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!

Healthy snacking on the go

You haven’t eaten in a few hours, you’re hungry and you’re in a rush. So, should you eat something? If so, what do you eat? Or should you just ignore your hunger and wait till your next meal?

It’s simple - YES, you should eat something if you’re hungry! Healthy snacking is an important part of any healthy lifestyle. Even if you’re trying to shed a few pounds, you should NEVER avoid eating when you’re hungry. You keep your metabolism firing by consuming low calorie, high fibre and protein snacks. If you wait too long between meals, your metabolism slows down and thus, makes it difficult to burn calories.

Your body needs food for energy, so give it what it wants! If you deprive yourself of food/snacks, then your metabolism slows down and starts to store fat. This storing of fat makes it hard to burn calories because your body is basically saying: “because you haven’t fed me in a while, I will store food as fat because I need future energy and I don’t know when I’ll be fed again.” Get it?

Simply put, eat something every 3 hours so that your metabolism doesn’t fall asleep. NEVER avoid snacking between meals.

But with that being said, what should you eat? Eating sugary, greasy, fatty snacks is not the answer as you will end up storing these foods as fat because your body can’t break them down efficiently. Choose high fibre, high protein snacks that will satisfy your hunger and keep your metabolism firing. And when you’re on the go, you should always have a few snacks on-hand to satisfy between-meal hunger.

Here are 5 healthy snacks:

Trail Mix – Any combination of dried fruit and nuts constitutes a healthy trail mix snack. This snack is perfect because it’s packed full of fibre (dried fruit) and protein (nuts). Also, the healthy fat in nuts will keep you satisfied for a long time. But, don’t be fooled by trail mixes that contain chocolate chips or smarties as these are not healthy snack options. Chocolate has no place in a trail mix.

Energy bar – Any granola or protein bar makes for a perfect snack. They have a good amount of fibre, protein and healthy fats. For females, choose a bar that has apx. 150 calories. For men, 200 calorie bars are the best.

Fresh fruit – Simple, fast and healthy. Fruit is a perfect snack option as it contains natural sugars and a high amount of fibre. Fruit contains enzymes that allow for easy digestive breakdown, making it a healthy go-to snack when you’re in a rush.

Vegetables – A bag full of carrots, celery, broccoli or any other vegetable is a perfect snack choice. Packed full of vitamins and fibre, these little packages of natural goodness make choosing a healthy snack easy.

Peanut butter and whole wheat crackers – healthy, easy, and portable. The protein and healthy fats in peanut butter make for a perfect ‘any time’ snack option. Whole wheat crackers also contain protein and fibre. The combination is as healthy as it is delicious.

There you have it - 5 simple snacks that can be consumed when you’re on the run.

Need more healthy snack options or clarification on anything? just let me know!