Food glorious food but not at bedtime

By Maureen Nakatudde

IT all started when Jocelyn was promoted to mid-level management five years ago. She found that she could no longer go to the field to market the company’s products and she could no longer leave office at 5:30pm.

“I had money, I could now buy a car, but I could not leave office in time for my evening jog,” she says. There were always reports to submit before closing the day and in not more than two years, Jocelyn who was 165cm tall weighed 85kgs.

“At first I did not notice it because I always wore suits. But when I could no longer find a fitting camisole, I realised I was in trouble. I weighed myself at the next visit to the clinic and could not believe it. I had gained 10kgs in just two years.”

Looking back, Jocelyn attributes the weight gain to the change in work style.
“As a marketeer, I was always in the field and on the move. I managed my time well and it was easy to get back home early,” she says.

As a manager, Jocelyn found herself spending more time at the desk, attending meetings and going home late. This had an impact on her exercise programme and supper time.

For Solomon, the pot belly started the day he got married. “Before our wedding, I would leave work at 5:30pm and head for campus to see my fiancée who was completing her third year. We would eat out before I would retire to my house to sleep,” he says.

After the wedding, Solomon had no need to rush home “because she would be there anyway. Then because she had not yet got a job, she had all the time to cook. She cooked all types of food and not wanting to disappoint her, I would eat it all.”

By their first anniversary, Solomon could not fit in his wedding suit. “All her aunties praised her for feeding me well but I knew I was in trouble.”

For different reasons, many people are eating their last meal late in the night and going to bed immediately after. Before they know it, they have gained a lot of weight yet they may not be overeating.

Heavy weight and a high body mass index are a precursor to diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer. In Uganda, lifestyle diseases are growing significantly due to change in lifestyle.

Dr. Nelly Birungi, a nutrionist at Mulago Hospital, says people who are weight and health-conscious should always have three to four hours between their supper and bed time.

Dr. David Haslam in The Truth about Women and Night Time says eating at night can make one gain weight because the body cannot work off the calories. All the food that would have benefited the body turns into fat as the body is inactive,” Dr. Birungi says.

But as one keeps active after eating during those three hours, the glucose is turned into energy instead of fat.
Claire Michelle of the Medical Research Centre in an article titled Good Health advises regular meals during the day to avoid ravenous eating in the evening.

She explains that people who do not eat during the day are more likely to eat a high fat snack later on. And if the full signals are not coming through; it is easy to consume masses of calories without realising it.

Researchers at the University of Texas in the same article say people who ate the greater proportion of their food in the morning consumed fewer calories during the day, while night-eaters ate more.

Another reason why people overeat at night is because they are away from work and other day time pressures, hence letting down their guard and willpower.

The researchers also found that people’s self-control is highest in the morning after a good night’s sleep, but tends to decline as the day wears on.

When one fails to eat at the proper time, chances are high that they will overeat later. This is because there is evidence that darkness may force one to overeat as one loses his or her restraint.

Researchers, led by psychologist Dr. Joseph Kasof at the University of California, in the same article said they had discovered that dieters were more likely to binge when lights were low, particularly when they were on their own.

“Under bright lights you are more aware of yourself and of what you do,’’ said Kasof. “But when the lights are dim, you are less focused on your actions.

Parking yourself in front of a TV with food, a packet of biscuits or a bar of chocolate leads to dieting disaster – anything that distracts your attention means you overeat,” says Kasof.

This is because the stomach takes some minutes to register that you have eaten something and if you eat fast, it is easy to consume too much food before you start to feel full.

But it is not only the late supper that is a problem. Early eaters who have a habit of late night snacking may also be in trouble.

“For a person to feel hungry at night means that they did not have a well-balanced meal. There is no reason for you to feel hungry if you ate quality food instead of eating quantity,’’ she says and adds that snacks are not healthy because they are often high in fats and energy.

To control night snacking, she advises meal planning. At least two thirds of calories should be eaten before supper.
“The longer you leave it, the hungrier you will be and the more likely you will be to overeat,” she says. If you usually feel hungry in the late evening, Birungi advises a low-calorie snack.

Late night snack eaters should accustom themselves to brushing teeth as soon as they finish eating. “This shows that the kitchen and your appetite are through with the eating business.”

If you are prone to night snacking, Birungi advises a check on the stress factor. If late night snacking is a reward or a remedy to a stressful day, she advises other forms of stress relief like taking a walk, practicing yoga, phoning a friend or taking a long relaxing bath.