It gives you more time to burn calories.
THE GIST
If you eat dessert after dinner, your blood sugar will be high when you go to sleep. That’s one reason experts recommend having a treat post-lunch instead.
EXPERT INSIGHT
The more time you leave between a sugary indulgence and bedtime, the better. First of all, eating earlier gives you more time to burn the calories, assuming you don’t stay parked at your desk from lunch until dinner, says Bethany Snodgrass, holistic health coach and operations manager at the Equinox Fitness Training Institute in New York City.
Second, shifting dessert to early afternoon helps you burn more fat at night. “While sleeping, your body is in rest-and-digest mode, which is primarily fueled by your stored energy source of fat,” she explains. But if you have something sweet closer to bedtime, your body will prioritize getting the sugars out of your system before tapping into fat stores.
THE BOTTOM LINE
If you want to have dessert, eating it after lunch is better for your health. Snodgrass suggests opting for a treat with cinnamon or peppermint, two flavors that reduce sugar cravings.