Eating Late Is More Likely To Burn Fat and Build Muscle (says Warrior Diet author)

[nobimbo]

Top Ten Diet Fallacies — Fallacy #3: Eating Late will Make You Fat: “Not So! It’s More Likely to Burn Fat and Build Muscle,” Says Warrior Diet Author Ori Hofmekler

Will “eating late” turn you into a bloated blob of unwanted body fat? Many of us think so, but according to weight loss and strength gain expert, Warrior Diet author Ori Hofmekler. http://www.dragondoor.com/b17.html eating a big meal in the evening can result in fat loss and muscle gain… if you follow the right plan.

St. Paul, MN (PRWEB) May 13, 2005 -- Will “eating late” turn you into a bloated blob of unwanted body fat? Many of us think so, but according to weight loss and strength gain expert, Warrior Diet author Ori Hofmekler. http://www.dragondoor.com/b17.html eating a big meal in the evening can result in fat loss and muscle gain… if you follow the right plan.

It has been commonly assumed that night is the worst time to eat. The logic: night is when the body typically slows down and therefore is more prone to gain fat. Makes sense, but is it true?

There are no conclusive studies or any evidence to prove the assumption that eating late meals causes fat gain more than eating early meals.

Studies reveal that other variables such as the frequency of meals, the glycemic index of food, calorie intake and hormonal balance are the real “power brokers” in the body’s capacity to burn or gain fat.

Even so the notion that eating late causes fat gain is deep rooted. The reason: for most people, who typically eat several meals during the day, any additional meal including a late meal maybe “one too many”. The result is an overwhelming overloading effect on the body often involving fat gain. Does it mean that eating late is a bad idea? Quite the opposite. If daily food intake is planned properly and the evening meal turns to be the main meal, then eating late could be highly rewarding.

There is a substantial amount of evidence that we humans have adapted well to nightly eating. We carry the same genes of our hunter-gatherer ancestors, who were primarily busy gathering or hunting during the daily hours and eating during the nightly hours, while at rest.

Indeed, our body is biologically preprogrammed to work around the circadian clock (i.e. active during the day and relaxing at night). Our inner clock is controlled by two antagonistic autonomic nervous systems: the SNS, with its highly alert “fight or flight” state, responsible for action and reaction to stress during the day, and the PSNS, responsible for relaxation, digestion and sleep during the night. (See Top Ten Diet Fallaces, Fallacy # 1.) For that matter our body digests and utilizes nutrients better at night while at rest, than during the highly stressful hours of the day.

Furthermore, night is the time when growth hormone (GH) reaches a peak level. (Peak secretion during non-REM, SWSdeep sleep). GH is known to be a potent muscle and bone builder and a fat burner. Late meals, if applied correctly could be most anabolic.

Note that GH actions can not be effectively finalized without the interference of insulin. Late meals, may well take advantage of max GH spike during the night, providing the nutrients required for actually facilitating GH actions, thus promoting protein synthesis in the muscle tissues and fat burning (in particular, abdominal fat).

In conclusion, do not betray your biological destiny.
Don’t deny yourself from eating late meals. If you do, your body may come back with a vengeance, to reclaim what was taken away from him, often inducing chronic cravings for food at night, which may result in nocturnal bingeing. Finally, late meals often have a relaxing effect on the body, preparing you for sleep. If nothing else, late meals can help bring a happy end for a tough day.

Visit http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/317/ for more information or read Ori Hofmekler’s The Warrior Diet. http://www.dragondoor.com/b17.html

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/5/prweb240054.htm

[erinleigh]

Intresting Article! Hmmmm... thats really funny too! Cause I just joined a challenge that you don't eat after 7 p.m.! LOl!

Thank you!

[ItsTheWooo]

I totally agree.

The advice to not eat at night is a lot like the advice to lose weight by eliminating fat from diet. It is assuming that losing weight is only as simple as eliminating excess calories.

