Breakfast, lunch, and dinner with some mid-meal snacks – that’s what a day’s food schedule looked like for most of us until a few years ago. Not anymore.
Thank the ease of ordering food online and the growing restaurant density around us. Team it with long working hours that leave us with no or barely any time to be in the kitchen. Add to that our lost control over instant gratification. Simply coming across a viral Reel featuring a cheese-loaded burger can lure many into ordering one right away, no matter what time of the day it is.
This is especially true for urban millennials and Gen Z, who prefer convenience and have the money to afford it. Online food platforms have become our virtual kitchens, and dining out isn’t just reserved for special occasions.
Staying up till the wee hours – to binge-watch shows and movies or for regular parties and game nights – is also fuelling the late-night eating scene. Binging and watching get too literal!
The trend has also been noted in a recent study, ‘How India Eats,’ conducted by food delivery platform Swiggy in collaboration with Bain & Co. It highlighted a rise in ‘anytime binging,’ emphasising increased prominence for mid-meal occasions such as brunch, evening, and late-night.
The study also reported a 23 percent growth in late-night orders for burgers, pizza, and biryani on Swiggy in 2023 compared to 2022. Talking about the same, Rohit Kapoor, CEO, Food Marketplace, Swiggy, said that the concept of breakfast-lunch-dinner is getting blurred with people stepping out to eat and ordering food online during mid-meal hours.
With the ease of ordering food online and increased restaurant density, indulging in ‘anytime binge-eating’ is easier. (Photo: Getty Images)
This is reflected in Swiggy’s order frequency as well. The company has six major peak orders during the day, which include the traditional breakfast, lunch, and dinner along with brunch, evening snacks, and late-night meals. And let’s not forget the popularity of rat snacking as a food trend, which involves having snacks between meals, and experimenting with unconventional food pairings while at it.
Health experts, however, want you to be cautious of the growing trend of eating anytime. Eating late at night, for instance, disturbs this natural rhythm and can lead to severe health complications.
“When a person eats at 2 am, it disturbs their sleep-wake cycle and biological clock. The digestion, metabolism, and energy utilisation processes get disrupted. During the day, our body is more primed to process food and nutrients efficiently, but at night, energy is conserved, and restoration work occurs,” explains dietitian Deepali Sharma, clinical nutritionist at the CK Birla Hospital, Delhi.
Even if you are skipping your breakfast for brunch, that is not a wise thing to do.
The impact on health
Experts say it is fine to have more meals than just breakfast, lunch, and dinner, like mid-afternoon or evening snacks, but the point to remember is to eat light and only eat when hungry. No mindless munching, please! Even indulging in a late-night meal is fine, only if it is occasional and not a regular occurrence.
“Late-night work or parties till midnight or 2 am demand late-night eating, especially something junk like a pizza or a burger accompanied by soft drinks or even booze. If this happens once a month it is alright. But such a lifestyle happening persistently will hamper one’s health in multiple ways and hasten the process of ageing,” adds Pooja Shah Bhave, a consultant clinical dietician and certified diabetes educator based in Mumbai.
Health experts warn against consuming late-night meals. (Photo: Getty Images)
While compromising on proper sleep increases the risk of obesity, diabetes, and heart diseases, consuming heavy meals high in carbs, sugar, and fats adds to the woes.
“Our metabolic rate is very low in the night. Such meals are not metabolised and utilised completely, and a major portion converts into fat. It also causes too much oxidative stress and inflammation in our body, multiplying the damage caused by lack of sleep,” Bhave adds.
To this, Delhi-based nutritionist Lovneet Batra adds that meal timings govern our digestion, and eating at erratic timings makes our digestion weak. And weak digestion leads to compromised nutrition absorption, which can further lead to nutrition deficiencies, skin and hair woes, weakened muscles, impact on bone health, and low energy levels.
As for brunches, which are becoming popular and also encouraging cafes and restaurants to curate special brunch menus, are also problematic if you entirely skip breakfast.
