The commonly held belief that late-night eating is a significant contributor to developing a pot belly has been discredited by a nutritionist.
Speaking to the media, Fred Amese said “people tend to say that when you eat late at night, you would get pot belly; it is not true.”
He went on to clarify that the problem is not about the time you eat. The problem is about the duration between your last meal and your sleeping time.
“So you can say oh for me I eat my supper at 6pm. I don’t eat late at night. If you eat at 6pm and 6:15pm you are sleeping and someone eats at 11pm and sleeps at 1am, you the one eating at 6pm has done nothing. You would develop a pot belly and the one eating at 11pm would not have a pot belly” he explained.
He stressed that the issue about late night eating is not about the time per se. It is about the duration between the time one eats and the time the person goes to sleep.
“So don’t worry yourself about oh it’s late I won’t eat. If it’s late and you are hungry, eat. But make sure that you wait enough, move around, do some brisk walking, etc” Fred Amese stated.
The nutritionist also noted there are some people who sit in front of their television to have their supper and fall asleep immediately for the television to even end up watching them instead of them watching the television.
“Such people would develop pot belly even if that eating is done at 6pm” he cautioned.