Eating after 7PM?

Me and Maggie having tea:)

Recently a reader wrote in and asked me my thoughts on eating after 7.  She said that many people say you should not, and was curious what I would say.

Like anything in life, I don't think there is such a thing as one size fits all:)  If you are going to bed at say....midnight, then that would be about 13 hours with no food.  In my opinion, that's a very long time.  Instead of focusing on when to stop eating, I would structure my day more like this:  3 meals, and 2-3 snacks spread out throughout the day so that you keep your blood sugar levels even, and keep yourself from being ravenously hungry.  The best time to have a larger meal is for breakfast or lunch, when your body will still be able to use it for energy during the day.  I can't imagine going to bed hungry, so I usually have a small snack about an hour before I go to sleep.  It could be cottage cheese and berries, yogurt, just a snack, so that you aren't starving.  I do think that it's best to avoid a large meal at this time, but a planned snack will help you sleep, and keep you from waking up to raid the fridge:)