The advice not to eat at night stems from the fact that most people tend to comfort eat at night on junkfood: dessert foods, snack foods, in front of the couch right before bed. These food items have no nutrition, are mostly impulsive, and generally the body is good without them. Ergo telling people to not eat at night is akin to telling people not to over eat too much intense tasting, high calorie, sugar/fat food (a good idea).

But eating a meal of protein and fat in the evening - assuming it is not an excessive indulgence and part of your daily intake requirements - if anything would only improve health and weight loss. "Burning calories" through activity is actually a small percentage of an average person's energy needs, so the fact the body "slows down" in activity at night is really meaningless. The overwhelming majority of energy goes into maintaining the body's tissues and keeping everything running. These processes peak during the nighttime and it is when needs for protein, fat, and energy to rebuild tissue are highest!

I quite frequently make late night dinners my largest meal, and also low carb fat/protein desserts right before bed habits. Assuming I've been watching my TOTAL intake, I've only noticed steady weight loss as a side effect.

[mrfreddy]

I seem to remember that this warrior diet guy advocates not eating anything all day, and then eating all you want in the evening...

[superaunt]

Hmm... well, I've been trying not to eat a couple hours before bed and I've found that I've been sleeping a heck of a whole better.

Whatever works for you, I say! :)

[K Walt]

I sort of agree with Wooo.

My whole being seems to cry out to eat at night. I can eat or not eat during the day, and it never bothers me one way or the other. But in the evening, after the day's work is done, I want to eat.

Never mind what the dieticians and nutritionists say. It doesn't seem to matter if I've eaten a big breakfast and lunch. I still struggle trying NOT to eat in the evening. I've tried that old 'most important meal of the day thing' or that 'Breakfast/king. . . Lunch/prince . . . dinner pauper.

Come evening, I'm prowling for food, anyway. So instead of fighting myself for the rest of my life, I tend to save my eating for the evening whenever possible. (All low-carb whole foods stuff.)

It doesn't seem to affect my weight at all -- in fact, it helped knock off the last five pounds. And if you eat well in the evening, you're not really all that hungry during the day.

Seems to fit my normal rhythm better. (Plus, every day has a great ending. Always something to look forward to.)

[amyvr]

K Walt, I could not have said it better my self. Everything you have said, I mean everything, is my life. It doesn't matter how much I eat during the day, I always have a hearty appetite for dinner. :cool:

[ItsTheWooo]

K Walt, I could not have said it better my self. Everything you have said, I mean everything, is my life. It doesn't matter how much I eat during the day, I always have a hearty appetite for dinner. :cool:

Me as well.

I think that is why almost everyone naturally has more of an appetite at night and far less of one during the day. The body wants the stuff for all the growth and repairs that will be going on during rest. It's called REST for a reason - it's when work and decay slow down and preparation for tomorrow (repair/recovery) goes on. Activity makes up a relatively small percentage of the energy we need. Anabolism is much more resource hungry. Depriving yourself of food at night - a time when the body wants it the most for good reason - isn't an ideal way to control weight IMO.

[Frederick]

Wow, count me in as well!

You know, much as I've tried, I can't get into eating breakfast. I'm exactly like KWalt that if I eat a huge breakfast and lunch, my dinner hunger isn't subdued.

When work is busy, I tend to skip breakfast out of necessity (sleeping longer), skip lunch because of time constraints, and eat a huge dinner. I've been doing that for the last couple of years.

[amyvr]

Yeah, people always see me not eating much, and they tell me if I don't eat more, I will be starving by dinner time. Well, it doesn't matter if I eat like a cow during the day, I am still really hungry by the time dinner is ready. I think it is naturally bred into us like our ancestors that used to hunt during the day and eat a big feast at night. Have you ever seen a dog turn round and round before lying down? It's bred into him from the dogs of long past when they would make a bed of grass flat before laying down to sleep. Does this make sense? Thanks, Amy.

