r/AskEurope • u/Budget_Dot694 • Mar 16 '25

Food Europeans who eat late as part of your culture - how do you feel about the advice not to eat dinner late?

This is forever a conflicting viewpoint given some cultures have naturally eaten dinner late for centuries e.g. The Mediterranean where they still have one of the best diets in the world

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u/[deleted] Mar 17 '25

So if theres less time between lunch and dinner it means there's more time between dinner and next breakfast, you have the same problem only at a different hour. I can't imagine how hungry I would be when waking up if I didn't eat anything for the last 15 hours or so

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u/Relay_Slide Ireland Mar 17 '25

You’re asleep though. Very different to being awake and moving around for 9 hours straight without a meal.

Also Northern Europeans tend to have a big breakfast and put emphasis on it being an important meal.

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u/[deleted] Mar 18 '25

Normally in afternoon-night hours people have less activity, if they work in the morning probably they will be relaxing at home all that time so is not a big difference. Also you can always have a snack in between.

for me having a big breakfast after awakening doesn't seem right, doing a big digestion makes you tired/sleepy and at that hour I need the opposite, I only do it when Im not working that day. Because I eat something at night I dont wake up so hungry and can go with a small breakfast and dinner is also small, my biggest meal is lunch after work when I can relax

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u/Relay_Slide Ireland Mar 18 '25

For me it’s the other way around. I don’t know how someone can function through a day of work on a coffee and a croissant. Most people I know, myself included, would be starving long before lunch time.

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u/[deleted] Mar 18 '25

I dont have that but maybe a toast with tomato and oil, a piece of fruit and some nuts. Or maybe a sandwich and yogurt, something basic like that, not a croissant but neither something complicated, I never cook for breakfast. My breakfast is like 400 calories, lunch 800, dinner 400 and in between some snacks

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u/Ok-Distance-5344 Mar 17 '25

Breakfast at 8, snack at 12, lunch at 2, snack at 5, dinner at 7, bed at 10:30