These snack choices before bed have caution written all over them!
If your stomach is grumble-city before bedtime, don’t deny yourself a little something to ease those hunger pangs! Just be wise about your snack choices, for choosing the wrong foods can be detrimental to your healthy lifestyle. For example, eating granola before bed can trigger nightmares, while citrus might make you wake up needing the bathroom in the middle of the night! Tempting as it may be to reach for the nearest enticing treat, resist these 7 Foods to Never Eat Before Bed!
Why You Shouldn’t Eat Granola Before Bed: 7 Snacks to Avoid at Bedtime
1. Citrus Fruits
Half a grapefruit or a few slices of orange sound like responsible late night snacks, but they have invisible red flags all over them. The acids in these fruits can interfere with your nighttime digestion, especially when lying horizontally. Citrus also acts as a diuretic, meaning you’ll have to make multiple bathroom trips at night, ultimately disrupting your precious beauty rest.
2. Red Meat
Tempted to carve yourself a sliver of that leftover steak waiting for you patiently in the fridge? Resist the pull! Meat, especially fatty cuts of red meat, take your body a long time to digest. This means your stomach will be doing flips when you’re ready to settle down and get your snooze on. Reach for a leaner protein to calm your hunger, like plain Greek yogurt or deli-sliced turkey.
3. Ice Cream
Although a few spoonfuls of ice cream might taste like pure bliss before bed, this indulgent treat will force your stomach into overdrive trying to digest the abundance of fats and carbs while you’re inactive. Late night ice cream sends your blood sugar levels up and down – an instability guaranteed to disrupt your sleep. Your body will store the energy from the ice cream instead of using it. Avoid this temptation before catching some zzzs or risk packing on pounds!
4. Sugary Cereal
There’s a reason breakfast is meant for the morning! Although a quick bowl of those fun, frosted, colorful kid cereals might calm your cravings short-term, these breakfast cereals are chock-full of sugar – sometimes even more than a candy bar! They’re also high-glycemic, meaning they provide your body with immediate energy that will be stored as fat if you’re inactive after eating. Cereal or granola before bed is never a great choice.
5. Pasta
Pasta might make a great pre-workout food on a hectic day, but fight the urge to consume this food before bed! Pasta contains carbs which your body interprets as energy and, as a result, your body anticipates physical movement. You’re not exerting much energy when you settle down to sleep! Once again, your system will store the carbs and ultimately convert them into fat. Yikes!
6. Granola Bars
A perfect go-to snack when on the move, sugary, high-glycemic granola bars are a far cry from perfection when it’s time to settle down—in fact, we recommend you never eat granola before bed (yes, even in bar form). Granola bars serve as an effective pick-me-up before undertaking anything aerobic, but research shows that foods high in sugar trigger nightmarish brain waves. Sugary foods also lower your levels of serotonin, a calming chemical in the brain. Unwrap that bar of chewy goodness as an afternoon snack, not before hitting the pillow!
7. Spicy Food
If you’re aiming for quality rest tonight, popping something spicy in your mouth before bed is a surefire way to undermine your goal. Spicy foods move through the digestive system quickly, leading to gassiness and bloating. The zest can also prompt heartburn and acid reflux, disturbing your sleep and irritating you throughout the night. Instead, make yourself a small egg-white omelet to calm your hunger. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper to taste. The protein in this light meal will satiate you without disturbing your slumber.
If you’re having trouble sleeping, and are unsure of who or what the culprit is, take a look at 5 Things That Keep You From Getting Your Zzzzs and solve your issues with 9 Tips To Get Better Sleep. If you want recipes that will cure all your late-night snack cravings, Skinny Ms. is here to help! Look into 15 Clean-Eating Late Night Snacks.
Enjoyed this post? Discover more:
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- Homemade Breakfast Cereal with Nuts and Honey
- Easy Crunch Granola Cereal Recipe
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