It has been seen in most urban Indians lay a lot of focus on dinner, as it is one meal which the whole family enjoys together. Dinner is usually the largest meal of the day in India. Many families have complete meal comprising of chappati, vegetable, dal (lentil), rice and dessert every day for dinner.
Renowned Nutritionist Vasudha Sainik says, “Your last meal should be the lightest – this will aid in digestion and would also curb the fat conversion of extra energy or calories. Not only this, it will also help in prevention of acidity & bloating, and would help in regular bowel movement. It is very rightly said, Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, & dinner like a pauper”
Vasudha Sainik suggests healthy dinner options that are nutritious, easy to digest and also helpful for all weight watchers. Considering Indian diets, the ideal dinner could be any of the given options:
- 2 medium sized chapatti or 1 bhakri & plenty of vegetable(avoid roots eg. potato, yam etc),
- A medium bowl of brown rice & dal
- Multigrain khichdi with lots of salad,
- 3-4 slices of whole wheat bread - sandwich with lots of veggies,
- Lapsi(broken wheat) with a bowl of curds & plenty of salads.
Many nutritionists suggest diet plans that recommend eating dinner before 8 p.m. Eating an early dinner is one of the easiest ways to drop weight and lose your inchesbecause our food gets well digested instead of getting converted to fat and getting deposited in fat cells.
Studies suggest that, “It is not just about what you eat but also at what time you eat that helps you lose weight.” It has been seen that having an early dinner would have different definitions for different individuals. In India, our lifestyle is different along with our food timings. Most Indians have an evening snack at round 6-7 pm return home late from work and have a late dinner at around 9 -10 p.m. Early dinner would be defined as having dinner before sunset.
Let’s understand more about having an early dinner.
Why is it important to have an early dinner?
- Towards the end of the day, your body does not exert as much as it does during the day, so few calories are burnt towards the evening than in the morning. It is suggested that you should give at least a three hour gap between the time that you finish dinner and the time you go to sleep. This gives the body ample time to burn the calories and hence you start losing weight.
- Eating late at night may not digest the food properly and may lead to other digestion problems which tend to impede weight loss
