Three balanced meals a day, plenty of exercise, and a good eight hours of sleep are crucial to maintaining a healthy lifestyle in today’s fast-paced world. Moreover, people are becoming increasingly health-conscious and following various meal plans to stay fit.
While you must be mindful of what you eat, the timing of your meals also significantly impacts your overall well-being. So, when should you eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner?
Ideally, you should eat breakfast at 7:11 am, lunch at 12:38 pm, and dinner at 6:14 pm. But let’s face it; it’s not possible to always have your meals at these specific times. Instead, there’s an optimal time for each meal to help establish a balanced eating routine. Let’s dig in to know more about this.
Breakfast: To Kickstart Your Day
How often have you heard, ‘Breakfast is the most important meal of the day?’ They don’t say it without a reason. The day’s first meal will fuel your body with nutrients and energy to get you through the rest of the day positively.
Experts recommend eating breakfast within an hour of waking up to jumpstart your metabolism and provide energy for the day. It also allows your body to completely digest the food and rest for a few hours before the second meal of the day.
This early meal will replenish your blood glucose levels that may have depleted during the night.
Ideally, a balanced breakfast includes a combination of protein, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats. Items like eggs, whole-grain cereals, fruits, and nuts make a filling and nutritious first meal.
It’s best to have breakfast about 12 hours after your last meal; this is especially important if you want to lose weight.
Listen to your body’s hunger cues instead of strictly adhering to set meal times. If you’re not hungry for breakfast right away, it’s absolutely fine if you wait until you are.
Read about the 16 best breakfast foods for weight loss.
What Happens if You Skip Breakfast?
As paradoxical as it may seem, skipping breakfast leads to weight gain instead of weight loss. This could be mainly because when you skip breakfast, you get so hungry that you overeat later in the day, possibly during lunchtime.
However, it’s a totally different scene if you’re practicing intermittent fasting. This is the 16/8 method, where you eat during an 8-hour window and fast for 16 hours.
The eating window stretches from lunchtime until dinner, meaning you skip breakfast daily. In such cases, intermittent fasting helps effectively reduce calorie intake, improves metabolic health, and increases weight loss.
Skipping breakfast or intermittent fasting may not suit everyone, and the effects vary individually. While it may benefit some positively, others may experience a drop in blood sugar, headaches, dizziness, and lack of concentration.
Lunch: To Keep You Going
Lunchtime is crucial in providing sustenance and replenishing energy for the afternoon.
You should have lunch around midday, ideally between 12 pm – 2 pm, or approximately 4 – 5 hours after breakfast. This gives your body sufficient time to fully digest the breakfast while also helping maintain stable blood sugar levels.
Have you felt yourself slouch around mid-noon? There are two reasons for this – you had an extremely filling lunch, or you skipped your lunch.
Having a well-rounded lunch on time prevents this energy slump and also prevents you from overeating later in the day.
However, remember that lunch isn’t about eating as much as you can until you have to pop open your pant’s top button for breathing space.
A balanced lunch is one that includes plenty of vegetables, complex carbohydrates (legumes, whole grains), and lean proteins (tofu, fish, chicken). Add healthy fats using olive oil or avocado oil to feel satiated for longer.
If you’re into losing weight, it’s essential to understand that lunchtime appears to have the least impact on weight loss. And for some, it’s the biggest meal of the day.
Moreover, those who habitually eat a late lunch (after 3 pm) tend to lose less weight than those who have an early lunch (before 3 pm).
Have you been longingly eyeing something unhealthy and wondering when you should have it? Lunchtime is an excellent time to have it, but only in small quantities, just to satisfy your cravings.
Read about the best lunch foods that can help you reach your weight loss goals.
What Happens if You Skip Lunch?
How often have you skipped lunch because you’ve been really busy or distracted? Do you recall how you felt on those days?
Skipping lunch will result in problems later in the day; your body will be depleted of energy, and you’ll experience drowsiness or brain fog. That’s not all; it can also cause increased hunger pangs, irritability, and low blood sugar.
