People have followed simple evening eating rules for centuries. Grandmothers used to say: in the evening eat light food that doesn’t sit in your stomach like a stone. Interestingly, this old folk rule is now confirmed by research.

Why does our body work differently at night?

When you fall asleep, your body switches to night mode, which means most processes slow down. Scientists at the University of Helsinki published a study in 2023 in which they measured that night metabolism in an average adult slows by 15 to 35%. This means the body uses significantly less energy at night than during the day.

Why is this important?

Because the food you consume in the evening will not move through your body as fast as lunch or breakfast. To put it simply: at night we’re like a hibernating bear. At night, our body switches to energy-saving mode.

If we eat food that is too heavy, it’s like putting too large logs into a small stove—the fire suffocates. In practice, this means bloating, poor sleep, waking up at 3am, and a feeling of heaviness.

Does the body even need food at night? The answer is: YES

Many people think it's better to skip dinner, but this is actually not true. A team of researchers at the University of Tokyo proved in 2021 that skipping dinner causes up to a 22% higher rise in morning stress hormones, making us tired and irritable. In traditional Chinese medicine, which is over 2000 years old, it’s been taught for a long time that the body needs a little – but proper – food at night to repair itself well.

If we don’t eat anything in the evening, two problems occur:

• The body starts to draw energy from its own reserves, which at first sounds good, like weight loss, but in reality it weakens your muscles.
  
  
• In the morning, we feel drained since the system runs empty.

Folk healing practices from Europe, the Balkans, and Asia have understood for centuries: a person needs just the right amount of fuel before sleeping, so the body can do its natural repairs overnight, which modern 2024 research says is about 300–450 calories for the average adult.

Why isn’t it good to eat too much? And why isn’t it good to eat too little?

Both too little and too much food cause similar problems. If the portion is too small, the body goes into energy-saving mode and works more slowly in the morning. If the portion is too large, the night metabolism simply can’t handle it.

A 2025 study (University of Chicago) showed people who eat too heavy a dinner are 38% more likely to report restless sleep, waking up during the night, and feeling “stuffy” in the morning.

In folk medicine there was a simple proverb: If you want to sleep like a fox, eat like a rabbit, not like a bear. Meaning: gently, lightly, simply.

Which foods are best for dinner?

This is not about strict rules, but about understanding what helps our body when it works more slowly.

1. Vegetables – the queen of the evening plate
   
   Vegetables are full of water, vitamins and minerals. They don’t weigh down your stomach and help the body to recover better at night. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that adults eat at least 250–350g of vegetables a day, but unfortunately most people skip them in the evening hours.
   
   Cooked zucchini, Swiss chard, tomato soup, cauliflower—these foods are digested in about 90 minutes.
   
   
2. Whole grains
   
   Buckwheat, oats, brown rice, corn—these foods provide a gentle feeling of satiety without overburdening the body. Folk practices often recommended buckwheat porridge with a little yogurt as a dinner for a long life.
   
   Buckwheat contains as much as 13g of protein per 100g and has a low glycemic index (49), which means it doesn’t cause a rapid spike in blood sugar—very important at night.
   
   
3. Low-fat dairy products
   
   Yogurt or cottage cheese are excellent choices because they contain proteins that digest slowly and provide the materials for night-time regeneration. A 2022 study showed that people who ate 150g of light yogurt before bed reported 27% better hydration in the morning.
   
   
4. Fish and chicken in small amounts
   
   The body doesn’t like fatty meats at night. Fish, especially salmon, sardines or cod, have a good fat profile and digest in under two hours. Chicken is light and contains proteins that support regeneration.
   
   What about white bread? You can have it, but ... If you’re among those who can’t give up bread, it’s no problem. Folk practices recognized having dinner with toasted bread, as it digested better. You can eat white bread only in small amounts and slightly toasted. Warm, freshly baked bread is the hardest to digest at night.

What absolutely shouldn’t we eat for dinner?

Now we come to foods that both science and folk wisdom put in the category: best avoided at night.

1. Fatty foods
   
   Sausages, pork, frankfurters, fried potatoes—all too heavy for the body at night. Fats digest especially slowly, sometimes even 6–8 hours.
   
   
2. Warm bakery products
   
   White bread, burek, pizza—in the evening they become a brick in your stomach. The body uses too much energy to digest, and sleep becomes shallow.
   
   
3. Alcohol
   
   Alcohol contains a lot of calories (7 kcal per gram), and in the evening additionally burdens the liver, which already works more slowly at night. A 2020 study showed that alcohol worsens sleep quality by 9–40%, depending on the quantity.
   
   
4. Sweets
   
   Fruit is healthy, but be cautious at dinner. It contains fructose (sugar), which digests slowly at night. If you want an apple or banana, it’s better to eat them at least two hours before bed.

What does modern science say, and how does it relate to folk tradition?

Interestingly, studies from 2022–2025 have confirmed much of what our ancestors already knew.

• Our grandmothers said: don’t eat cabbage and beans at night, they cause bloating. In 2023, researchers in Canada confirmed that these two foods after 6pm cause up to 60% more gas and digestive problems.
  
  
• Old healers recommended lukewarm soup as the best dinner. A Harvard University study from 2024 confirmed that a warm, light soup before bed lowers stress hormones by 18%.
  
  
• In Japan, they advise jako-shoku—a very small dinner. People who follow this, according to data from 2021, have on average a 7-year longer lifespan.

How to choose the right dinner for a modern, fast-paced lifestyle?

Evening meals should act as a friendly hand leading you into peaceful sleep. If you have a stressful job, are on your feet all day, or feel overburdened in the evening, the right dinner can make a huge difference.

In 2020, Stanford University analyzed the eating habits of 12,000 people. Those who ate light food in the evening reported 34% fewer digestive problems and 22% better energy the next day.

In 2025, a European study additionally showed that people who ate a light dinner for three months improved their:

• sleep by 29%,
  
  
• digestion by 41%,
  
  
• morning mood by 37%.

The best dinner is often the simplest. You could try these ideas:

• warm vegetable soup,
  
  
• a spoonful of buckwheat porridge,
  
  
• some cooked zucchini or carrots,
  
  
• 100 grams of light yogurt,
  
  
• a small piece of toasted bread, if you really want it.

Such dinners are cheap, gentle on your stomach, give your body just enough energy, and enable quality sleep.

And finally: dinner is not the enemy of your figure, mood or health. The only problem is wrong choices. If you pick foods that help your body rather than burden it, you’ll notice a difference within days.