[VALEWIS]

I also think that there is a huge reward component to relaxing with a big meal in the evening after the day's activities..and why not. I deal with it by having mostly protein in the daytime so that I am not hungry and snacking, then have a huge plate of veg and protein with some sort of LC dessert or treat in the evening.

Val

[watcher16]

This explains how I do the WD:

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?p=5266607#post5266607&conly=

The important thing to do is start 'the night before' with the WD, that will enable you to eat only a little during the day.

Further eat what you like and as much as you like. Trust you will soon grow to like healthy food. Eat intuitive! Really it exists.

[TBoneMitch]

Yep, I like eating at night also!

Eating big meals during the day, even low carb ones, tend to make me a little sluggish during digestion. Plus, there is more time to work and read forum posts!

However, I have Hofmekler's Warrior Diet book, and while I tend to agree on some of his recommendations (eating at night, sympathetic vs parasympathetic nervous system use), I disagree on his food recommendations, which are firmly entrenched in the low fat dogma.

He refers to Greek and Roman warriors as ancient people.

[UrbanZero]

There's one thing everyone seems to be skipping over- do we mean eating later than usual or eating right before bed?

Eating right before bed is a bad idea. There are lots of reasons why; your body does not efficiently digest food when you are sleeping - not to mention the killer acid reflux it causes.

I have to wait at least 2 hours after eating a big meal, or I will feel sick all night and even queasy in the morning.

[wilson401]

I'm in the minority here, but I know that this would never work for me. And you are right when you say that it goes against everything we've been told - I tend to believe that the earlier I consume food, the earlier my metabolism gets revved up. I don't eat for 3 hours before bed and I sleep better and have not had heartburn. Bob Greene (Oprah's trainer) cited a whole lot of scientific proof to the effect of not eating 3 hours before bed because the metabolism slows down soooo much at night. To each his own ~ but I do not subscribe to this theory ~ I think that you should attempt to eat small meals throught the day to keep your blood sugar on even keel ~ not eating much all day and then eating a bunch at dinner would most definately cause your blood sugar to spike thru the roof right before bed, right? Like I said, to each his/her own ~ Good Luck everyone.

[dina1957]

This article is taken out of contest from the Warrior Diet, Ori suggests not eating anything except some fruit an veggies (undereating phase) until dinner (overeating phase). His idea is to minimize circulating amino acids during the 1st part od the day to maximize GH release at night. I am not going to argue that it may works if you also train like a warrior too. Do not forget a very streneous and heavy lifting workouts as a part of this plan. It's not suitalbe for an ordinal person, only for athlets who train very hard and can eat 3000-4000 and even more calories in one sitting. The diet itself is not low carb either, allowing everything you want to eat in one huge meal but food combining still applies. IMHO insulin spike after a huge dinner will supress GH release, not to mention nightmares and indigestion.;)
http://www.warriordiet.com/how2follow.html

[UrbanZero]

Nightmares? Hmm interesting. I have noticed that when I go to bed after drinking alcohol I have funky dreams! Aka 'drunk' dreams LOL.

[dannysk]

I believe that "not eating late at nite" applies only to carb eaters. It is important to take at least a 12 hour break from producing insulin. It lets the glucogen out and you can burn stored calories.

danny

[serrelind]

I've tried this a couple times and it's not for me either. Maybe I didn't give it enough time. I dunno. I think it's best to eat just enough during the day (how ever many times you like) to fuel cellular processes. At night, give your body a chance to use its energy to fix and repair things. Digestion takes sooooo much resources and energy from the body. I agree that at the very least give your body at least 11-12 straight hrs of non eating to burn fat.

Serre

[Bat Spit]

This is very interesting to me.

ItstheWooo said:
I think that is why almost everyone naturally has more of an appetite at night and far less of one during the day.

And I found it somewhat of a shock, because I've never thought of it that way.

