To eat a late lunch or to not....?

Many of us have been In a position where life takes over, schedules overlap, appointments don’t run on time or you simply forget to eat lunch. Before you know it it’s 3.30pm and you’re unsure whether to eat lunch OR wait until dinner, seeing you’ve come this far?

Well let me reassure you!

You are more likely to snack on unsatisfying less nutritious foods in the afternoon and even more likely to over consume calories on multiple snacks rather than just one meal. Perhaps you’re the night time snacker….feeling unsatisfied with your meal at dinner, very quickly the catchup calories are consumed later in the evening ….probably not great food choices and ideal before bed!

A study by Marwaha et al (2018) found evidence that when meals are skipped, binge eating behaviours increased. Furthermore the effects of these behaviours resulted in the increased likelihood of inadequate dietary nutrition.

Another study found that increasing meal frequency reduced the risk of obesity in adults by 45%. (Ma et al, 2003)

So if this is a familiar scenario for you, if it occurs on a daily basis or even just occasionally..…May I suggest you eat your lunch, even if it’s only 2-3 hours before dinner. This can help to avoid the binge cycle effect and reduce the urge to eat refined sugars.

Simple meal ideas on the go -

Chicken and salad wholegrain sandwich

Banana and peanut butter smoothie

Brown rice and tuna salad

Quiche and salad

NSS Team xx

Journal Links

https://www.journalofsports.com/pdf/2018/vol3issue2/PartR/3-2-204-682.pdf

https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwg117