Does Anyone Else Skip Dinner?

[lovableleah]

I have been doing a lot of reading lately about raw foods and digestion. Many books suggest not eating late at night. I was just wondering if any of you skip dinner all together to give your body a chance to clean itself overnight. If so, how often. I tend to eat a large lunch around noon and snack until three. I feel kind of weighted down eating dinner too, but I do it anyway.

[lovableleah]

Also, I remember a girl from my dance class years ago telling me she only eats between certain hours of the day(I cant remember for sure but i think it was 12am and 5pm) because thats when digestion is at its peak. She also said if she felt very hungry and had to eat something it would be raw fruit. Does anyone know about these hours?

[Nurse in the Raw]

I have tried to skip dinner but I can't. If I do, I find myself waking up in the middle of the night starving. Sometimes I eat things and don't realize it until the morning.....like when I got up and ate 1/2 of a jar of salsa. I thought it was a dream until I saw the jar on the counter the next morning. I guess I have to have something in my stomach before bed.

[Shell]

I don't do it intentionally, but sometimes I do skip what you would call a conventional dinner. I try my best to eat only when I get hunger signals (for me, a growling tummy)....I said try though!:rolleyes: Sometimes my WANT for food and my NEED for food are two totally different things! After I work out (after work.....about 4:30pm by the time I'm done), I have a green smoothie, and then if I'm not hungry by 7:30pm, that's it for me. I don't eat at least 2 hrs. before bedtime, so 7:30 is my cut off time. It works for me. That sort of thing may not work for you though. Listen to your body. Don't go by "meal times" per se. Eat when you're hungry! If I find I'm hungry after my smoothie, and it's before my cut off, then it's all systems go.....feed that body if it wants it!

[lore-ah]

Also, I remember a girl from my dance class years ago telling me she only eats between certain hours of the day(I cant remember for sure but i think it was 12am and 5pm) because thats when digestion is at its peak. She also said if she felt very hungry and had to eat something it would be raw fruit. Does anyone know about these hours?

My sister used to do that...when she was a 75lb anorexic. If you're hungry, EAT. That's what my understanding of being raw is about. Letting yourself be so hungry you can't take it anymore isn't doing you any favors.

I know that's really not the slant of this forum, but I get so worried when I read this stuff. I contribute on another health related forum which is rife with girls and women basically trying a stylized anorexic lifestyle.

[trinity082482]

Two nights ago I skipped dinner... I don't usually do that thou. I'm a grazer and it stops before bed :D

[lore-ah]

Two nights ago I skipped dinner... I don't usually do that thou. I'm a grazer and it stops before bed :D

I skip dinner if I'm not hungry. I think everyone does that. I don't skip it if I'm hungry, though!

[trinity082482]

Exactally :D

[eachpeachpearplum]

Yes and no. I find that as time goes on I have less and less of an appetite and am eating very simply. We tend to graze here and so if by "dinner time" I am not hungry then I dont eat. And yes I do try not to eat late in the PM. Although I have never been a night snacker. The kids also eat fairly lightly in the Pm also; However with the colder weather they are actually wanting more in the PM.

[ladypeace82]

I sometimes skip dinner. But that's usually nights I have school. Three nights a week. I get home too late to eat and I just want to go to bed. If I'm hungry, I ignore it and just sleep. I haven't ever woken up hungry in the middle of the night. I just drink lots of water first thing in the morning and I'm good to go. :)

[sfdreams]

After going raw, I tend to eat lighter in the evening than I did prior to becoming raw. However, I try not to go to bed hungry, because as Stacie mentioned, I can't sleep until I get up to eat something. If I do eat before bed, I make it very light--just a few bites will quell the hunger enough.

Back in the old days, when I was diabetic (off the meds now!! WOO HOO!:D ) I found that I needed to eat a little something just before bed (preferably protein--like a couple pieces of cheese with crackers) or my blood sugar was high in the morning--due to the liver kicking in.

So, I would advise not to skip dinner as a matter of course. Let your body guide you. (What a concept! I'm still getting used to listening to my body.) My favorite dinner is a green smoothie! (and breakfast, and lunch, and....but that's another subject!)

[Azura Skye]

last year - for about 2.5 weeks before my birthday, i skipped dinner in order to lose weight. And I have to admit - it did work!
But now I find it a lot harder to do, because I can't sleep when I'm hungry.
I really do want to at least eat light or have juice in the evening because when I start eating I can't stop in the Pm.
I think it's not very good for you to have a lot of digesting work to do before bed time, but it's a hard to find the right balance between eating enough to keep hunger away of eating too much.

[Raw Angel Mom]

I skiped diner sometime, and just drink water. I am perfectly fine and feel great the next day. I only skip it when i didn't have time to eat before 7pm. I normally eat when my body is hungry. If you aren't hungry, don't eat, if you are eat. This is true that our body cleanse our toxins the most at night and it last until lunch. So if you tolerate fruits, you can have fruits until lunch for they take only half hour to be absorb by your body. Our body doens't need to transform the nutriment of fruits for they are already amino acid, etc....

Best wishes and remember to focus on your health always and let your body guide you not meaning impulse but what feels right within.

[ron4540]

I eat dinner *and* I often eat right before I go to bed. This is against the advice of many books (which may be geared to meat eaters -- since meat is very hard to digest). I think that going to bed hungry would interfere with my sleep.

The important thing for late night food may be that it's highly digestible (i.e. raw soup, smoothie, or banana ice cream). I don't think it's good to go hungry for too long, or to fast.

[justinesmith]

I'm interested to read Tonya Zavasta's new book Quantum Eating... it talks about this subject, I believe. I try to remember that there is a difference between an empty stomach and true hunger. Most of us have no idea what true hunger really is. There is also a misconception that if you skip a meal, your body goes into starvation mode. If only starving where that quick.... ask someone in a third world country how long it takes to actually starve. It can take months. All in perspective.... :)

[raw_danceruk]

Dosent fruit pass through the stomach within 30 minutes- 1 hour??

Surely a light fruit meal around 7pm would be ideal and optimum..

late night eating obviously isnt great whatever kind of diet you have..however if your hungry your hungry!! whatever time it is!!

[Blazin'Jane]

I usually eat an apple after work on my way to the pool or gym. After that I usually don't want a whole lot -- maybe a banana and kiwi cut up, or banana ice cream, or some dates ---I like sweet in the eventing, but not too much of it.