Eating elevenses ‘could damage your slimming plans’

If you regularly indulge in elevenses, you might want to stop in order to lose weight.

This is the suggestion of a new study from the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, which looked at a range of subjects and found those who eat between 10:30 and 11:29 lost seven per cent of their body weight in 12 months.

However, the participants who waited until lunch time rather than having a snack break lost 11.4 per cent of their body weight.

The reason behind it is likely to be that frequent snackers tend to consume more calories each day than their counterparts who stick to mealtimes, said lead author Anne McTiernan.

Despite this, eating in the afternoon may be beneficial, as these snackers were found to eat more fruit and vegetables.

Ms McTiernan commented: “Snacking could be part of a dieter’s toolkit if they’re eating in response to true hunger.”

Bananas, peanut butter and yoghurt may be ideal snack foods as they are high in energy, explained dietitian Patricia Bannan to Fox News recently.

Do you know you snack too often?