Survey: When Do You Eat Your Main Meal of the Day?

Dana Velden
Dana Velden
Dana Velden's first book, Finding Yourself in the Kitchen: Kitchen Meditations and Inspired Recipes from a Mindful Cook (Rodale Books) is available where ever books are sold. She lives in Oakland, CA.
published Apr 11, 2011
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(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

It’s commonly understood that we should consume the largest amount of our caloric intake during the daytime when we’re most active. So it’s often recommended to have a big meal in the afternoon and a lighter meal in the evening. Nevertheless, at least here in the US, it seems that we still eat our main meal, and the bulk of our calories, in the evening.

There are probably many reasons why lunch is still a light sandwich or soup for a lot of people. The main culprit, I suspect, is our work lives. It’s just not possible to cook, not to mention eat, a large meal on a short lunch hour. Also, larger meals can often lead to a period of feeling sluggish while we digest our feast and, since we’ve abandoned the concept of an afternoon siesta, this can be a real problem if you want to have a productive afternoon.

Still, some people are getting around this by packing a hearty lunch and certainly those of us who work from home can modulate our work day to accommodate a larger mid-day meal. What tips and tricks do you have for fitting in most of your calories before sundown?

Related: Survey: Dinner or Supper?

(Image: Babette’s Feast )

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dinner
Lunch