What do I eat in the evening to burn fat all night long?

Summer is fast approaching and almost everyone is in a rush to lose weight. Some people try to get rid of their excess weight by trying to eat less, some by counting calories, and some by consulting diet lists. Well, did you know that you can get rid of excess fat in your body all night, even while sleeping, thanks to the food you eat in the evening? Expert Dietitian and Phytotherapist Hanse Nur Özyurt explained that we can burn fat all night long, no matter what we eat in the evening.

Forget eating after 19.00!
There is a saying among the people: ‘Let’s have breakfast like a king and dinner like a beggar.’ In fact, this popular saying also has its equivalent in the scientific literature.

We need to starve our body for a certain period of time in order to burn stored fat in areas of our body such as abdomen, hips, waist and liver. We can simply think of the system as follows: Everything we eat after 19:00 in the evening is stored as fat. Because the amylase enzyme secretion in the body that will digest them is at a much lower level in the evening compared to during the day. In addition, the secretion of the lipase hormone, which is secreted mostly at night and plays a role in fat burning, decreases after a meal eaten late in the evening. In other words, we can say that the negative effects of eating late in the evening include reducing fat burning as well as storing fat.

The body burns fat the most while sleeping
For example, you had our dinner at 17.00. The body increases blood sugar in the four-hour period between 17.00 and 21.00 and then lowers it. The energy of the eaten meal is used within a four-hour period, but the energy needs of the body and body organs and systems continue. In this case, the body starts to use glycogen stores in the liver. It uses an average of 150 g (600 kcal) of carbohydrate storage. The body uses the carbohydrates in this store for about four hours, with the logic of increasing and decreasing blood sugar. This process lasts until 03:00 at night on average. If we pay attention to our sleep patterns at night and the body can secrete enough melatonin hormone; This melatonin hormone stimulates the secretion of lipase, which is the fat burning hormone, and thus the body meets the energy it needs all night long by burning stored fat.

The body spends 1200-1400 kcal of energy during sleep, which is required for average basal metabolism, that is, the energy spent during sleep. In this process, wherever there is fat accumulation in the body; It breaks down regionally stored fat, for example in the liver if there is fatty liver, or in the waist area if there is insulin resistance. The body continues to break down stored fat until the cortisol hormone is secreted in the morning. Therefore, the earlier we eat dinner, the more fat we burn at night.

What should we eat in the evening to burn fat faster?
Insulin hormone is an anabolic hormone, that is, a production hormone. When you consume a carbohydrate food that will increase blood sugar, the body secretes insulin, and insulin, in turn, converts the carbohydrates in the blood into fat and stores them. When you consume a protein-rich dinner, the body will store less fat and will burn fat faster, as the blood sugar balance is less disrupted and insulin is secreted less.

Which foods contain carbohydrates?
In fact, apart from the common simple carbohydrates such as bread, pasta, barley, noodles and rice, there are also complex carbohydrates; such as fruit, vegetables and legumes. So, we should consider fruits, vegetables and legumes as carbohydrate groups. Apart from that, dairy products such as yoghurt, ayran, tzatziki, kefir and milk are also foods that contain carbohydrates. It would be more suitable for fat burning to include these products in meals during the day, when the enzyme that digests carbohydrates is more active, rather than in the evening meal.