You know that what you eat is important for diabetes management — but did you know that when you eat is also important?
“To some extent, the timing of meals can play a role with diabetes and weight management,” says Daniela Novotny, a registered dietitian and biomedical sciences instructor at Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. “Research suggests that eating consistently throughout the day can help to attain and maintain glycemic control.” And better glycemic control, also known as blood sugar control, can help improve your overall health and avoid diabetes complications.
[See: The 12 Best Diets to Prevent and Manage Diabetes.]
Does that mean there are exact times when you should eat every day, no matter what your current meal routine is? Actually, no. The guidelines on when to eat for optimal health or weight management vary a lot for each of us. However, there are some general good practices for meal or snack timing when you have diabetes.
Breakfast. Do you guzzle coffee in the morning and wait until lunch for your first real meal? If so, it’s time to change things up for better health. “Breakfast is often known as ‘breaking the fast’ and is important to give the body and brain the initial fuel to start the day,” says Kendra Grinde-Busalacchi, a registered dietitian nutritionist and certified diabetes educator at Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa, California. “If the body does not receive this fuel in the morning, it needs to create its own fuel by releasing blood sugar into the bloodstream, causing blood glucose to increase.” Consequently, skipping breakfast has been shown to cause blood sugar spikes throughout the day, Grinde-Busalacchi adds. Additionally, when you skip breakfast, there’s a greater chance that you’ll grab less healthy choices and overeat.
On the other hand, eating breakfast can actually help you maintain or lose weight. The best practice is to eat within a maximum of 1.5 hours after you wake up and have a breakfast that combines at least two of the food groups. If you’re trying to lose weight, just trim your portion size, recommends Christen Cupples Cooper, assistant professor and founding director of the Nutrition and Dietetics Program at the College of Health Professions at Pace University in Pleasantville, New York.
Three meals versus smaller, more frequent meals. You’ve probably heard people praise eating four to six small but more frequent meals a day as a way to stay healthy or lose weight. Others say that three meals and possibly a small snack or two is best. There’s no blanket answer that will work for everyone, so it’s something to discuss with your doctor or a registered dietitian. However, Marie-Pierre St-Onge, associate professor of nutritional medicine with the Columbia University Department of Medicine in New York City, points out that it can be challenging to try and break down a normal-sized meal into smaller portions and then eat those portions with regular frequency throughout the day. If you’re aiming for, say, six smaller meals a day, you may be more likely to choose convenience and unhealthy foods due to lack of time to prepare things, Grinde-Busalacchi says. Also, if you find it hard to stop eating once you start, then the idea of more frequent meals may not work for you, St-Onge adds.
[Read: How to Eat After a Type 2 Diabetes Diagnosis.]
What is important, however, is that you don’t go longer than five hours between meals, Novotny says. She also advises flipping the typical American diet to eat more at breakfast and lunch and then less at dinner. “In doing so, many people do not feel hungry in the late evenings. This can prevent overeating at night, which does not do well for the metabolic rate,” she says.
Make sure to check your blood sugar before, between or after meals as your health care provider recommends. Aim for consistent meal or snack times, as that’s what your body will come to expect.
Snacking. Good news, snackers. There’s room for noshing in your day. “Snacks are often thought of as high-fat, high-sugar and high-salt foods,” Grinde-Busalacchi says. “This doesn’t have to be the case. If snacks are chosen wisely and portion sizes are followed, snacks can be beneficial for curbing hunger, which may prevent overeating at the next meal.” For many people, 100 to 150 calories and 15 grams of carbohydrates is ideal for a snack, but that can vary based on medications you take, activity level and lifestyle. Also, make sure you’re not snacking just because you’re bored or stressed. Instead, a snack should help keep you from getting ravenous between meals.
It can even be OK to have a small snack before bedtime. This is especially true if you tend to wake up with high blood sugar levels or if you use medication that you must take with food. However, “You don’t want to hit your body with a huge bowl of ice cream at 11 p.m.,” Cupples Cooper says. Extra calories and carbohydrates late at night can affect your blood sugar and make it harder to sleep. Also, our bodies are more insulin-resistant in the evening, St-Onge says, which is yet another reason to keep nighttime noshing on the healthier, lighter side.
“Eating a small, nutrient-dense snack before bed is not the problem,” Grinde-Busalacchi says. “It is a problem, however, if you are mindlessly eating before bed and going overboard on the amount and types of food.”
If you choose to snack not long before bed, keep it to 15 grams of carbs along with a low-fat protein, Novotny advises.
[See: U.S. News Best Diabetes Diets.]
Sleeping and meal timing. Sleep is our body’s time to rest and repair, Cupples Cooper says. If you’ve eaten a lot of food in the evening, it may affect healthy sleep cycles. If you have trouble sleeping, you’ll often be more hungry during the day as your body will be constantly searching for fuel when tired, St-Onge says. That’s why adequate sleep plays an important role in what and when you eat throughout the day. “Keeping food intake regular throughout the day can help with the circadian rhythms and may help with optimal management of diabetes and health,” Novotny says.
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Why Meal Timing Is Important for Better Diabetes Control originally appeared on usnews.com
