A nutrition expert warns about the health consequences of eating late.

Although eating dinner at 10 p.m. is a fairly common habit in Spain, eating after that time can affect your health. Specifically, your metabolism, as Dr. David Carrizo, a physician and specialist in nutrition and obesity, warns. " It's not just what you eat, but when you eat it . Your body needs a schedule," he said.

Carrizo, who also creates content on social media as a science communicator, has launched a message "for people who tend to eat dinner late ."

"Do you eat dinner after nine or ten at night every day? Well, your body has an internal clock, and eating late can throw it off ," this doctor says.

Among the consequences of eating dinner late is that it " causes an insulin spike , and when your body should be preparing to sleep, this can lead to insulin resistance , even if you eat the same thing every night."

Likewise, eating dinner late "will end up inhibiting melatonin , which will consequently worsen your sleep ," says this expert. "You already know that poor sleep leads to accumulating abdominal fat," he adds.

To avoid all of this, "the key" is to " eat dinner before 8:30 p.m. ," and choose " something light , lean protein, cooked vegetables, a little starch, this will be ideal," recommended Dr. David Carrizo.

"Your metabolism will thank you for it, and you'll sleep better . Your body needs schedules, not excuses," the expert concludes.