I'm a natural morning person. I have been since early childhood and no amount of trying has enabled me to effectively adjust my circadian rhythm. I don't know why.

My husband is a natural night person.

I like to eat breakfast. Ideally I eat at 8, 11, 1, 4, and nibble at dinner. Actually, I'd skip dinner if I could, but I cook for the DH.
He likes a tiny breakfast, a minimal lunch, his main meal for dinner, and an extra fat snack late in the evening before bed.

I'd be interested to hear if you other night eaters are also night people?

Yet another fascinating case of YMMV.

[carblight]

I am a night person and I like to a eat a moderate breakfast and large dinner. Do not care much for lunch, often find myself forgetting about lunch and having to fix something quick, so as to not go too many hours without food.


The evening meal; has always been the biggest meal for me. But some of it I think is tradition - that is how I was raised, we would eat our main meal at the table all together as a family at around 7:30pm. It was a social occasion as well as a food occasion. I guess the routine stuck with me.

I eat my evening meal at around 7pm and hardly ever go to bed before 10:30pm, so I guess I still have 3 hours of no food before bedtime, at least. I don't think it interferes with weight loss for me, but not really sure, as I find it very hard to eat light in the evening.

:wave:

[K Walt]

Actually, I'm more of a morning person, for activity and brain work. I prefer not to be eating when I'm working or running around.

I have much more of an appetite/hunger at leisure time, in the evening. I'm happy to eat and linger over meals at that time. And relax afterwards.

When you think of it, most animals like to relax or doze off after eating. Which I suppose is the point: you've done your work to secure the food, now let the food be digested, absorbed, and put to use repairing and rebuilding.

And most people I know have the same instinct. (Whether they're carbers or not.) Eat, then relax.

Personally, I think it's 'confusing' to the body to be in action/exercise mode, while simultaneously trying to digest a meal. Most living things don't do it that way.

In fact, the French, and Italians -- supposedly eating the great Mediterranean diets and not getting fact -- aren't big breakfast eaters. French have a croissant or so. Italians, maybe a cappucino, slice of bread. In Spain, they nibble most of the day, then have a big dinner, very late, like 9 pm.

Are there cultures where they are all big breakfast eaters?? Maybe the Amish farmers? I don't know.

That suits my personal rhythms better. And I've learned you can only fight your natural tendencies so long. I quit trying. I eat light during the day. Eat more at dinner, and even later if I feel like it.

YMMV.

[Meadow_001]

I dont naturally like to eat in the mornings and I'm very much a night person. I spent the majority of my life not eating much, if anything, in the morning until I heard that it was supposed to be good for you.

The problem I have with breakfast is that if I eat a normal meal early I'm absolutely starving all day. It doesnt really matter what I eat either (low carb or not), if I have just eggs I still have a tough time making it more than 2 hours between meals for the rest of the day.

Just recently I decided to experiment with what my natural tendencies are and skip breakfast or just have something very small (1/2 cup LC yogurt is my usual, sometimes I add a small amount of melon or berries). This has had a tremendous effect on my eating patterns. My snacking tendencies have just about disappeared and I have less cravings overall. I'm satisfied with less overall food even with the same activity level.

From my own experience, I think its up to each person to find out what works for them. Three balanced meals a day doesnt work for me. Increasing my food intake with each meal does though (very small breakfast, if any, light lunch, normal-large dinner).

[UrbanZero]

I am right there with Meadow. I never liked breakfast and I am usually never hungry in the mornings. I force myself to eat it because everyone says you lose more weight that way. I am usually pretty hungry for lunch, whether or not I have had breakfast or not. One thing I have noticed is that eating anything will make you hungrier than eating nothing at all. Even drinking diet soda will make me hungry.

Dinner time I am usually so-so hungry but not as much as lunch time. I am a night person to the furthest degree possible, and if I stay up I get really hungry around 12 am or so.