More often than not, when you skip lunch, you tend to consume a majority of calories in the evening, possibly excess, uncontrollable night eating too.
On the other hand, if you aren’t with a large appetite around lunchtime, you could always reduce your lunch portions rather than skipping lunch altogether.
Dinner: To Maintain a Balance
Dinner, the last substantial meal of the day, must be had neither too early nor too late. The best time to have dinner will largely depend on your schedule.
Studies show that having a late dinner or eating late into the night is linked with increased risks of obesity and metabolic issues like hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia.
Ideally, you must consume dinner at least two hours before bedtime to aid digestion.
Having your dinner about 2 – 3 hours before bedtime allows your body time to digest the meal sufficiently before you go to sleep. This, in turn, minimizes any discomfort or disrupted sleep patterns. If you eat too close to bedtime, it could lead to indigestion or disturbed sleep, followed by bloating the next morning.
Your dinner must be lighter than lunch and easily digestible. Try to include lean proteins like fish, poultry, or plant-based alternatives and some colorful vegetables.
Limiting your intake of high-fat foods and refined carbohydrates for dinner is best.
Read the 15 best dinner foods that can help you reach your weight loss goals.
What Happens if You Skip Dinner?
For those with normal metabolisms, skipping dinner or having it late in the afternoon is absolutely fine. It’ll help optimize digestion and aid in the absorption of nutrients.
However, if you’re with chronic health conditions like diabetes, it would be best to discuss this with your doctor before you make any changes to your food schedules.
Remember, skipping dinner is like going through an overnight fast until morning. Don’t jump into this routine until you’re certain about your hunger cues, and feel confident that you’ll do just fine without dinner.
How About Snacks?
Now that you’ve understood when should you eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, the question about snacks is probably popping into your mind.
Snacking throughout the day helps maintain steady energy levels, regulates appetite, and prevents overeating during meals.
While reaching out for those unhealthy, processed foods is easy, you must choose healthy snacks that won’t sabotage your overall nutrition goals. Fresh fruits, celery sticks with peanut butter or hummus, yogurt, nuts, or raw vegetables make nutrient-rich snack options.
Incorporating healthy snacks between meals will help maintain stable blood sugar levels and curb excessive hunger. Generally, it’s best to allow at least 2 – 3 hours after a meal (allowing for complete digestion) before having a snack.
If your snack is more about munching on something when you’re bored or feeling low instead of actual hunger, you’re adding excess calories that can lead to unwanted weight gain.
Make that snack a combination of protein with fiber for a healthier option.
Are you on a tight budget? Here are 19 healthy snacks that won’t break the bank.
Important Considerations
The timings of meals may vary depending on individual schedules, preferences, and cultural norms.
Some people may benefit from intermittent fasting or adjusting their meal timing based on their needs or health conditions. Consult with a healthcare professional or registered dietitian to determine the best approach for you.
If you thought skipping meals aids in weight loss, you might want to reconsider that strategy. When you skip meals or eat irregularly, you’re bound to face negative health consequences like weight gain, poor digestion, and decreased energy levels.
Regardless of the mealtimes, you must practice portion control for a balanced diet. Heed to your body’s hunger and feeling of fullness to avoid overeating.
Finally, practice mindful eating rather than gobbling down your food in a rush or when distracted by a screen. Eat slowly and pay more attention to the flavors and textures of the foods; savor every mouthful.
Note: When you eat with distractions, you tend to eat faster and twice more than you usually would, yet, you’ll end up feeling less full.
Summing It Up
While research has come up with an answer to ‘When should you eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner?’, it’s best to understand your internal clock and decide wisely.
Breakfast should be about an hour after waking up, lunch 4 – 5 hours after breakfast, and dinner 2-3 hours before bedtime.
What you eat helps nourish your body, and when you eat determines your weight, metabolic rate, and sleep cycle. Remember, skipping meals is not a healthy way to lose weight.
Whether you’re a fitness enthusiast or looking to shed a few pounds, perfectly timed breakfasts, lunches, and dinners will help you unlock your body’s potential.
