Thursday, February 14, 2008
Many health-conscious folks worry that eating before bed will lead to the body storing all that food in the form of fat overnight as the metabolism slows down. And, while the metabolism does slow while you sleep, this doesn’t mean you have to go to bed hungry. Dan Kottmann, a specialist in performance nutrition, says many foods can actually be beneficial to eat before bed.
Kottmann emphasizes the need to consume proteins, which digest slowly and can thus keep the body’s metabolism active during your sleeping hours. Kottmann says the best form of protein comes from protein shakes, dairy or eggs. Protein powder for shakes costs around $20 for a two-pound bottle, and the shakes make an easy bedtime snack or a cure for midnight hunger cravings.
Generations of adaptation have programmed our bodies to prepare us for starvation. When our bodies are deprived of food, they feed on muscle to stay energized. However, a pound of muscle can burn as many as 50 calories a day. So, by increasing protein that the body can use to build muscle at night, you are actually helping your body reduce fat in the long run.
Nichole Habashy, Wichita senior, says she recently became more health-conscious when it comes to late-night snaking. While she used to eat popsicles to abate late-night hunger, Habashy now snacks on cottage cheese, another good source of protein.
Kottmann says you should eat about 15 to 20 minutes before bed to give your stomach some time to begin digesting the food. He says you should also not shy away from getting up in the middle of the night to eat something healthy if you are hungry.
Staying away from carbohydrates and fatty foods is also essential to keeping off those extra pounds. These types of food have less value to adding to muscle and thus get stored as fat more easily. Kottmann says trying to remember to eat healthy when drunk could also be a way to minimize the effects of sleeping on a full stomach of beer.
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