[YojC]

I was so happy to find other people like me. I have lost my weight and kept it off by eating the largest meal at the end of the day. When I eat too much for breakfast - it seems to trigger my bad snacking habits. (Even when I just eat a piece of chicken for breakfast)

[Rain1272]

Isn't synchronicity a wonderful thing lol..

I just heard a personal trainer/nutritionist on the radio today who said the very same thing as this article, add to that in my medical class we talked about this a few weeks ago. I should have paid more attention :lol: but the gist of it was that the liver does the vast majority of its work at night while we're sleeping; so too does it do most of its metabolizing, which again if you think about it would be one explanation why we typically weigh less (after our first morning pee of course ;) ) than the rest of the day. Eating later is also something that diabetics :wave: with Dawn Phenomenon do to help have lower blood sugar levels in the morning.

[tom sawyer]

I would take issue with the concept that we are adapted to eating at the end of the day. When the sun went down, I would imagine primitive man slept. Especially before he used fire, which was what like 40K years ago? And I think he probably ate whenever he found enough food to make it worth his while, and whenever he was hungry. Its likely that he didn't have the tradition of eating a certain number of times a day. And consider that he didn't always have a lot of ways to carry food (pockets? pottery?). What little food he might store, such as nuts, was likely more for the winter season, than for saving for an evening meal.

You need to consider that we are talking about REALLY primitive man here. Not man as he existed 10000 years ago when he started doing agriculture, or even man 40K years ago when he may have started cooking. Our genetic/adaptive heritage extends back much farther than that, to 100s of thousands of years.

[tom sawyer]

Oh and I do like a nice evening snack, it is a ritual at our house. But I try and eat my evening meal fairly early, to give myself time to digest before going to bed.

The concept that reduced metabolism at night during sleep, does not mean that food ingested goes more to storage than to being burned, is an interesting concept and I'm sure it varies with the individual and the type of foods and their distribution throughout the day. I can't help but think that the bigger the percentage of calories in any one meal, the more likely there is a perceived excess that will be shunted to storage.

[K Walt]

I can't help but think that the bigger the percentage of calories in any one meal, the more likely there is a perceived excess that will be shunted to storage.

I think that's what nutritionists generally suppose. On the other hand, if you are out and about and hunting the next day, without eating very much, you're essentially drawing on the food energy you stored last night. So it probably evens out.

Of course, we can't know what hunter/gatherers actually did, since they're not saying. But I wonder how many kills they made first thing in the morning, in order to have a big breakfast? They probably ate whenever they 'scored' so to speak. After that, they probably took the rest of the day off to snooze and pick their teeth. Or that's what I would do, anyway.

[Roguecloud]

I've read somewhere that high insulin level and digestion interupts deep sleep--I try to eat my last minimeal 2hours before bed

[Dodger]

Especially before he used fire, which was what like 40K years ago?

There was some new report not too long ago about man using fire much longer ago than previously thought. I fact before there was a homo sapiens, the ancestors used fire.

[mcsblues]

Yes, Anthony Colpo wrote this;
an extensive review conducted back in the eighties, which examined all the available archaeological evidence, concluded that humankind's controlled use of fire began somewhere between 230,000 and 400,000 years ago.(2) New research reported in a recent issue of Nature suggests this figure may in fact be closer to 800,000 years ago.(3) Regardless of who's right, humans have been cooking food for hundreds of thousands of years.

2. James SR. Hominid use of fire in the Lower and Middle Pleistocene. Current Anthropology, Feb, 1989; 30 (1): 1-26.

3. Neumann N. Earliest fire sheds light on hominids. Nature, Apr 30, 2004.
http://www.theomnivore.com/Raw_food.html

But regardless of how long man has controlled fire, there doesn't seem to be much evidence suggesting that our ancestors ate only one large meal at the end of the day.

Cheers,

Malcolm

[Frederick]

For me, I find that breakfast instead of curbing my hunger enhances it throughout the day. I'm not sure why, but it's always been the case for me.

