Late-Night Snacking

Whether you’re dieting or just trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle, late-night hunger affects us all. By ‘late-night’ I’m referring to the last 1-3 hours before going to sleep. You’ve heard it a million times before, “don’t eat right before bed.” And for the most part, I believe this is good advice. Yet, I do believe that you should listen to your body and if you’re really hungry, you should eat something before sleeping.

The real question is: “what should I eat before bed?” rather than “should I eat before bed?” Listen to your stomach, being hungry when sleeping will keep you from having a good night sleep and that’s not good for your health.

So what should you eat during those last few hours before hitting the hay? Here are some good choices and bad choices and overall dos and don’ts:

Good Snacking Options:

1. Protein shake: This is a good option because shakes are low in calories, sugar and carbs. The high amount of protein will help keep you fuller, longer.

2. Nuts: This is a good option because nuts are packed full of protein and healthy fats. They lack carbs and sugar so your body doesn’t need much time to ‘burn off’ the calories. Nuts like almonds will keep you satisfied for a long time and will help you overcome cravings. Just grab a palm-full of nuts and kill those cravings.

3. Piece of cheese: Cheese is full of protein and calcium. Plus, cheese is very filling and doesn’t contain carbs or sugar. Cottage cheese and plain yogurt are good choices. Avoid sugary yogurts and just keep ‘cheese eating’ in moderation and you’ll be fine and full.

4. Vegetables: Green vegetables are a good choice because of their high-fibre content. Fibre keeps you full for a long time and is good for you. You can’t get fat by eating vegetables. So eat a salad, spinach or some broccoli and you’ll ensure healthy late-night snacking.

5. Egg white omelette: Egg whites are full of protein and are low in calories. Ounce for ounce egg whites are the most satisfying and healthy snacking option. Don’t eat the yolks because they contain high levels of fat and cholesterol, which you don’t need before bed. A large egg has 70 calories; 53 are found in the yolk and only 17 are in the white. Egg whites are tasty and healthy – the perfect option.

Bad Snacking Options:

1. Baked goods: Muffins, croissants, danishes and/or donuts are the worst late-night snacks. They are full of fat, sugar and carbs. The carbs and sugar won’t be burned off fast enough before bed and thus, you’ll be sleeping with a stomach full of sugar and carbs. And when you don’t burn these carbs or sugars off, you gain weight. It’s simple and it’s bad. So avoid any baked treat.

2. Bread or toast: Again, just like baked goods, bread is full of carbs. It doesn’t contain much fibre or protein (even if it’s whole wheat) so your hunger probably won’t go away. In fact, bread will just rev-up your appetite and you’ll need to eat a lot in order to fill the void.

3. Pasta or cereal: Same principle as bread or baked goods; all carbs, no health benefits. Unless you’re carbo-loading before a marathon in the morning, avoid all these options because you won’t properly burn off the calories consumed during your late-night feeding.

4. Chocolate milk: Even though milk can be a good late-night snacking option, chocolate milk contains too much sugar for it to be a good choice. When sugar isn’t burned off, it sits in your stomach and turns into fat. So avoid chocolate milk at all costs.

5. Fruit: This is a controversial topic. Many people believe fruit is a good choice, any time of the day. But fruit contains a lot of sugar and even though it’s natural sugar, you still won’t be able to burn it off before sleeping. It will then turn to fat as you sleep. The fibre in fruit is good, but the high amount of sugar makes this a poor snacking option.

There you have it – some good and bad late-night snacking options. Just remember to eat foods with protein and fibre and lack sugar or carbs and you’ll be fine.

Healthy snacking!

Build a better back

Every guy wants a strong, wide, v-shaped back. However, strong traps and bulging lats aren’t built by performing ‘rowing exercises’ only. To build a better back, you need to target all the muscles in your back, not just the big ones.

Far too many gym rats focus solely on rowing exercises; seated rows, bent-over rows, single arm rows and cable rows. But real results come from varying your back exercises. You should perform 1 rowing exercise, 1 pulling exercise, 1 fly exercise and 1 push exercise in every back workout. By doing these 4 movements, you will target your traps, lats and deltoids.

Here are 4 great exercises that will help maximize your back workout routine:
(click on each title to see how each exercise is performed)

1. Bent-over row (the row)

Stand over a weighted barbell, bend down and grip the bar at shoulder width with either a hockey grip, overhand grip or underhand grip. Bend your knees, keep your back straight and row the bar towards your midsection. Make sure you follow your thigh line and keep the row slow and controlled. Perform 3 sets of 10 – 12 reps.

2. Lat pulldown (the pull)

Sit at a pull-down station, reach up and grab the overhead bar. Place your hands at no closer than shoulder width apart. Try keeping your hands as far apart as possible without straining your back or shoulders. Keep your back straight, your butt flat on the seat and pull the bar down to your chest. Don’t rock back when you pull the bar. Make sure you’re using your back to pull the weight down, not your momentum. Perform 3 sets of 8 – 10 reps.

3. Rear deltoid fly (the fly)

This exercise is similar to a chest fly except you’re doing it in reverse to target your back. Sit on the edge of a bench and place your feet on the ground on a 45 degree angle so that you have room under your thighs to move the weights. Grip 2 dumbbells under your thighs, rest your chest on the tops of your thighs, look forward and raise the dumbbells sideways without moving your chest. Pretend you are ripping a shirt apart like Hulk Hogan and raise the weights at your sides. Raise the bells as far as you can without straining your back. Essentially, you are bringing your arms to a winged position (like a fly). Perform 3 sets of 10 – 15 reps. ***note - you can perform rear delt flies either in a seated, laying down or bent-over position. I prefer the seated rear delt fly, but all positions are effective.

4. Dips (the push)

Stand over a dip rack and grip each arm of the machine. Raise yourself up and bring your legs off the ground, holding them behind you. Then, lower yourself as low as you can without hurting your shoulders. You should try to get your biceps parallel with the floor. Hold for a second and then push yourself back up to the top. If you can’t perform free motion dips, then you can use the aided dip station; using machine weight to help dip your body weight. Perform 3 sets of as many dips as you can. ***note - this exercise also targets your chest and can be used in your chest workout as well.

You can vary your back exercises from week to week but always try to perform a pull, push, fly and row exercise.

As always, let me know if you have any questions!

Get fit!