Why eat a sugary meal right before going to bed?

  1. Food high in sugar is nutritionally good for short burst energy, and if not used up, that energy is stored as fat. Since people generally go to sleep after meals are they not wasting this potential short-release energy yield?

  2. Let’s consider instead that we eat dessert specifically to put on fat. Well, this may have been desirable as an outcome historically, but for a long time - maybe 200 years or so - humans have NOT wanted to build fat. Also - it doesn’t work. We burn fat during sleep, so those ‘dessert gains’ disappear.

  3. Now let us visit the simplest answer of “it tastes good” - well in that case, why do we eat dessert when we do? We could eat sugary snack at any point of the day - a dessert-lunch might make a lot of sense! So let me repeat myself:

Why eat a sugary meal right before going to bed?

  • TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    0·
    9 days ago

    I think it’s more cultural as it’s not uniform globally. I don’t care much for dessert as a concept, but I love a piece of cold fruit, like an orange, strawberry or melon after dinner. I find it helps reset the mouth after a flavorful meal. And I’ll usually have a cup of tea with it.

    Desserts seem to pair better with coffee or tea, and having those after a meal is a fairly common ritual. I wonder if we have dessert after dinner because we often have coffee or tea?

  • geekwithsoul@piefed.socialEnglish
    0·
    8 days ago

    Part of it is that eating something sweet can relax the muscles around the stomach. So after a full meal, in addition to the attraction of eating something sweet in general, it makes you feel less stuffed.

  • BlackLaZoR@lemmy.world
    0·
    8 days ago

    Sugary parts of the meal are digested more slowly when combined with other stuff (proteins, fats). And we eat dessert at the end because rapid surge of glucose in your bloodstream blocks hunger. You’re losing appetite for main course if you start from dessert.

  • kubok@fedia.io
    0·
    8 days ago

    Where are you from, OP? Not only do we not eat dessert right before bedtime (where did you get that silly idea?), but where we live, dessert is commonly either milk-based, fruit based or both.

    • Swaus01@piefed.socialOPEnglish
      0·
      8 days ago

      milk-based Has it’s own natural sugars and usually comes in the form of custard (Added sugar) or ice cream (added sugar) or cream (extra fatty)

      fruit based Has it’s own natural sugars and usually comes with added sugar in the form of a pie, ice cream, jelly, jam, sugared fruit, canned fruit, et cetera

      Not only do we not eat dessert right before bedtime

      I do 😉 busy life i guess.

  • schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de
    0·
    8 days ago

    why do we eat dessert when we do?

    speak for yourself?

    In some cultures, such as mine (Austria, but also in Germany) it’s most common for the main (hot) meal to be eaten around the middle of the day, and if dessert is eaten, it’s with that meal. In the evening we usually just eat a relatively small amount of cold food (ham sandwiches or similar) and no dessert.

  • Iconoclast@feddit.uk
    0·
    8 days ago

    I rarely do. I don’t understand the point of it. I just ate and now you want me to eat more? If anything - we should’ve started with the dessert.

  • jimmy90@lemmy.world
    0·
    8 days ago

    i think sugar and coffee at the end of a meal helps with digestion and gives your brain a little energy boost while your body is busy processing the meal

  • scarabic@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    8 days ago

    There’s some logic in putting it last. First make sure you get nutritious food. Once you have, you can safely enjoy some indulgence. Number one, it won’t displace actual nutrition, because you took care of that first. And second, you’re more likely to indulge moderately because you filled up on real food first.

    So if there is any method here, I think it’s to put dessert last, not to put dessert before bed.

    However none of this explains why, after a meal, I immediately get sugar cravings.

  • rodneylives@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    8 days ago

    Because it’s nice, and if you ate it first you wouldn’t want to have as much of the healthy stuff that came before. Not everything has to have an objective purpose. Nice things are nice.

  • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    7 days ago

    well in that case, why do we eat dessert when we do?

    because that’s when you are home and maybe not in a hurry. says a lot.

      • Gold_E_Lox@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        0·
        8 days ago

        i had just woken up when i posted this comment so I apologise for being flippant.

        actually reading the post, point 3 is perfect. i actually do have “lunch-dessert” and ive had it all my life, never really having “dinner-desert”

        so honestly, i like the question. “how did a sweet snack before bed become a cultural norm in the western world, and why/how did it beat out another, more optimal, point in the day?”