Can I Eat Pasta And Rice In The Evening?

A widely held idea about nutrition is that it is not a good idea to eat pasta or rice in the evening because it will make you gain weight or because it is bad for your health. The truth is, these foods can be eaten at any time of the day, but keep in mind what we’ll be sharing with you today.

The first thing to consider is that these foods are high in energy. So their role is to provide energy and help the body recover after exercise. They should therefore be eaten for this purpose, not because they are so tasty.

In which cases can you eat pasta and rice in the evening?

If you have not taken in a lot of carbohydrates during the day and you have exercised (especially in the afternoon), then it is a good idea to consume these foods in the evening. Their main function is to help you recover. So they help to replenish muscle and liver glycogen.

If you don’t eat them and do strenuous exercise the next morning, your risk of muscle injury increases. It is therefore essential to ensure that glucose and muscle glycogen levels are in order before doing intense exercise.

However, if you want to lose weight, one possible solution may be to cut carbohydrates from your meals and exercise while fasting. If you do this, then your morning workout should be low intensity to minimize the risks.

Eating pasta and rice with dinner can be a good option for athletes. This also applies if you consume few carbohydrates at other times of the day.

Eating pasta or rice in the evening has an energy function and is mainly aimed at anaerobic athletes. Those people will benefit greatly from eating this food. In fact, they will become a fundamental part of improving their performance.

These athletes need to consume a lot of carbohydrates when ingesting glycogen before a competition. In these situations, the nutrients are absorbed in the muscles and liver. The reserves are then used and the availability of these nutrients is utilized during physical activity.

These strategies are typical for strength, weight category or anaerobic endurance sports. It also includes the consumption of large amounts of rice and pasta, including with dinner.

When you shouldn’t eat pasta and rice in the evening

In the case of sedentary people who do not exercise regularly, carbohydrates in the evening are not very functional. They may make more sense with the first meals of the day, especially when it comes to reducing appetite.

However, it is best to avoid them in the evening and consume protein and vegetables instead. So you need to eat large meals with low energy density so that you can go to bed feeling full and rest well, but not take in glucose that will not be used or will be stored as glycogen.

As the years go by, carbohydrates become less necessary. Rather, the protein requirement begins to increase to prevent muscle damage and destruction.

For this reason, pasta and rice, whether in the evening or at any time of the day, become secondary or superfluous in the necessary nutrition, unlike proteins and fats.

The consumption of pasta and rice in the evening should be limited to people who practice physically demanding sports. Otherwise, they are not superfluous and can lead to weight gain.

What about diabetics?

In this case, it is necessary to distinguish people with type 1 diabetes from people with type 2 diabetes. In the case of the former, it is necessary for them to consume a portion of carbohydrates in the evening to control the glucose curve.

In the latter case , however, cutting carbohydrates from dinner and even fasting at certain times can be beneficial. In this way, body weight is improved and glucose regulation is improved, resulting in an improvement in the symptomatology of the disease and reduced associated complications.

Conclusion

You can eat pasta and rice in the evening as long as the reason behind this intake is related to sports. In the case of sedentary individuals or those who want to lose weight, it is best to reduce carbohydrate intake as much as possible.

The easiest in these cases is not to eat them in the evening, because then you are less likely to get hungry during the night. The calorie reduction will therefore be more bearable. Keep that in mind!