# What's the best time to eat what? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 29, 2007, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-time-to-eat-what/417340 "2007-08-29T07:38:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-time-to-eat-what/417340/1 "2007-08-29T07:38:53Z")
Somewhat related to my previous thread concerning vegetables, I’ve been trying to find some guidance in what types of food shold be eaten when? Specifically, what should be eaten: - prior to a workout? (say, a hard3-hour bike ride) and how long before? - after a workout? - at night? One problem I have is that I sometime can’t orwkout until about 9:00PM. I get done at 11:00, and get home around 11:20—HUNGRY. Someone once told me to not eat fruit after about 8:00. Any ideas? I’m trying to not have my eating negate my efforts to get back in shape. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-time-to-eat-what/417340/2 "2007-08-29T15:47:40Z")
See [this article](http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/nutrition/nutr_timing_1.htm) ([part 2](http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/nutrition/nutr_timing_2.htm)) for a lot of details regarding nutrient timing and workouts. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-time-to-eat-what/417340/3 "2007-08-29T18:30:52Z")
[QUOTE=ultrafilter] See [this article](http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/nutrition/nutr_timing_1.htm) ([part 2](http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/nutrition/nutr_timing_2.htm)) for a lot of details regarding nutrient timing and workouts. [/QUOTE] Really interesting, as are some of its links. A little hardcore, but informative. Thanks. Anyone else have some advice? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-time-to-eat-what/417340/4 "2007-08-29T18:47:34Z")
It’s never the wrong time to eat pie. ---
**Author:** ![Pullet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Pullet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pullet)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-time-to-eat-what/417340/5 "2007-08-29T21:11:12Z")
There’s always room for jello. mmm, boiled, flavored hooves. Why couldn’t you eat fruit after 8pm? Don’t make no kind of sense. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-time-to-eat-what/417340/6 "2007-08-29T21:19:55Z")
[QUOTE=Pullet] There’s always room for jello. mmm, boiled, flavored hooves. Why couldn’t you eat fruit after 8pm? Don’t make no kind of sense. [/QUOTE] I don’t know. He said it was somehting about eating fruit and then being inactive. He was in AMAZING shape and the son of a NFL coach, so I took what he said to probably be correct. ---
**Author:** ![Pullet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Pullet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pullet)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-time-to-eat-what/417340/7 "2007-08-29T21:58:01Z")
[QUOTE=magellan01] I don’t know. He said it was something about eating fruit and then being inactive. He was in AMAZING shape and the son of a NFL coach, so I took what he said to probably be correct. [/QUOTE] Huh. My meager nutritional knowledge leads me to think that his idea runs like this: Fruit is naturally high in sugars like fructose Fructose can encourage bacterial growth and fermentation with gas production there are bacteria in my lower intestine these bacteria are more likely to ferment my food when I have reduced GI motility I have reduced GI motility while I am sleeping. Therefore: Eating fruit + going to sleep –\> massive bacterial fermentation –\> explosion. Still sounds weird to me. IANANutritionist, but I wouldn’t take his fruit schedule advice as either hard or fast. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-time-to-eat-what/417340/8 "2007-08-29T22:13:18Z")
[QUOTE=Pullet] Huh. My meager nutritional knowledge leads me to think that his idea runs like this: Fruit is naturally high in sugars like fructose Fructose can encourage bacterial growth and fermentation with gas production there are bacteria in my lower intestine these bacteria are more likely to ferment my food when I have reduced GI motility I have reduced GI motility while I am sleeping. Therefore: Eating fruit + going to sleep –\> massive bacterial fermentation –\> explosion. Still sounds weird to me. IANANutritionist, but I wouldn’t take his fruit schedule advice as either hard or fast. [/QUOTE] Thanks! Might any of that make it harder to sleep, as well? ---
**Author:** ![Pullet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Pullet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pullet)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2007, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-time-to-eat-what/417340/9 "2007-08-29T22:23:01Z")
If eating fruit tends to make you really gassy, then yeah, it could interrupt your sleep. But I’ve known plenty of people who have no problem venting excess gas while asleep 😉