Carbohydrates at dinner
Truth or myth
A priori, one of the most repeated pieces of advice whenever we try to lose weight or maintain it is to avoid eating carbohydrates at night . Normally, after dinner we go to bed, and we think that all the carbohydrates we eat at night will be stored as fat.In fact, bodybuilding gurus have spent years preaching that breakfast or lunch is the best time to eat carbohydrates because eating them at dinner makes you gain weight.
The truth is that this widespread belief does not have a solid scientific basis. Some studies confirm that the time of day they are consumed is completely indifferent. And some conclude that at night is better. In the middle of the poles, the important thing to highlight is, without a doubt, the amount of carbohydrates that are eaten throughout the day and the type of carbohydrate that is chosen.
IMPORTANCE OF CARBOHYDRATES
In this sense, there are complex carbohydrates (the good ones) that “can even protect us against weight gain”, according to the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU). simple carbohydrates, are present in cookies, donuts, bread, soft drinks and, therefore, are not healthy at all. These are the carbohydrates that should be avoided, although not only at dinner, but also during the rest of the day.
We must bear in mind that when there is an imbalance of nutrients in our body, everything begins to malfunction. Therefore, eliminating them does not make any sense since carbohydrates must provide between 55-60% of the calories in the diet , in addition to being our greatest source of energy . Therefore, it is interesting to take a good dose after exercising, to promote recovery, or even before if we are going to run a marathon, for example.
Do they become fat
Yes and no.Carbohydrates, like any other macronutrient (including protein), can be converted to fat, but it’s not a matter of what time you eat them, it’s a matter of quantity and your glycogen levels.When we consume carbohydrates, the first thing the body does is use them to replenish glycogen stores, but once they are full, the body starts to store the rest as fat.
The same thing happens at any time of the day, carbohydrates are fattening the same regardless of the time they are consumed, eating them at night does not provide more calories than eating them during the day. Therefore, the cause of weight gain would not be the fault of including carbohydrates at dinner but of maintaining a prolonged diet with a caloric excess.
In favor, we can even say that calories are also burned during the night.Normally, a person burns about 1 calorie for every pound of weight in an hour of sleep.A person of about 57 kilos will burn around 38 calories per hour of sleep, that is, about 304 calories if you sleep the recommended 8 hours. That is, during the REM phaseThe body also burns calories.
Another argument in favor is that it increases the production of leptin . It is the hormone responsible for sending satiety signals to the brain, which makes the body stop asking for food. In a nutshell, it takes away your hunger.Leptin is considered to be more efficient at night because it has many hours to perform its function. Another benefit of taking them at dinner is that serotonin is released, which improves the quality of sleep.
The important thing in this context is to control what is taken at night taking into account what has already been eaten the rest of the day. It is, simply, not to add calories exceeding those that each person needs in the day.
