Healthy food to eat at night?

amateursurgeon

amateursurgeon

Hot Metal and Methedrine
Apr 2, 2007
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The Uncanny Valley
I know there's a lot of fitness-minded folks here, so I have a question for you....

As part of my effort to reverse my alarming weight gain since becoming a parent (and to think, I wasn't even the one who gave birth to her...), I'm looking at my diet.

It's generally pretty good, but I have one almighty achilles heel.... late at night.

We generally eat a main meal (fresh cooked, protein + vegetables) around 6pm. Earlier than I'd like ideally, but that's the only time we can do it and eat as a family.

Only problem is, I do most of my work between 8pm and 2-3am. Which means sometime around 11, I normally get insatiably hungry. And end up eating whatever I can get my hands on, normally involving a lot of cheese. I suspect I'm packing in another 500-1000 calories in this late night meal.

Any suggestions how best to stem this late night lardfest? Any tips for healthy foods I could eat instead?
 


The worst thing you can do is eat before going to bed. learn to love no-calorie foods like celery or rice cakes if you must chew on something late at night.

Even better, fill up on that stuff early on so that you never really feel hungry. I would graze on that type of stuff all day when I needed to slim down.
 
soulbyproxy said:
The worst thing you can do is eat before going to bed. learn to love no-calorie foods like celery or rice cakes if you must chew on something late at night.

Even better, fill up on that stuff early on so that you never really feel hungry. I would graze on that type of stuff all day when I needed to slim down.
Click to expand...

FALSE. Eating late at night is not attributed to weight gain. In reality, what you eat is more important then when you eat. SOURCE: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16421340

I personally like to make my own trail mix. I add almonds, peanuts, cashews, brazil nuts, pecans, along with dried cranberries. A few handfuls and I'm completely full.
 
if you eat 2500 calories a day, it doesn't matter when. Problem with late night eating is that most people use it to fill up on additional calories. So... either eat less earlier and enjoy your late night snacks, or get the fuck over your late night cravings and eat celery or no 5 calorie gelatin jello's.
 
How many hours are you awake each day? Schedule meals accordingly, even if 4 or 5 smaller ones.

If you are eating at 7, 12, & 5 it is no wonder you are hungry by 11 pm. Space it out.
 
Yep I do trail mix too. Cottage cheese is good snack. Natural beef jerky. But like jeffrey said it's not eating late that kills you, it's what you eat. Or if your dinner is healthy, you can eat half of it and eat the other half when you get hungry at 11. In between snack on the trail mix, or anything healthy like that.
 
Eats lots of your favourite fruit. By lots I mean like 5-10 servings of whatever it is. 5 bananas, 5 mangoes, half a watermelon, 5 oranges/grapefruits, 7 apples, etc...why so many? You'll get a lot of calories from carbs, you'll feel full and won't get fat.

You shouldn't have your last meal later than 4 hours before bed generally though.
 
Chew minty gum. This gives your mouth something to do and the mint will make other foods taste undesirable.

But when I do get the late night munchies and I want actual food I'll have some wholegrain crackers or grapes. If I must have something meal like I'll make some wild rices, beans, and veggies.
 
I like the sugar free puddings with some whipped cream and sliced almonds on top. Rice cakes and popcorn make a good snack too. Turkey sandwich on whole grain bread is also pretty good if you want something more substantial. Or whole grain pasta with some nice spaghetti sauce.
 
Some think late night eating is different from day eating, some don't, it doesn't really matter.

My trick was (at the time when I had to lose weight) to eat tiny bit of bread and whatever you want with it (ham, dry sausage), but just tiny bit and eat it veeeery slowly. Then when hunger attacked again I was repeating process. It worked well for me. It was a time I had a six-pack so sexy that I had erection watching myself in the mirror.
 
Use the additional energy for a workout or sporting activity the following morning. Just don't eat when you wake up. Basically think of it as changing the timing of your breakfast.
 
I've taken to eating deli meats or hard boiled eggs as a snack. An entire pack of cured beef or smoked turkey is around 250 calories. The beef has zero carbs, and the turkey is only around 10. A single hard boiled egg is around 70 calories and less than 1g carbs.
 
I recommend this:


90f31ae19a5d7568_fruit-salad.jpg



Fruits are easier for your body to metabolize than heavy meats, breads, etc. And there's plenty of fiber in there (add apple slices) to keep you feeling fuller. That will make you less likely to call out for pizza.

Side benefit: you'll be able to remain alert and focus better with fruit making its way through your system instead of the heavy stuff (cheese bogs me down). You'll get more work done, or at least accomplish it more effectively.
 
Too many people recommending sugar here (that includes the fruit eaters). That leads to insulin spike, leading to fat storage if you haven't done anything for a bit and aren't going to do anything for the rest of the day.

Stay low carb after that last meal. I go with eggs. If you hit it HARD in the gym, add some sweet potato, but most likely... just eggs and some more veggies.
 
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