There are times when it’s past midnight and you can’t catch any sleep. You’re craving some food. We know that this practice is unhealthy, but you can still find late-night healthy snacks that can satisfy your hunger pangs without causing you to gain weight.
But wait. First, we try to find out why we have midnight cravings. The following are some reasons: poor nutrition, irregular meals, night eating syndrome, and hormonal changes.
Poor Nutrition
It may be that you have huge meals, but you are not taking in the right nutrients for your body. This is the reason why you end up hungry at midnight.
Night Eating Syndrome
People who suffer from Night Eating Syndrome experience low levels of hunger in the morning and feel more hungry at night. These people more often also suffer from insomnia. If you experience nightly midnight cravings, it would be better to speak to a physician.
Hormonal Changes
Fluctuations in one’s hormones often result in midnight food cravings. When your body experiences an imbalance, it starts to crave sugar. Some other reasons can be stress, anxiety, depression, and menstruation.
Irregular Meals
If you don’t eat your meals on time, this may affect your metabolism and your body in general. This is why it’s crucial to practice good eating habits that include consuming nutrient-dense food choices.
What Did Experts Say about Late-Night Snacking
According to an expert on family nutrition, Sarah Pflugradt, M.S., RD, if you get hungry at night, you must eat. Eating at night does not make your metabolism slow. This won’t make you gain weight too. Create a mental inventory of what you ate the entire day and try to check on what you have missed. Most often, people miss out on vegetables, fruits, or dairy. If this is the case, you can add more calcium and fiber. Always make it a goal to consume balanced meals of fat, protein, and carbohydrates spaced every three to four hours all through the day. This will prevent a spike or crash in blood sugar levels which often results in night cravings. When you eat enough protein during day time, you will have less desire to snack late at night.
Why Protein Can Make You Feel Full Overnight
A study published in the Journal of Nutrition revealed that eating protein before bedtime did not affect the fat metabolism of athletes adversely. It was unlikely that the metabolism would change as well throughout the day because the subjects lift weights. Athletes already have muscle mass, and they also have a faster metabolism with more demands.
Protein helps develop muscle mass along with some calories from other macronutrients. For as long as you are consuming food with those macronutrients, what time you get to consume them is of less significance. The key to maintaining a good metabolism is to take protein throughout the day. For muscle protein synthesis for growth and repair, you can space your protein meals evenly for four hours or so from the time you first took your meal.
If you want to take a bedtime snack, make sure that it’s protein-loaded for your body to have time to process this overnight. By consuming a high-protein snack at bedtime, you are giving the protein maximum absorption for your body to stay in a state of anabolic growth for a longer period.
The Pros and Cons of Late-Night Snacking
According to research, the quality and quantity of food and timing can affect whether late-night snacking is beneficial or detrimental to health. Consuming more calories than your body needs may lead to weight gain. Research presented during the 2020 European and International Conference on Obesity revealed that late-night snackers consume 40 percent of their daily calories at night, and the snacks are not even nutritious. They are higher in fat and sugar and lower in fiber and protein.
Another study published in 2018 in the Journal of Obesity disclosed that women who had late-night snacks or dinner had a higher chance of becoming overweight. Apart from weight gain, late-night snacks could also impact one’s metabolic health. Another study showed that late-night dinner is linked with poor glycemic control in people who suffer from type 2 diabetes. Emerging research also disclosed that eating as late as 10 PM may have an adverse impact on the body’s metabolic parameters, which include glucose intolerance and reduced fat breakdown.
Yet still, no one wants to sleep on a hungry stomach. If you had a light dinner, you might need a pre-bedtime snack, yet you have to make sure that these are packed with protein, fiber, and healthy fats.
Some Healthy Tips for Late-Night Snacking
If you want to put a stop to your late-night cravings, you may consider some steps. You have to look into some of the advice provided by nutrition experts.
Make a routine.
It may not be a bad thing to eat at night but nutrition experts’ advice is not to eat at least two to three hours before bedtime to improve the likelihood of sleep. Keep a healthy eating and sleeping schedule and plan your meals to avoid late-night cravings.
Eat light.
Sometimes it’s inevitable that hunger strikes a bit later in the evening. Instead of letting your stomach growl late at night and preventing you from sleeping, nutritionists recommended taking healthy late-night snacks that are rich in fiber and protein. This will prevent you from eating too much only to feel satisfied. Remember that eating acidic and calorie-dense snacks before bedtime can give you heartburn or an upset stomach.
Pick late-night snacks that are low in sodium and sugar.
When you scour for late-night snacks in your refrigerator, make sure that you limit snacks that are high in sugar and sodium. Foods that are high in sugar can give you blood sugar fluctuations that may keep you up the whole night and make you feel dragged in the morning.
Some Common Questions About Late-Night Snacking
Late-night snacking is a popular topic in the field of nutrition, and you can read a lot of opinions about it. Here are a few questions that are commonly asked about late-night snacking:
Should I sleep on a hungry stomach?
It’s bad to ignore real hunger, even when it’s late at night. When you become hungry late at night and this can be inevitable, you must attend to your body’s needs by taking the most appropriate light snacks.
What is the best late-night snack according to the experts?
According to nutrition experts, the best late-night snacks are those that are loaded with protein and melatonin. Protein is the most immediately satisfying macronutrient. This is why nuts, yogurt, and hummus will make great late-night snacks. Melatonin-rich food options like grapes, bananas, and pistachios make excellent bedtime snacks. Melatonin is a hormone that induces sleep.
What foods can be consumed after 8 PM?
If you’re not hungry, nutrition experts recommend not eating two to three hours before bedtime. But no one has to feel bad for having a late-night snack. Just follow the tips stated above. There would be nothing wrong with a light late-night snack to quell your cravings before you head on to sleep land.