Is the blogger a physician or nutritionist of any sort? After reading many posts on dieting/nutrition, I'm a bit skeptical about advice like 'This nightly fast allows your body to take it's focus away from digestion and put it towards repair and rejuvenation of the body's cells.' when you could also twist it around and say, 'With food in your stomach, now your body has additional energy to repair and rejuvenate the body's cells.'

I saw several other of his points in his article, and I think it's important that people keep in mind the source of information, especially as there are no references.

AKthe47

doesn't work for me. But then I do eat low-carb... I work from home and hubby comes home at 10 p.m. most days, so that's when we have dinner. And I can't eat "breakfast" anyway, never could, I am thriving on coffee or green tea for the first wee hours of the day. Works out just fine. Maybe it's different when you do the blood sugar yoyoing...

writersmind

@Deprong Mori: I completely agree. And, I'm surprised that you didn't repeat your favorite Michael Pollan mantra, "eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants". It captures the entire thing so well, there really isn't much to say beyond that. :)

vered

I eat 5-6 medium to small sized portions per day. I sleep just fine.

JiveMasterT

I grew up in Israel, where it's customary to eat a heavy lunch and a light dinner. Took me a while to get used to the American way of a lighter lunch and a bigger dinner. Having said that, I don't think I slept better when I used to eat a lighter dinner. If you eat dinner at 7pm and go to bed at 11pm, you tummy is pretty much empty anyway?

vered

I'm with you on the big breakfast, but I've started making sure I eat something -- usually a small bowl of cereal -- before going to bed rather than going to bed on an empty stomach, because I find that if I do go to bed hungry, I'm more likely to wake up with a headache from low blood sugar/dehydration. And waking up with a headache makes you not too keen to get up at all, which could lead to sleeping longer and just making it worse.

I wouldn't pig out on a feast before bed or anything, though.

bluewyvern

Stop listening to dietitians and nutritionists: just use common sense and moderation. Pay attention to your body.

My breakfasts are in fact pretty big. Lunch is usually the largest meal for me because I often exercise when I get home from work and I can't work out on a totally empty stomach. Dinner is a pretty spartan affair usually. I didn't read about any of this stuff. I just listened to my body and this feels right. I'm healthier than 99% of people at my age.

Stop reading diet, nutrition and financial advice in blogs.

Deprong Mori

This could be great, but my meals are dictated by my school =/

Breakfast sucks, lunch sucks, dinner sucks. But dinner is the largest meal so my eating habits follow that.

Daniel

After a pretty grueling hockey schedule, I gravitated to big breakfast, huge lunch, light snack for dinner (of course with a few more snacks in between). I'm trying to modify it to a normal diet, but I noticed that I had a lot more energy throughout the day, both mentally and physically.

There is good advice on that page too, living with purpose is definitely one of them. As I said before with the sleep tips, if you sit in a cubicle for eight hours and watch TV for four more, of course you won't sleep well, you didn't accomplish anything or challenge yourself. Find something you're passionate about and do it. Whether it's spending time with your kids, playing some kind of sport, making music, reading, writing, whatever. Do something that has meaning every day and you shouldn't have trouble sleeping at night.

Jarick

Most athletes will tell you that going to bet hungry is a bad idea. The reason for this is that your metabolism slows down if it doesn't have something to "work on." That's why it's important to eat a foods that don't spike your glycemic index right before bed (like an apple or a small piece of lean white-meat chicken). This allows your body to continue to work and slowly digest the food while you sleep, using the energy to repair lean muscle cells. And who out there is healthier than an athlete?

Nogard13

@Deprong Mori: You do realize that that train of thought is what keeps people smoking, polluting the environment, drinking alcohol, and gambling: there are no obvious short term effects, often only results that are realized LONG after what your body has given feedback on and TOO LATE after you can do anything about it.

Dietitians, nutritionists, and doctors (which you interestingly left out.. perhaps you realize how absurd that sounds to not listen to your doctor) have their degrees for a reason: There's real science behind them, and although they may not be 100% conclusive, 90% is good enough for me.

AKthe47

My mom (from England) always told me I should eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a commoner, and dinner like a pauper. Seems to match what this post is about.

RickS

I follow the eat-when-hungry diet. I ... shock ... eat when hungry.

