Order of meals - evaluating an old saying

[Kohinoor]

Hi all,

So many here have a lot of knowledge re eating - and, as I mused on some of the comments re changing the order of meals aorund, an old saying popped into my head.

The saying goes something like this (the actual wording may have been different, but this is how I remember it

Breakfast like a King,
Lunch like a merchant,
Dine like a pauper

So, as the author seems to be saying "pig out when you start the day, and eat very little in the evening", I wonder how come the "traditional Western way" is almost the reverse, as we often end the day with a roast and all the trimmings.


Is that little piece of prose one that should be cleared from my mind as being "useless"? Or is there something to be said for "a major meal on waking, and little at night"?

Can anyone tell me?

Koh

[Pudge]

My guess and experience is that if you eat a large meal at breakfast (even at lunch)you will work it off. If you eat a large meal at supper you are going to moan and groan and lay around not working it off. So then it is going to pack on the pounds.
I have always done better when trying to lose weight by not eating past 6 pm and not a big meal.
Pudge

[asy]

I've heard that saying, but I think it's also got a lot to do with your lifestyle and the times you keep.

I'm a night owl, If I ate by that suggestion, I'd be psychotic by 10pm. I'm often awake till 1 or 2 am, so if I ate "like a pauper" at 6pm, I'd really be champing at the bit by then. Still, it's a good suggestion! And certainly the concept is worth thinking about. Eat when you know your body is going to use the fuel best.

asy

[Wendy9]

Yes I've heard that saying before too and was designed to stop people going to bed on a full stomach at bed time compared to having all day to burn off the big breakfast. . As for Western society being the opposite and having large meals at night it's properly because most of us work and don't get a chance to have a huge breakfast as we're out the door to work and only get so long for lunch break so when we come home tired and stressed from work we want to relax and habit of that was wine, food etc. We don't really need to worry in which order we eat because our plans are scientifically worked out so that we will burn it all up anyway