This Is the Ideal Time to Eat Lunch, According to an RD

Though it doesn’t get as much positive press as breakfast, lunch is an equally critical meal. “Lunch is just as important as any other meal. Fueling our bodies properly with the nutrients we need at lunchtime helps provide sustained energy throughout the day, and works to prevent overeating and unhealthy snack cravings later in the day,” says Lena Bakovic, MS, RDN, CNSC.

But is there an optimal time to reach for your mid-day meal? Can lunch be eaten too early or late? Should you stick to a regular lunch time every day? Read on to find the answers to these questions, and more.

The Best Time to Eat Lunch

When it comes to timing lunch, the most important consideration is your own personal schedule and routine. “The ideal time is really dependent on an individual’s needs and their sleep-wake cycles,” Bakovic agrees, “if someone wakes at 7 a.m. and eats a nutrient-dense breakfast at 8 a.m., then they are likely to tune into their hunger cues roughly four to five hours later, at 12 to 1 p.m.”

Ideally, this lunch would include a variety of food groups to promote macro- and micronutrient balance. “If we think of a plate (eight to 10 inches in size), I always like to fill half of my plate with vegetables, a quarter of the plate with lean proteins, such as fish, poultry, or legumes, and the remaining quarter with a complex carbohydrate source, such as quinoa, brown or wild rice, or a sweet potato,” Bakovic adds. These proportions of healthy foods not only provide you with necessary nutrients, but also promote stable, steady energy levels and the mental clarity needed to tackle the second half of your day.

Can You Eat Lunch Too Early or Too Late?

However, if we eat lunch too early or too late, we may not reap all of the potential health benefits associated with the meal, particularly when it comes to energy levels and mental focus.

“It’s possible that eating an earlier lunch (shortly after breakfast) will contribute to greater hunger later in the day and prior to dinnertime. This can lead to snacking on less-than-healthy food choices,” explains Bakovic. If you find yourself hankering for lunch on the earlier side, it may be worthwhile to look at what breakfast foods you’re opting for, as they could be to blame for you feeling hungry so soon after your morning meal.

“With eating lunch later in the day and closer to dinnertime, this may lead some individuals to skipping dinner and then feeling hungry closer to bedtime, and could promote snacking on salty and/or sugary foods with low nutritional value,” Bakovic offers. Plus, if eating a late lunch encourages bedtime snacking, this may interfere with a restful night’s sleep, which can affect your circadian rhythms—and, in turn, your body’s hunger and satiety cues.

Should You Eat Lunch at the Same Time Every Day?

This brings us to our final lunchtime question of whether it’s best to eat lunch at the same exact time everyday. Spoiler alert: the short answer is yes. 

“As with sleep-wake cycles being consistent and important for our bodies to feel in sync on a day-to-day basis, the same can be said with our mealtimes,” says Bakovic. “Thus, it’s beneficial to have lunch around the same time each day, as this consistent prompting of hunger and fullness cues syncs to our sleep-wake cycles.”

That said, if you’re off by a half hour or even a full hour or two, don’t worry, your whole system won’t be thrown off. As long as you’re sitting down to lunch around the same time most days, you’ll reap the benefits that consistent meal times can have on your circadian rhythms and metabolic health.