From having fruit before dinner to when to have coffee – exact times you should eat & drink to burn calories & de-stress

WHAT you eat can make you healthier –  but so can when you eat it.

The least harmful time to knock back a glass of wine is with food.

But the timings of meals, the order in which you eat things and when you break for coffee are also important.

Emma Pietras looks at the science behind it all . . .

HAVE YOUR VEGGIES BEFORE THE REST

GETTING them down you before other things on your plate can help you feel full for longer, and lose weight.

This is because vegetables contain fibre that helps regulate blood sugar.

Dietitian Carolyn Williams says: “Starting with veg and getting fibre in may make you east less carbs.”

DRINK A MORNING CUPPA AT AROUND 11am

WAIT a few hours for your first cuppa, when the level of cortisol hormone in your body drops and you feel an energy slump.

Sleep expert Dr Deborah Lee said: “If you wake at 7am, for example, leaving your first coffee until 10am is when you’ll get the most benefits.”

EAT YOUR EVENING MEAL EARLY AT 5pm

EARLY dinners can improve digestion and weight loss.

Overweight people were asked to eat the same meals at different times, and Harvard Medical School’s Nina Vujovic said a 5pm dinner made “a significant difference to how we burn calories and store fat”.

TUCK IN TO FRUIT BEFORE MAIN MEAL

MUCH like with vegetables, many fruits are rich in fibre, so best eaten before a meal – rather than after, as we often do.

This is particularly true of apples.

A high-fibre diet boosts production of the appetite-reducing hormone peptide tyrosine tyrosine (PYY) in a part of the small intestine known as the ileum.

Dr Aygul Dagbasi said: “We now understand how dietary fibre is associated with lower levels of hunger, compared to a low-fibre diet, and that certain fibres and amino acids stimulate PYY.”

WOMEN SHOULD EAT BEFORE THEY EXERCISE

HOW much fat exercise burns varies with whether you eat before or after the workout – but the former is best for women, the latter for men.

One study found women who had a carbohydrate drink pre-gym got better results, while blokes fared better if they downed it later.

Men tend to have more muscle, which stores energy producing carbs, and won’t burn these fats if they have taken a drink already providing them.

Dr Adam Collins, of the University of Surrey, said: “Men get a better effect if they exercise fast [don’t eat] as the muscles burn more fat.”