“As a dietician, I usually discourage skipping breakfast because breakfast is the main meal of the day. The wholesome carbohydrate and protein-rich breakfast within two hours of waking up is best,” says Bhave.
“If one has to have a brunch instead of breakfast, it is best to start a day with a fruit or a handful of nuts early in the morning and then complete the brunch by 11 am in the day as we have the highest metabolic rate in the morning hours,” she adds.
Dr Mahesh Kumar Gupta, senior consultant, gastroenterology, Marengo Asia Hospital, Gurugram, says that meal timings should essentially be fixed and not change much each day. Furthermore, it is also what you are eating that has a significant impact. He strictly advises against overeating and frequently devouring foods that are processed, contain excessive fat, and are loaded with refined sugar.
What’s the right time to eat?
Health experts strongly emphasise having a fixed schedule for your meals and following the traditional sequence of breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Ideally, you should have your first meal (breakfast) within two hours of waking up. Lunch should be consumed four hours after the first meal, and dinner should be done 2-3 hours before hitting the bed.
Late-night meals can lead to obesity and other health issues. Ideally, the last meal of the day should be consumed 2-3 hours before sleeping. (Photo: Getty Images)
According to Lovneet Batra, these are the overall factors that should govern your meal timings:
Sleep routine: Ideally, you should have your first meal (breakfast) within two hours of waking up. Lunch should be consumed four hours after the first meal, and dinner should be done 2-3 hours before hitting the bed.
Appetite: Eat only when you are hungry.
Activity or workout routine: Eat when you are active.
Those who cannot eat as per the sunrise/sunset principles (basically, the body’s natural clock) because of late-night work shifts, can follow the above three factors for their meal schedules.
Additionally, the distribution of calorie intake throughout the meals is also significant to stay healthy.
“50 percent of your day’s calorie intake should be from breakfast. It is supposed to be the heaviest meal. Your lunch and dinner should contribute 20 and 10 percent of the day’s total calories,” says Dr Gupta.
“The rest 20 percent can be divided into 2-3 snacks,” he adds.
How to make your ‘anytime meals’ healthier
So, those between-the-meals snacking sessions are absolutely fine, till you are keeping them light. But that’s not what it looks like for many people.
According to Swiggy, particular food items that were usually ordered during breakfast, lunch, or dinner like chhole bhature, pizzas, or ice creams, are now ordered throughout the day. Pizzas, for instance, are popular as evening snacks and late-night orders on Swiggy.
Anyway, here are a few suggestions to give ‘anytime eating’ a healthier twist:
Firstly, swap the junk food items with healthier options. “Chaat items, especially bhel, steamed khaman dhokla, idli or upma are good evening snacks instead of a fried snack like kachori, vada or samosa,” says dietitian Pooja Shah Bhave.
She suggests swapping fried namkeen with makhana, murmura bhel, or chivda.
For sweet cravings, ditch those cheesecakes for anjeer, black currants or dried cranberries, blueberries, amaranth chikki or laddoos. 70 to 90 percent dark chocolate is also better than the regular chocolates.
“Not only do these foods have lesser carbohydrate content but they are also rich in vitamins and minerals,” says Bhave.
Keeping small boxes of nuts, dry fruits, trail mix, or roasted chana at your office can also help you from consuming excess calories in the evening or before lunch.
Once you are in the office canteen, it might be hard to say no to those tempting pyaaz kachoris served with lip-smacking garlic chutney.
Experts say having fruits 1-2 times a day in between meals is simply gold, as they are super rich in antioxidants like Vitamin A and C as well as minerals.
Don’t watch television or use your phone while eating to prevent extra binging.
Avoid certain foods that you tend to overeat. If you can’t let go of that packet of aloo bhujia namkeen until it is over, try to avoid it completely.
Basically, avoid excess sugar and simple carbs food for your ‘anytime meals’. If pizza, burgers, and chhole bhature are on your mind, make sure it is not a frequent indulgence. Remember, there are healthy food options also available for online food delivery.
Published By:
Medha Chawla
Published On:
Jul 17, 2024
