Dinner time might be a fixed and passionate happening in your household but around the world and across cultures, the time people sit down to eat their final meal of the day varies immensely.
The Spanish are known globally for having late dinners, happening 9-11pm. On the other end of the spectrum, over in Norway, very cold winters see dinners being eaten around 4.30pm.
Yet, despite the differences between us, it’s still common to witness health advocates proclaim fixed rules about when everyone should eat their dinner. Some claim that it’s bad for your health to eat too late in the evening while others advise a long fast overnight for weight loss.
So what's the right answer? Spokesperson for , Margaret Hays, believes there's no fixed time anyone should eat dinner. Black and white eating rules are, in a sense, just a lot of dieting noise.
“The time you eat dinner depends on your culture and how your lifestyle is set up,” says Hays, an “If you or most of your family usually don’t get home until after 7pm and you’ve got this dieting or health rule that says you’ve got to eat by 6pm, then life is going to get very complicated.”
We all just need to slow down, lower the food anxiety and enjoy what we eat.
Too many eating rules make dinners stressful. When food should be about joy, positive mental health and physical wellbeing, why add extra stress or guilt into your life by worrying about the ‘right’ time to eat dinner?
“The time we eat dinner needs to be looked at household-by-household, culture-by-culture and person-by-person. We all just need to slow down, lower the food anxiety and enjoy what we eat.”
Dinners should form part of a more holistic health picture
Hays differentiates dinner and night-time snacks. Feasting all evening may not be great if you're trying to lose weight. But says when you eat at night and how it influences weight gain also depends on what you eat in the day, the exercise you do and the calories you consume.
However, Hays notes, eating dinner just before sleep may be problematic for people who have reflux. "If you eat and then lay down, the food consumed will put pressure in the oesophagus and make reflux worse. So if someone has reflux, I would recommend that they eat a moderate – not a large meal – at night.”
For other people, “I don’t think the time of dinner matters. If eating late is what suits your lifestyle, then I don’t think that should be a problem”.
“I think it's more about teaching people about portion sizes, rather than eating times. Learn to listen to your body and know when you feel full or hungry.”
There are so many ways and times you can eat dinner. Know what suits your family and your lifestyle.
Look around the world when setting your dinner time
Hays’ refreshing advice is partly based on an acknowledgment of global differences in dinner times.
“If eating late or very early is a big part of your culture or lifestyle, then go ahead and eat at that time.”
Perhaps you can borrow a dinnertime from one of the following countries?
- many restaurants serve dinner from 7.30-11.30pm and street vendors in some parts are known to sell snack foods until the late hours of night.
- In many dinner may be traditionally served late after evening and night prayers. The final meal of the day may feature a light serving of lunch leftovers, eaten around 8-9pm.
- South America is a continent with a great deal of cultural diversity. Throughout Brazil and Chile, dinner is eaten around 8-9pm, while dinner in Argentina is known to start even later. In the mountains of Peru where it’s cold and people tend to sleep earlier, dinners are eaten around 6-7pm. But in the capital, Lima, households have different routines and eat at various times to suit their lifestyle.
Hays reminds people that it’s always important to eat dinner at a time that holistically suits your culture, health and lifestyle.
She recommends swapping harsh food rules with a practice of self-kindness: listen to what your body needs and implement an eating time that feels right and healthy for you.
“There are so many ways and times you can eat dinner. Know what suits your family and your lifestyle. Just look inwards and do what suits you.”
