be booked weeks in advance in the seventh hour.

Wherever you sit on the pendulum of the debate over the best time to eat dinner, there’s a growing case that an early meal can help improve your overall health and well-being.

The health benefits of an early dinner

It can help prevent heartburn

Tara Schmidt, a registered dietitian with the Mayo Clinic Diet, says eating dinner earlier can help those who often have heartburn and acid reflux after meals.

Eating three to four hours before bed can help prevent gastrointestinal distress, which can keep people up at night and prolong digestion. Eating dinner early means there’s time after a walk or activity, which also helps with digestion, rather than sitting or laying in bed, Schmidt adds. Digestion is best “when light is present and the body is active,” says Schmidt. “You will have lower blood sugar levels because your blood sugar rose during that meal. But now that you’re exercising, it’s going to come back down.”

If you finish eating by 6:30 and go to bed around 9:30 or 10, you give your body enough time to digest, limiting reflux, indigestion, and heartburn, says Ilana Muhlstein, dietitian, nutritionist, and author the book. Love food that loves you back.

You might make better food choices

Eating earlier in the evening gives us time to make healthier decisions about what we eat, says Muhlstein. We can make a nutritious meal of whole foods versus the readily available, highly processed options in the pantry or freezer when we face bedtime. “When you come home from work hungry, it’s the perfect opportunity to fill up on nutritious and satisfying foods like protein and vegetables,” she says.

Have you ever become that grumpy, hungry friend who starts fidgeting while waiting for dinner at 8pm? Guilty. If you’re hungry right after a long day at work but usually don’t eat until later, you may find yourself mindlessly snacking out of hunger and boredom while you wait.

“If you assume 5:30 p.m. is ‘too early’ for dinner, you may end up snacking on processed carbs like chips and crackers, which can lead to overeating,” says Muhlstein.

If you’re still hungry after an early dinner, don’t worry. You may consider adjusting the time you eat. If you need a snack, Schmidt recommends grabbing something with a high water content, such as easily digestible fruit, or a high-fiber and protein-rich food to maintain fullness, such as a whole grain.

You can reduce your risk of getting sick

Eating late at night was associated with higher overall calorie intake and increased risk of obesity. A study suggests that the hormone responsible for satiety, leptin A, drops later in the day, which can lead to overeating when you eat late. Especially for those with diabetes or obesity, eating earlier can also help with insulin sensitivity.

“When insulin levels are high, the body’s ability to burn fat is blocked,” says Muhlstein. “Lower insulin levels are essential for those trying to lose weight and convert existing fat stores into energy. Eating dinner earlier and taking a dinner-and-go approach allows the body more time in a fat-burning state.”

Research suggests that keeping meals within a short window of six to eight hours earlier in the day, a form of intermittent fasting called early limited feeding, can also stabilize blood glucose levels. However, this approach is not the best for everyone, and it is important to consult with a licensed professional before committing to any strict fasting regimen.

Another plus of having an early dinner is that, just as regular bedtimes are essential to our health, eating around the same time helps regulate our body’s natural sleep clock, or circadian rhythm. “Having an irregular eating pattern can increase the risk of disease,” says Schmidt.

Reap the benefits of quality time

You can optimize not only your physical health, but also your social health by dining with the early risers. Planning to eat dinner earlier can lead to meeting others and enjoying a meal together by being intentional about the timing. A 2021 study analyzing data from the American Time Use Survey found that families who eat dinner before 6:15 p.m. report spending more quality time with their children.

A wealth of research highlights how dining with others boosts mental health and well-being, and makes sense of what might otherwise be a rushed, mundane experience.

How to become a convert at dinner from 5:30 p.m

• Find a dinner time that works for you, even if it’s not specifically for early birders. If you’re hungry after a 5:30 dinner before going to bed, it might be too early for you. Consider testing a 6:30 or 7:00 p.m. meal.
• Avoid snacking late at night. Schmidt cautions that an early dinner and then a late-night snack offsets the benefits. “We know that when people eat later at night, they have a higher risk of obesity,” she says.
• Plan ahead for busy days. “I admit my kid does sports every Wednesday, so every Wednesday will be a crockpot Wednesday because we have to go in the house, change, get them dinner and go out again instead of waiting until after practice .” says Schmidt.

Note that the experts said this What is on the plate is still more important than when you eat. Half of your plate should be non-starchy vegetables, one fourth should be lean protein, and another fourth should be a whole grain or starchy vegetable.

For more on healthy eating:

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