This is such a simple tip that it is hard to believe how effective it can be! Simply switch your lunch and dinner menus. Lunch choices are often soups, salads, and sandwiches – usually light food with a high concentration of fruits and vegetables. Dinners are usually heavier meals, focused around meat and pasta or potatoes. (This statement is obviously geared towards Americans – I realize that it is common elsewhere to have a large mid-day meal.)
I suggest switching lunch with dinner because all of your activity occurs during the day. You are running around, exercising, stressing, presenting…whatever your day consists of. By the time you get home at night and finish eating, it’s time to sit and relax. There is substantially less calorie-burning activity between dinner and bedtime then there is earlier in the day. Yet in contrast, we eat our lighter meal during the period where we’re burning the most calories, and our heaviest meal when we’re burning the least. Doesn’t seem to make sense, right?
Additionally, it’s important to look at the ways in which these foods are being used by your body. Fats and carbohydrates are major sources of energy for daily activities, while protein is primarily used to rebuild muscles, enzymes, and other necessary structures in the body. During the day you are more active so there is a need for high-energy food items. While you sleep, your body repairs and recovers from the day – activities that require protein. By switching dinner with lunch you are fueling your body with the right nutrients for the right activities, while at the same time reducing the overabundance of carbohydrates eaten before bed.
For this reason I try to eat grains at breakfast and lunch time (breads, potato, pasta, cereal, etc). Of course, I balance the meal with protein and vegetables too! But my point is that lunch should be the meal with the heavier carbohydrates because your body will have time to utilize them properly during the day. Dinner is best centered around vegetables (like a salad or grilled vegetables) and lean protein. I try to limit the amount of grains I eat at night – which helps maintain my weight and also makes for a lighter meal prior to bed.
Switching dinner with lunch is a simple strategy that is oh-so-effective for controlling weight. Try it and tell me what you think!
For more on weight loss: “10 Ways to Make Weight Loss Work for You.”
For more on meal strategies:
Strategies For Controlling Your Portion Sizes
