For those who need to lose weight or at least not get fat, caring for food is a very important task. And this does not refer only to what you eat during everyday meals, but also to the times when food is consumed.
For example, do you know what to eat before bed to lose weight? Are there special rules or can we make any kind of meal before we go to bed so we do not get fat?
The importance of sleep
When we talk about what to eat before bed to lose weight, we must not talk about the need to not consume food that can disturb the quality of sleep, since it also affects weight.
The Harvard School of Public Health explains that in addition to disrupting energy and productivity, poor sleep is also associated with increased waist size.
According to the report, women who sleep less than seven hours a night are at greater risk of suffering significant weight gain than those who sleep at least seven hours each night.
It is due to the fact that sleep deprivation leaves the person exhausted, making him or her unmotivated for healthy eating and physical exercise, or because lack of sleep can slow down metabolism and, for Consequently, it also slows down the process of burning calories and fats in the body.
In addition, nutritionist Jill Corleone warned that a bad night sleep disrupts the hormones that control the appetite, which can make the person more hungry.
That is if you already know that certain food disrupts your sleep, nothing to consume before bed.
The Dinner
The ideal is to spread calorie consumption throughout the day, do not overeat in the late afternoon and feed on moderate portions of lean protein, vegetables and whole grains in the evening meal.
Excess sugar, refined grains, and saturated fats should be avoided. These can hinder efforts to lose weight both in the daytime and at night.
The evening meal may include, for example, grilled steak, stewed asparagus, and wild rice . Other menu suggestions include: a moderate portion of whole-grain pasta with marinara sauce, broccoli, and grilled turkey meat or grilled salmon with pumpkin and green salad.
A dinner with fewer refined carbohydrates and less fats will make your hormones work better at night time, in addition to contributing in a general way to your diet.
The Evening Snack
According to nutritionist Jill Corleone, although it is not exactly wrong to eat something before going to bed, there is a concern that late night snacks lead to unhealthy food choices and excess calorie consumption.
On the other hand, she also explained that if planned, this evening snack can contribute to weight loss by preventing people from eating uncontrolled late at night or overeating at breakfast the next day.
Corleone also recommends that the snack made before going to sleep has a maximum of 200 calories and is composed of fibers and proteins, which help control hunger. According to the nutritionist, the fibers slow down digestion, causing the body to remain satisfied for longer.
In relation to proteins, she explained that it is not known exactly how they help control appetite, but that a 2005 article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition stated that the nutrient affects the hormones that regulate hunger.
How Long Should You Eat Before You Go to Sleep?
The nutritionist also gave some suggestions of snack menus that she considers appropriate to eat before going to bed. The following list gives examples of what to eat before bed to lose weight, based on Corleone’s recommendations:
- 170 g of zero Greek yogurt with cup of strawberries cut in half – total of approximately 140 calories; 14.3 g of proteins and 3 g of fibers;
- 1 small apple with 1 ½ tablespoons of whole-grain peanut paste – total about 188.5 calories; 6.45 g of proteins and 4.3 g of fibers;
- 1 cup carrots cut with ¼ cup of homus – total of around 160.7 calories; 4.2 g proteins and 6 g fibers;
- ¾ cup whole-grain cereal with 200 ml of skim milk – total about 165 calories; 10 g of proteins and 4 g of fibers.
The nutritional values presented are an estimate, however, there may be variations according to the chosen brand of food products.
For those who work during the night
It’s really hard not to eat, is not it? For people who work night shift and need to lose weight, the tip is to prepare kettles with healthy meals and snacks and take them to the service.
For cases of an eight-hour shift in the evening, it is advisable to treat the workload as it does during the day and to eat a healthy meal at the beginning of the shift, to have another healthy meal at work, and to plan more one to two snacks, equally healthy.
The pre-work meal may have a combination of lean proteins like fish, eggs, poultry or white meats like poultry, many fresh vegetables and a small portion of whole grains. Other options given are: sweet peppers and whole-grain toast or grilled fish, sweet potatoes and spinach.
For snacks, you can choose fresh fruits, natural low-fat yogurt, cottage cheese, 30 g raw nuts or small pieces of vegetables. Already for the other meal during the daytime, a can of tuna in water, brown bread and green salad or ½ cup of brown rice with sauteed tofu.
There is no one rule that applies to all people
However, what to eat before bed to lose weight varies from person to person. As explained to a personal trainer and professional chef as studies focused on the area of nutrition, Andrea Cespedes, people feed at different times, according to their schedules of work, their appetites, their routines of physical exercise and their waking hours – logo, there is no meal schedule that works for all people.
Cespedes also clarified that determining a time to stop eating can be harmful not to get fat. She brought the example of a person who has established that she can only eat until 7 pm, but she needs to work until later and she does not eat.
The chef added that if the person arrives around 8:00 pm at home and skips dinner because they have already passed their eating schedule, they may become very hungry at breakfast the next day and overeat.
Instead of doing this and encouraging the body to get out of control because of hunger, Cespedes advises you to have a healthy meal with whole foods.
Knowing that there is no rule that applies to the characteristics, needs, and routines of all people, the idea is to count on the support of a good nutritionist during the weight loss process to understand what to eat before bed to lose weight, in addition to all the other meals of the day.
He is the professional trained to evaluate and determine a type of diet that is ideal for achieving the goals, while not hampering the routine of the patient and neither harming his health.
Even because the suggestions that we pass here are examples of what can work, but we can not guarantee that they will really work for you.
