The perfect lunch to keep fit

Many working class like to go for a light lunch and then a heavy dinner to finish off the day.  However, new research suggests that eating the largest meal of the day at lunchtime could yield the best results in losing weight.

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition followed 80 overweight women for 12 weeks.

All participants (aged between 18-45) were told to eat their biggest meal (50% of their daily calorie intake) at either lunch or dinner.  Their weight and BMI was recorded before and after the experiment.

The participants were also watching how many calories they ate at each time of the day.  They were told to follow a high carb, low saturated fat diet, with around 60% of their calories coming from carbs, 17% from protein and 23% from fat.

The subjects also have to take part in walking and other moderate exercise for an hour five days a week.

All participants lost weight, even with the majority of their diet being carbs but those who ate their biggest meal at lunch lost more weight than those who ate it at dinner.

On average, the lunch feasters lost 6 kg against the dinner eater’s 4 kg.  As for how much to eat for lunch, researchers suggested eating 750 calories for lunch to lose weight.

The ‘lunchers’ also had a greater reduction in their BMI.  Researchers explained that this is because they are able to avoid blood sugar spikes that cause hunger, since 'lunchers' had lower fasting insulin levels than those who were feasting at night.

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