In the everyday diet and in the daily diet, in order to keep fit and healthy is not enough to eat food in a conscious way, not only paying attention to what to eat, but also to when to eat.

Eating at times far from meals or even skipping lunches or dinners changes our metabolism and disorients our body.

In an interview with Ok Salute, the Head of the Center for Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Prof. Silvio Danese, spoke about it.

“Misallocating calories throughout the day has a negative effect on our health, because it is a disaster for us compared to the times dictated by our internal biological clock. In these cases, the metabolism can be altered and lead, for example, to weight gain. In addition, there is a risk of increased digestive disorders, such as reflux and dyspepsia”.

Among the risks highlighted by the American Heart Association in the latest report published in the magazine Circulation, such as the risk of heart disease in those who do not habitually eat breakfast is 27% higher than the average, while a study published by the International Journal of Obesity also speaks of diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity, among the dangers of an unregulated diet during the day.

Breakfast: the most important meal that activates the brain

We have always heard experts say: “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day”: “Never miss it – warns Danese -. The brain slows down when it does not receive glucose for more than 16 hours”. Despite this, experts make it clear that if you are not hungry or have time for a good breakfast when you wake up, you can limit yourself to at least one biscuit and one coffee, provided that by mid-morning you complete the intake of calories needed by our body as ‘gasoline’, which always according to experts is equal to 25% of the daily calorie intake.

Unregulated, late lunches and dinners increase weight

According to a research by the Brigham and Women’s Hospital of Boston in the United States and the University of Murcia in Spain, those who have a late lunch (after 3 p.m., for example) – and consequently also postpone dinner – will often see an increase in weight and waist. During the research, which involved 420 volunteers kept under controlled diet for twenty weeks, those who anticipated the meal lost an average of 11 kilos, which is 2.5 more than the latecomers.

But how much time do you have between meals? “Digestion is completed in a couple of hours; there is no recommended time – explained Dr. Danese – but it would be good not to starve for more than four hours. Better to eat little and often“.

How to divide calorie intake during the day

“While fruits and vegetables should never be missing from the diet and can be consumed without great problems, according to the gastroenterologist the distribution of calories during the day should tend to a consumption of “decreasing carbohydrates during the day: breakfast as a king, lunch as a prince, dinner as a poor man”.