As the saying goes, "Breakfast should be eaten until full, lunch until satisfied, and dinner until just enough." However, most working people have a rushed breakfast, grab takeout or eat in the cafeteria for lunch, and often have social gatherings for dinner, making it impossible to eat a small meal.
While it's certainly not good to overeat or eat late at night, it's also not a case that the less you eat for dinner the better. For instance, skipping dinner entirely or practicing "no food after noon" is unsuitable for modern people. Modern people generally go to bed late, spending their evenings either socializing or working, with few going to bed early or resting completely, which is a stark contrast to the ancient era that promoted "no food after noon." In reality, modern people don't need to practice "no food after noon"; for dinner, it's sufficient to ensure a balanced nutritional mix with appropriate energy that isn't excessive.
Dinner should advocate for a mix of meat and vegetables, as well as a variety of foods.
First, your staple foods should be a mix of refined and coarse grains. Try to avoid purely white rice, steamed buns, etc., and instead eat mixed grain rice, whole-wheat buns, and the like. These coarse grains are rich in minerals, vitamins, and dietary fiber, which increase satiety, and since they are not easily available when eating out, it's good to have more of them at home. Second, you should include vegetables, especially green leafy vegetables or those that are red or yellow. These foods are rich in vitamins and dietary fiber. Third, protein foods should mainly be low-fat and prepared by steaming, boiling, or stewing, such as braised fish, tofu stew, boiled shrimp, or lean meat stir-fried with vegetables. Finally, cooking oil is also crucial. Nutritious oils like flaxseed oil, olive oil, and sesame oil are particularly suitable for the lighter cooking methods used for dinner.
One important function of dinner is to "fill in the gaps," which means intentionally adding healthy foods that are hard to get at breakfast and lunch, such as coarse grains, green leafy vegetables, fish and shrimp, and nutritious oils.
A wide variety of dinner foods does not necessarily mean a high intake of energy.
The nights are long, and with the temptation of many healthy foods in the refrigerator, I often have several "snacks" at night. Among them, fruit is my "standard" item, which I eat every day without fail—be it oranges in autumn, pomelos in winter, or watermelons in summer, with no restrictions on the type. To avoid eating too much fruit, I also eat vegetables like cucumbers and tomatoes to fill up, and sometimes I'll have another sugar-free yogurt to satisfy my hunger. Although I eat quite a bit at night, I always maintain a balance between my diet and exercise to control my weight. On one hand, I try to eat less high-energy food at all three meals, such as fried foods and staple grains, and I also intentionally eat a little less at lunch. On the other hand, I make a conscious effort to exercise more.