No carbs after 7pm?

shoegirl01

Sorry if this has been asked before. I always hear “No carbs or food after 7pm”. Is this true and a good rule to follow?
Thanks!

mitze90

The thought behind that is that carbs are slow burning, so if you just plan on lazing around on the sofa for a few a hours then going to bed do really need slow release carbs? Probably not, unless your going for a late night jog after dinner. There's another saying, "eat like a king for breakfast, and a pauper for dinner", which works on almost the same principle, that your biggest meal (normaly high in carbs) shouldn't be eaten at the end of the day when your body doesn't have a chance of burning it off.

cathcakey

Also it really depends on what time you're going to bed.
If you're going at, say, 10pm then it's probably not a bad idea, but if you don't normally go until 2am for example, I bet you'd be going to bed hungry if you hadn't eaten carbs since 7pm...!

ablykins

Agreed! Your metabolic rate doesn't fluxuate when you are asleep vs. awake, but when you are awake you are more active and have a better chance of burning off those calories! :-) There is no need to fuel up for sleep. Perhaps adjust this rule to limiting carbs approx. 3-4 hours before your bedtime, whatever that may be.