We all crave late night food once in a while. This late-night craving might turn into a common habit if you are someone who would all-nighter often. Many health risks are often attributed to eating too late at night.
At the same time, it is personally understood that snacking moderately can boost productivity during long hours of stressful work. If you are working every day, subduing your hunger can bring equally negative health complications itself.
So, should you curb late-night snacking or not?
In this article, we will explore the risk and benefits of late-night snacking and how you can use healthy alternatives to feel better about your eating habits and allow your body to benefit from them instead of feeling unhealthy.
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What happens to your body when you eat late at night
To understand how to change our late-night snacking pattern, we need first to decode what makes us crave this routine so much. Let us look at why you might feel compelled to start eating late at night.
Lacking protein
Laughing protein is one of the major reasons why people tend to keep eating after dinner. Protein works a bit like fiber to satisfy our dietary requirements. If protein is lacking in your daily consumption, you will find yourself craving more food than before.
Lacking energy
Blood sugar imbalance can lead you to crave sweet food or refined carbs all night. If you lack the energy, you will want to consume instant sugar, which the body wrongly associates with easy energy.
Feel very stressed
Stress eating is a medically recognized phenomenon where people tend to continuously consume delicious food to divert themselves from a stressful scenario. Consuming food can be as simple as trying to get control of the situation or craving something which provides instant taste to your taste buds.
However, stress eating can go way beyond that, and you might need to consult a mental health professional as soon as possible.
Find yourself getting addicted to caffeine
Caffeine addiction intervenes with sleep and focuses cycles. Drinking coffee at night or even in the afternoon can cause blood sugar to balance and craving for foods with strong flavors. Drinking coffee more than two times a day should be avoided even if your coffee drinks are made light. You should try to have a cup of coffee in the morning, but never after early evening.
Consuming alcohol
Alcohol has a similar, if not stronger, effect on sleeping and focus patterns. Unless you feel her particularly over, you will find yourself resisting sleep and giving in to eating mindlessly. Consumption of alcohol is also what makes an individual crave more sugar.
Suffer from insomnia or related conditions
By this time, you must have noticed a direct connection between late-night cravings and lack of sleep. When our body is immersed in slumber, we naturally can live without eating for the entire duration of our sleep, which is around or more than seven hours.
But a person awake during this time will find it almost impossible to go without eating anything for 7 entire hours.
Why eating late at night is considered bad?
At this point, you must be thinking, is late-night eating badly?
Well, Late night food is usually considered harmful to human health. Many different things happen inside your body when you continue to consume late night food.
Lack of sleep
Our body is trained evolutionarily to consider food intake as an optimum condition to spike energy levels. This means for a short while after consuming food; you will feel more energetic even though the digestion process is not complete yet.
Soon after this spike, you will feel doubly drowsy and need to rest. But when you consume small amounts of snacks over a long period, you might feel no reason to sleep.
Acid reflux
Late night food disrupts our eating and digesting cycles leading to acid reflux. Acid reflux upsets the stomach and can develop ulcers or cirrhosis problems over long periods. It also changes how your body uses water and slows your daily metabolism.
Prolonged acid reflux has an effect on the nervous system as well as the pH of your mouth, causing difficult teeth conditions. Besides, the lack of proper nutrition and increased acid in your body can lead to improper dietary routines.
Increased appetite
Late night food contributes to an increased appetite throughout the day. By snacking late, you are increasing your chances of snacking throughout the next day. It is much better to have fulfilling meals 3 to 4 times a day rather than mindlessly snacking every two hours.
Our body produces the hormone ghrelin, which is naturally trained to reduce hunger during certain times of the day. Hunger and an empty stomach are not the same things. This is why it is possible to keep feeling hungry when your stomach is full.
Improper digestion
Too much, and unhealthy food means you cannot digest what you are eating. This will lead to a decreased growth rate of your body. If you think as an adult you no longer need to grow; you will be wrong.
Growth also refers to repairing the wear and tear of our body and, at the same time, maintaining healthy skin and hair. Improper digestion also means you will automatically put on weight when your metabolism slows down.
