Question: Should dinner be the largest meal of the day?

Answer: We've all heard the advice, "don't eat a big meal too close to bedtime." Although this advice sounds simple, it's actually very important and not that easy to follow. Many of us eat a meal late at night - within 2 hours of bedtime - precisely because we haven't made time during the day to enjoy food. In fact, we let ourselves get so hungry that we don't really care any more about the joy of eating. We just want something in our stomach! Research shows that the timing and size of our evening meal is closely related to the timing and size of our other meals throughout the day.

When we have a cup of coffee in the car on the way to work, grab a sandwich for lunch or take care of all the household chores before getting around to dinner, we are setting ourselves up for a bad night's sleep.

Research shows that the timing and size of our evening meal is closely related to the timing and size of our other meals throughout the day. When we have a cup of coffee in the car on the way to work, grab a sandwich for lunch or take care of all the household chores before getting around to dinner, we are setting ourselves up for a bad night's sleep.

Sometimes we rationalize and think that a big meal will actually help us get to sleep by exhausting our body and having it slow down from exhaustion as it tries to digest the large meal. It's tempting logic, but research evidence points in the opposite direction. A large meal does the opposite of slowing our body down.

It asks our circulatory system to move more blood to our digestive tract. It asks our stomach to secrete more gastric acid. It asks our pancreas to become more active and produce digestive enzymes. It asks the smooth muscles around our intestines to become active.

In short, a large meal does anything but relax us. In addition, our digestive tracts are set up to work best when we are standing; lying down results in gravity pulling the "wrong way" to help food digest. Even though the practice of napping after a meal is common, it isn't ideal from the standpoint of digestion. Sitting and resting are fine.

For example, enjoying each other's company around the table after a delicious meal is a good idea. But lying down to sleep just doesn't help digestion. It's also worth thinking about the physiological purpose of eating in regard to late-night meals. Nutrients and energy get released from food after we eat, not before. These nutrients and energy help increase our vitality hours after the meal. They cannot go back and compensate for a prior day's worth of activity that received no nutritional support.

The best time to have our largest meal is always before we need the most nutritional support, iwhich is the morning. It is before the hard day's work that our bodies need the nutritious nourishing charge. Sleep, on the other hand, is the least physically demanding part of the day. So, the logic tells that it is not essetial to eat a lot.

Instead, we need the nourishment before the hard day, and hopefully it will make the day less difficult! We should also mention the problem of going to bed actually hungry; this other extreme also interferes with sleep, usually by failing to keep the brain supplied with enough glucose (sugar). A small snack in the hour before bed is usually not problematic if you are truly hungry, but the ideal solution is to time your last meal so that you don' feel hungry during the 1-2 hours before bed.

By Elena Voropay