I've tried eating 6 times per day, but only find myself frustrated given the relatively small quantities during each meal. I find it difficult to eat a little, then stop. I'd rather not eat, then eat to my heart's content later.

Not sure if this is ideal, but given my schedule it certainly is the most expedient especially considering that eating food irrespective of whether or not it's low carb will have a tendency to fatigue me to the point where I start to fight to stay awake. Mainly for this reason I never eat before meetings or when I have something important to do at the office--which is just about everyday.

I eat mainly a huge meal per day out of necessity and a personal choice, but it's worked out well for me.

However, I am curious if eating mainly at night has the effect claimed in this thread.

With kindest regards,

Frederick

[Angeline]

Yes, Anthony Colpo wrote this;

http://www.theomnivore.com/Raw_food.html

But regardless of how long man has controlled fire, there doesn't seem to be much evidence suggesting that our ancestors ate only one large meal at the end of the day.

Cheers,

Malcolm

Really that makes little sense to me. Why would our ancestors eat only one meal per day. I'm sure they didn't have "3 square a day", that's a modern invention.

Most predators will glut on food when it's avalaible and then "starve" till their next meal. But most foragers will eat whatever they find as they forage. Our ancestors was part predator, part forager, so it's likely they exhibited both behaviors.

But on top of that our ancestors possesed fire were highly intelligent. That implies they had the means to store food and keep it away from animals. In the presence of a food store, why would you eat only once a day? You eat when you are hungry, or when food is available.

[Turtle2003]

Interesting thread. I'm another who prefers to eat at night.

When I was younger I never ate breakfast. Or rather, breakfast consisted of coffee and cigarettes. :lol:

Then, when I started developing a weight problem I joined Weight Watchers, and they convinced me that I just had to eat breakfast. Eating breakfast is a habit now, but I agree with others in this thread that eating breakfast does nothing to slow down my eating later in the day, and I'm definitely just as hungry at night as if I hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch.

Another phenomenon that puzzles me is that on a busy day, when I don't find time to eat much, I often arrive home from work with no feeling of hunger at all. I fix myself some dinner because I feel I should eat something, but then the trouble begins. It seems like once I start to eat I have a tough time stopping, even if it is a low carb meal. Frustrating!

[VALEWIS]

I decided to try this approach since it was first introduced here..5 days? So far the scales haven't noticed and this morning I awoke feeling HUNGRY so I ate.

Val

[TBoneMitch]

I agree Turtle, when I was doing the Warrior Diet, I had the same feeling: no hunger at all during the day, eating because I think I should eat, and then going ravenous.

My theory on this is that you are in deep ketosis when not eating, and eating a meal (even low carb) triggers an insulin response which causes hunger.

My solution to this dilemma was to lower the protein component of my diet and increasing the fat greatly, as recommended by the Optimal Diet. Carbs stay low of course, between 30-70 grams a day.

On this eating plan, you cause an even lower insulin release and blood sugar swings than on a standard low carb plan, say Atkins, and the hunger is just non existent.

Sometimes on this plan I find myself eating only breakfast, or only lunch, but usually it is 2 meals a day (breakfast+late dinner)

Very interesting thread!

[tom sawyer]

Thanks for the correction on use of fire. It certainly makes a difference in how you think about our distant ancestors, to know what sorts of tools and skills they had. I tend to think of hominids as acting strictly like animals, but toolmakers and fire users suggests that they had pretty good intelligence even then. Maybe they were even smarter than we are now!

KWalt I like your thinking. I want you in my tribe if it ever comes to that.

[VALEWIS]

Seems to me they would have had to figure fire out pretty early on, simply because without it they would have either been all wiped out by night predators, or would have frozen to death. Adding food to the fire to be cooked was probably accidental and an acquired taste. Also, people who cooked their possibly vermin filled raw meat would have survived to pass on the fire knowledge.

Val