Blood sugar conditions
Improper blood sugar conditions can be used to answer your question of whether or not is eating at night bad for you. Improper blood sugar conditions are the cause of so many different subsequent diseases, some of which are incurable.
The good news is that this fiddle condition can easily be prevented by fixing our food choices with healthy alternatives.
Increased aging cycles
Our body is structured to maintain a biological clock. Combine this biological clock with its lack, and add to its stunted growth with improper digestion. This means our body will follow a quicker aging process as it no longer has a correct notion of what time it is.
This will also become more visible in our blood sugar levels and decrease dermatological health. A good routine is essential to maintaining a youthful body.
Slower metabolism
Is it bad to eat late at night? One of the prime reasons this is so is a slower rate of metabolism. Slow metabolism comes from lack of sleep, which means, in turn, that you can only be less productive throughout the next day.
This also means your body is not undergoing its repair functions or digestion functions properly. This is why a good diet and routine contribute to more productivity.
What food should you avoid if you want to eat late at night?
There are some which do not perform well as late-night food, while there are others that can contribute as a healthy alternative till the time you can successfully shelve this habit.
Some food that you should definitely switch out include
- Caffeine and related derivatives
- Salty and oily foods
- Food that provides instant sugar in its artificial form
- Alcohol and alcoholic beverages
- Spicy and fast foods have little to no nutritional value and are designed for quick melting in your mouth.
- Cheese and food that contain cheese
- Cookies or other baked goods
- Red meat
7 best healthy late-night food
Let us now talk about those top 7 picks of ours for late night food options which we will not stop you from having. Here are the 7 best late-night foods, which will keep your health intact.
1. Hummus
How much is one of the simplest and most non-threatening food options ever-present? They contribute to providing anti-aging nutrients to your body while also calming it down after a day of hard work. They do not disturb sleep cycles and help you feel full in a little while.
2. Fruits
Natural sugars with high fiber content are the best food options when you are craving something to give you energy during a sleepless night or one of stressful work. Fruits are exactly that. The best fruits to have during a late-night craving are berries, apples, bananas, and kiwis.
3. Fatty fish
Fatty fish is a great choice when you need something feeling and actually nutritious during nighttime. They contain healthy Omega 3 fatty acids and anti-inflammatory and antioxidant agents. This chemical is great for the brain’s functioning and helps it retain its biological and focus cycles.
4. Yogurt
Yogurt is a good late-night snack for both kids and adults. It provides natural sugars and a healthy dose of calcium without anything which might affect your sleep cycle. In fact, it comes down your muscles and facilitates deeper breathing. If you are in the middle of snacking on cookies and ice cream at night, you can switch it with this healthy alternative.
5. Honey tea
In contrast, coffee tea is actually something that helps during a sleepless bout. Honey tea and chamomile tea are some of the most popular nighttime beverages with which you can switch your alcohol or coffee needs. Other light tea-like beverages you can use as a mild tranquilizer are decaf green tea, Rose tea, and lemon balm tea.
6. Nuts and seeds
Great late night foods that make you fool instantly and add valuable nutrients to your dietary routine are nuts and seeds. Nuts like pistachio, almond, and cashew and seeds like red beans, black beans, and sprouts can be prepared in small amounts and non-spicy dishes to be consumed at night.
7. Protein smoothie
Remember the time we talk about protein deficiency as one of the major factors which lead to late-night snacking?
Prepare yourself with a protein smoothie before going to bed. It is an anti-aging miracle as it will help your body rejuvenate while you sleep, which is a major process that goes on during slumber. If you are someone who works out, you can use Protein powder for this smoothie, but otherwise, you can make your own homemade variation of protein powders for use.
Conclusion
Is it bad to eat late at night? Not with these amazing late night food alternatives! However, as someone struggling with sleep routines, you should remember that your main focus to get back to a productive lifestyle is good sleep and a timely waking hour.
Let the snacks you eat at night help you in this process instead of hindering them. It takes some time in returning to a healthy routine, and you must be patient throughout the process.
