Walter Finch
A CONTROVERSIAL Spanish nutritionist is advising her compatriots to abandon their beloved late-night dining culture in favour of early evening meals – flying in the face of centuries of Spanish tradition.
María del Mar Molina, a specialist in nutrition and author of ‘Dieta Solar’ (Solar Diet), is urging Spaniards to eat their evening meal no later than 7pm throughout the year – a radical departure from the country’s famously late dining culture where dinner often begins at 10pm or later.
“The ideal is to dine no later than 7pm all year round, which is the simplest way to do intermittent fasting,” declares Molina, who holds qualifications in Dietetics and Nutrition with masters degrees in Geriatrics, Paediatrics and Sports Nutrition.
Her advice challenges one of Spain’s most cherished cultural traditions.
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Whilst northern Europeans typically eat dinner between 6-8pm, Spaniards traditionally dine much later, with restaurants often not opening until 9pm and families gathering around the table well into the night.
Molina’s ‘Solar Diet’ philosophy advocates eating during daylight hours and sleeping early, claiming this aligns with natural biological rhythms.
“We should eat when there’s still natural light and go to sleep early,” she explains.
According to the nutritionist, eating late at night disrupts the body’s natural processes.
“Night-time fasting is true intermittent fasting,” she argues, suggesting that Spaniards’ traditional eating patterns may be contributing to health problems.
The expert recommends what she calls ‘ancestral eating’ – focusing on meat, fish, seafood, and eggs whilst avoiding processed foods that “didn’t exist 50 years ago.”
Molina’s approach extends beyond meal timing.
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She advocates for maximum sun exposure, claiming that morning sunlight helps regulate metabolism and hormones, whilst midday sun provides essential vitamin D.
“Here in Spain, around 2pm is brilliant for vitamin D,” she states. “With just 15 minutes at 2pm, we’ll get most of the vitamin D we need each day.”
Her summer eating recommendations include filtered water mixed with seawater, training whilst fasting, and breakfasts of eggs with prawns and avocado – hardly typical Spanish fare.
The advice puts Molina at odds with Spanish dining culture, which has evolved over centuries around late meals that facilitate social bonding and family time.
The traditional Spanish schedule sees lunch around 2-3pm and dinner starting around 9-10pm, allowing for the afternoon siesta and evening socialising.
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Restaurant owners and cultural traditionalists may baulk at suggestions that could fundamentally alter one of Spain’s most defining characteristics – its relaxed, social approach to dining.
Molina promises dramatic results for those who follow her regime, claiming benefits including weight loss, better sleep, improved hormonal health, and reduced inflammation.
“You don’t have to do strict diets to lose fat,” she argues. “Stop eating dinner at night and you’ll notice the difference in seven days.”