The annoying thing is this also requires scheduled work breaks so I can evaluate hunger status. Then again, that's not so bad.

CWW

I work with a crazy Russian guy who told me one should eat his breakfast by himself, share his lunch with a friend and then (with fierce eyes he says) "dinner? feed it to your enemy!"

computermom

Berkeley researcher Seth Roberts found that eating breakfast caused poorer sleep and insomnia:

[repositories.cdlib.org]

That_Bastid

@Deprong Mori: Paying attention to my body is what got me up to 300 pounds. Now I'm paying attention to my calorie count.

HeartBurnKid

>Pay attention to your body.

I think it's conceivable to say that that doesn't exactly work for everyone. Yes, there are people, including many here, who probably don't struggle with food issues, so of course, it's easy to say show moderation, eat good things, don't worry about following steps.

There is a place for giving people structured meal planning that enables them to break out of bad habits. For myself, I was long a poor eater, but after going through an initial process that was more structured, I now eat more healthily, don't sweat the small stuff and don't have to think about what I eat -- I just gravitate toward good things in moderation.

This zen approach of just eating what your body tells you to just commits the same fallacy as many other eating instructions -- it assumes a one-size-fits-all approach will work for everyone. And that's not true.

Bing

@That_Bastid: The link you reference is to a PDF entitled "Self-experimentation as a source of
new ideas." Interesting, but methinks the sample size is too small. ;)

FWIW, my own small-sample-sized experiments (n=1) tend to support the idea that smaller dinners, or "normal American size" ones eaten earlier than 6pm, lead to better sleep. They also seem to be helpful with acid-reflux problems and weight loss.

Horace_Worblehat

If I go to bed on an empty stomach I actually sleep worse and sometimes even wake up in the middle of the night just go get a snack. I just try to roll with a ton of little lite snacks throughout the day

Ashley927

I don't really believe this. It's a thing everyone believes in Poland. Or, at least, it's a wives tale my grandmothers used to tell me.

I also eat dinner by some standards early though. 3 or more hours before I head to sleep.

I find meals at 312, not 321 (bigger number, larger meal). Te biggest thing really is to avoid things you're normally not good at digesting. (Me, lactose, beans).

Kin

Vered is right. I should have also quoted Pollan's mantra.

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

Deprong Mori

The qoute, "have breakfast like a king, lunch like a countryman & dinner like a pauper"..is very true scientifically even...but it doesnt mean 2 sleep empty stomach...it means have a light meal 4 dinner... having no food itself may lead 2 ulcers many a times as there is no food 2 neutralize the acid secretion of stomach at night & it may interfere with sleep even...heavy meals during daytime get burnt out...but at night get accumulated..so the quote..these idioms in english r contradictory in few cases but actually speaking most of the times they r words of wisdom..which came up by gr8 philosophers when they attained that wisdom & we r able 2 appreciate them when we attain that level of wisdom & experience..or else we need 2 grow up fast as people do...

diane28177

yes the quote goes like this' Have breakfast like a king, lunch like a countryman & dinner like a pauper"...but whosoever posted this ques definitely has no knowledge abt nutrition atleast....it is adviced that u hav heavy meals during daytime as it gets burntout...& at night it accumulates...abt empty stomach at night...it itself results in ulcers many a times as there is no food 2 neutralise the acid secretion of stomach & empty stomach interferes with sleep even...i hope ur concepts r clear now...though u cant totally rely on these idioms in english all the time...but most of the times they r words of wisdom which r very true & we realize them only after we attain that level of wisdom...

diane28177

ofcourse the 1 who is giving this piece of advice has no knowledge when it cums 2 diet atleast....the phrase u r reffering 2 is 'Have breakfast like a king, lunch like a countryman & dinner like a pauper' ...which is very true even...by pauper it does not mean empty stomach!...it means hav a light meal...its not that paupers sleep empty stomach all the time...no meal or heavy meal both r not good at night...it is adviced that u hav a heavy meal during morning hrs as it gets burntout during the day which is not the case when its night time it just gets accumulated as fat & no food at night many a times itself results in ulcers due 2 the acid secretion at night & no food 2 neutralise it ...so also it may interfere with sleep...i hope ur concepts r clear now...who so ever posed this ques...

diane28177

@Deprong Mori: Because you don't every other opportunity? ;)

Anyway; I think there's value in listening to what your body NEEDS as opposed to what it wants. Sometimes it'll tell you - but as with everything else, moderation is the key to a healthy and proper diet.

