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The Dangers of Eating Late at Night

nytimes.com

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Re: The Dangers of Eating Late at Night

#61

Post by nodata »

joesmo wrote: post #45
nodata wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But his question was "why in America?", why not anywhere else?

It's not only in America anymore. I've seen just as gigantic portion sizes while traveling to Europe (England, Netherlands, Romania, Italy, France) and Australia, though not so much in China (except Macau). Likely other countries are moving in the same direction as America. At restaurants, however, there is very good incentive to provide large portions. A restaurant has fixed portions that need to feed everyone from…

> England, Netherlands, Romania, Italy, France

None of these places have anywhere near the same portion sizes.

Re: The Dangers of Eating Late at Night

#62

Post by canvia »

mitul_45 wrote: post #12

Well there is a ritual in Jainism which says not to eat after sunset (remember: this was written/said generations before all science and research came into existence). Being Jain, I am just amazed by how precise our religion/literature is. Like many other ritual, this one is also backed by science now. FYI: It's called "Chauvihar" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasting_in_Jainism )

One might posit that some traditions from other religions were also meant to avoid common problems without understanding the science behind why. Take not eating pork for example, to avoid trichinosis.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichinosis

Re: The Dangers of Eating Late at Night

#63

Post by meowface »

gypsyharlot wrote: post #54
iagooar wrote: post #25

I suffer acid reflux a lot of times. One trick I read some years ago proved to be magical: eat a teaspoon of dry, milled coffee. It works instantly and lasts for at least 2-3 hours. It can be tough to swallow the coffee at the beginning, but once you get used to it, it isn't that difficult.

I found a cure that works perfectly for me. My doctor prescribed a truckload of antiacids and proton-pump inhibitors for me, until they stopped working. Then, as a new year's resolution, I decided to stop eating potato chips... after avoiding them for about 3 weeks, the acid reflux completely went away. Whether it was because of all the salt, or the oil, I don't know, but it solved it for me. Give it a try!

Greasy and oily foods definitely seem to make acid reflux worse for me.

Re: The Dangers of Eating Late at Night

#64

Post by sgt101 »

iagooar wrote: post #25

I suffer acid reflux a lot of times. One trick I read some years ago proved to be magical: eat a teaspoon of dry, milled coffee. It works instantly and lasts for at least 2-3 hours. It can be tough to swallow the coffee at the beginning, but once you get used to it, it isn't that difficult.

I am very suspicious of this - one of the symptoms of very bad reflux is vomiting "coffee grounds"; or dried blood. I can't see how this would work, and I worry that you might confuse or mask dire problems with this method.

Re: The Dangers of Eating Late at Night

#65

Post by themartorana »

themartorana wrote: post #33
sneak wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found that chlorinated water or high-fructose corn syrup triggered mine. That took a long time to isolate.

This. I live in a major city and our water is majorly chlorinated. I read a bit about this online and thought, sure, what the heck, I'll try eliminating chlorinated water and see what happens. Now I have an under-counter water filter and all our drinking water has a significant amount of the chlorine filtered out. It made a huge difference for me. YMMV, and of course doesn't mean much for well water.

In what world does this comment get down-voted?

This is the basis for an elimination diet, which is key to discovering food sensitivities.

Seriously...

Re: The Dangers of Eating Late at Night

#66

Post by benihana »

zamio wrote: post #22

"In France, for example, a serving of ice cream is typically a single modest scoop, while in America, it’s often three gargantuan scoops." This was the first thing that struck me when I first moved here. Portions for all kinds of food from ice-cream, to coffee are huge. Why are huge portions such a common thing here?

No idea why they're so common. I was born in the early 1980s and I've noticed this trend happening in my lifetime. It wasn't always like this.

Re: The Dangers of Eating Late at Night

#67

Post by iagooar »

sgt101 wrote: post #64
iagooar wrote: post #25

I suffer acid reflux a lot of times. One trick I read some years ago proved to be magical: eat a teaspoon of dry, milled coffee. It works instantly and lasts for at least 2-3 hours. It can be tough to swallow the coffee at the beginning, but once you get used to it, it isn't that difficult.

I am very suspicious of this - one of the symptoms of very bad reflux is vomiting "coffee grounds"; or dried blood. I can't see how this would work, and I worry that you might confuse or mask dire problems with this method.

I'm obviously not a doctor. I can only say that in my experience, eating a teaspoon of coffee works for me and relatives of mine who have tried it. And it works amazingly fast and well.

Of course, I also know what kind of food or drinks I shall avoid in order not to get acid reflux, so I always try to avoid getting it in first place.

Re: The Dangers of Eating Late at Night

#68

Post by gypsyharlot »

meowface wrote: post #63
gypsyharlot wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found a cure that works perfectly for me. My doctor prescribed a truckload of antiacids and proton-pump inhibitors for me, until they stopped working. Then, as a new year's resolution, I decided to stop eating potato chips... after avoiding them for about 3 weeks, the acid reflux completely went away. Whether it was because of all the salt, or the oil, I don't know, but it solved it for me. Give it a try!

Greasy and oily foods definitely seem to make acid reflux worse for me.

It could be just that. I was at a point where I could not lie down for 5 seconds without feeling like I was choking in my own acid until I quit eating chips.

Re: The Dangers of Eating Late at Night

#69

Post by notastartup »

zamio wrote: post #22

"In France, for example, a serving of ice cream is typically a single modest scoop, while in America, it’s often three gargantuan scoops." This was the first thing that struck me when I first moved here. Portions for all kinds of food from ice-cream, to coffee are huge. Why are huge portions such a common thing here?

Advancements in GMO food has enabled America to produce food at extreme scale but at questionable health prospects.

Re: The Dangers of Eating Late at Night

#70

Post by learc83 »

ska wrote: post #56
learc83 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it was because America was the first country that could eat afford to eat like that, so we did. Look at the differences in traditional Italian food and Italian American food. Dealing with virtually unlimited quantities of food is a very recent problem, and Americans were the first to have this problem at scale. Most of the rest of the world now has this problem too. If you look at overweight trends, most deve…

I think there is some truth to this, but it also seems to be true that on average the US is valuing quantity over quality (in food) more than many other economies that can certainly afford to overeat.

I'm sure there are some cultural differences, but keep in mind 30-40 years ago we didn't have huge quantities they way we do now, and we didn't go out to eat the way we do now. It took time for the cultural norm to catch up to our ability to overeat.

While other countries can now afford to overeat as easily as we can, they've been able to do so for a lot less time. Again the charts for percentage of the population that is overweight and obese back up this hypothesis--other developed countries are trailing behind the US by about 30 years. They have just had less time to make a habit out of over-consumption.

Also, most other developed countries still haven't caught up to the US in terms of affordable overeating. In PPP terms the US ranks 10 in GDP per capita, higher than every other major economy and higher than almost all of Europe by a very significant margin.

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