Midnight snacking and meal planning

Question
Is it true that food consumed late at night turns into fat? What about when people wake up for a "midnight snack" and then go back to sleep - is that a shot in the foot to weight loss attempts? How about if the person is still consuming less calories than he's expending; does it matter when the food is consumed relative to sleeping times?  

Answer
Hi Lisa

Good question!

Until recently, the answer has been a firm YES. Now, new findings appeared that it all depends on what kind of diet you are on. If you follow USDA food pyramid recommendations and get most of your calories from carbohydrates, it's still YES, carb-rich food consumed late at night has better chance to turn into fat but simply because it's harder to stop eating a carb-rich meal than a fat-rich meal; plus carb meals result in greater sluggishness so even before you go to bed, you spend less calories.

This is correct for meal planning generally. High-carb way of eating is better off with more frequent smaller meals while higher-fat meals allows to practice what's called intermittent fast and what in fact is just one or two meals a day. Research showed that this kind of meal pattern slowed the process of aging in humans and significantly prolonged lifespan in animals.

You might want to read pros and cons of meal frequency:

Timing in Meal Planning
http://dietandbody.com/meal_planning.html

Who鈥檚 right about meal frequency and weight loss?
http://dietandbody.com/diet/nfblog/?p=91

8 minutes in the morning?
http://dietandbody.com/morning_exercises.html

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