I'm a believer in the whole eat big in the morning (because you need fuel for the day ahead), a smaller meal at lunch (because you need a boost for the rest of the day) and the smallest meal at dinner (because you're not going to be up for much longer, and seriously, haven't we already agreed that going to bed on a stomach full of food is unhealthy for both your GI system and your metabolism?), even though I can say it's hard to follow it...it's just too easy to skip lunch or breakfast and pig out for dinner. :(

phoenix

I don't believe this one bit. "breakfast is your most important meal of the day" is an old wive's tale. You should be eating 5-6 moderate portion meals per day. This keeps your metabolism up. Moderate portions so you don't overeat.

As for night, your body naturally goes into a catabolic state! It's best not to eat many carbs before bed since you won't be needing the energy. Healthy fats and some protein is a better choice since a) your body needs fats, b) PROTEIN will help rejuvenate your body (moreso if you have a more active lifestyle), and c) the fat digests slowly so your body will maintain its metabolism for the night

bsr35802

I can never eat a huge breakfast no matter how I try, and my body tend to request that I grab a bite before sleeping or else I'd wake up hungry and that isn't pleasant.

I agree that its much better to take many small meals over the course of a day than to take a few large ones. You should eat when your body tells you to, and not try to adhere to a fixed pattern that someone thinks is better for you.

Mythokia

"See, that's all it takes! Try it for a couple weeks, get used to it, and soon you'll be relishing sunrises like this:"

(pic of misty sunrise in India / Thailand / exotic place)

Good article with bits of truth in there (common sense) but that last sentence and picture ... come on ,, please!!

daelight

I totally agree. Forget research, I'll rely on the next best thing, good ole' common sense to back up my agreement. Your body has much more time (awake & active) to process a heavier meal when eaten in the morning. I veiw breakfast as a way to charge my body for the day, lunch is a pit-stop (for me often vegetables, oatmeal, fruit, or flavored rice cakes) and a light, early dinner 5-6pm sets up just right for sleep at 10-11. Sure, I'm plenty hungry when I wake up BUT...as other commenters have stated, its important to get your body on a fixed pattern or schedule. Its incredible how sensitive our bodies are to some change.

Just my two cents.
Logan Baker
[www.schoolmarquee.com] (LED School Marquees)

loganbaker

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
Damnit, I'm getting sick of that glib idiocy... Mark of shame on anyone who repeats that from now on.
First of all, plants are the damn problem. Processed foods are made almost exclusively from plants. Massive consumption of highly glycemic carbohydrates is the #1 killer in America (heart disease, diabetes, stroke, Alzheimer's).

"Listen to your body"?
Your body is likely a drug addict.. It will influence you in incredible ways to get the sugar rush that is standard in modern life. Yogurt (sweetened), cereal, rice cakes, fruit juice (from concentrate)... health food right? Wrong!
"Listen to your doctor"?
90% of doctors will just repeat the ruling zeitgeist (which was [at the least] influenced by big business) and write you a lifelong prescription that will probably majorly screw up your body.

For the record, I eat 1 huge meal a day (w/ a lot of meat & calories) right before I go to bed (Warrior Diet [low glycemic]). Sleep like a baby ;)

l337_7r4d3r

While I agree that anything heavy at night can interfere with good sleep, the same can be said for the a.m. I've always found that a full breakfast not only slows me down but seems to determine my appetite for the day. With a breakfast I get hungrier sooner for the next meal. I don't know why that is and maybe it is just my system.

I find that the longer I delay eating my first meal of the day, the less hungry I am the rest of the day. So, I tend to stick with all light meals.

elanne

I eat every four hours -- my meals are about 70% carbs, 20% protein, 10% fat, and usually under 400 calories. I have lots of energy, sleep well, and rarely feel fatigued when working out. I still think small meals across the day are the way to go, but everyone's different. I don't think that I would (personally) do well with a big breakfast, would probably make me way too sleepy.

RocketRockit