Eating an early dinner is a healthy practice recommended by medical experts. Studies have shown that eating dinner early can significantly reduce the incidence of urinary tract stones.
I. Avoid Eating Dinner Too Late
The peak time for calcium excretion in the human body is usually 4 to 5 hours after a meal. If dinner is too late, when this peak arrives, a person is already asleep. Urine then gets retained in the urinary tract, such as the ureter, bladder, and urethra, and cannot be expelled from the body in a timely manner. This causes calcium in the urine to continuously increase, making it easy to deposit and form small crystals. Over time, these gradually enlarge and form stones. Therefore, having dinner around 6 p.m. is more appropriate.
II. Avoid Eating Dinner Too Rich in Meat
Dinner should be predominantly vegetarian, with a focus on foods rich in carbohydrates, and the less protein and fat consumed, the better.
However, in real life, because most families have ample time to prepare dinner and eat a rich meal, this is detrimental to health. According to scientific research reports, consuming large amounts of high-protein foods like meat, eggs, and dairy at dinner can increase the amount of calcium in the urine. On one hand, this reduces the body's calcium stores, triggering rickets in children, myopia in adolescents, and osteoporosis in the middle-aged and elderly. On the other hand, a high concentration of calcium in the urine greatly increases the likelihood of developing urinary tract stones. Furthermore, excessive protein intake that the body cannot absorb will remain in the intestines, where it can spoil and produce toxins like ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, irritating the intestinal wall and inducing cancer.
If too much fat is consumed, it can raise blood lipids. Research data indicates that people who frequently eat meat for dinner have blood lipid levels 2 to 3 times higher than those who are vegetarian. Carbohydrates can generate more serotonin in the body, which has a sedative and calming effect, and is particularly beneficial for those with insomnia.
III. Avoid Eating Dinner Too Much
Compared to breakfast and lunch, dinner should be smaller in portion.
In the evening, with no other activities or eating late, if dinner is too large, it can cause cholesterol levels to rise, stimulating the liver to produce more low-density and very-low-density lipoproteins, which can induce arteriosclerosis. Persistently eating an overly full dinner repeatedly stimulates the large secretion of insulin, which often leads to the premature failure of insulin beta cells, thus laying the groundwork for diabetes.
Additionally, an overly full dinner can cause the stomach to swell, pressing on surrounding organs. The strenuous work of the stomach, intestines, liver, gallbladder, and pancreas after a meal sends signals to the brain, causing it to become active and spreading to other areas of the cerebral cortex, which can induce insomnia.