What you eat at the end of
the day - and when you eat it - can have a big impact on your weight.
Eat the right thing, at the right time, and you'll actually lose weight
while you sleep.
Eat the wrong thing at the wrong time and you can plan on waking up
with a little more body fat in the morning.
Remember:
- Eating too much food, especially carbohydrates, late at night increases
your body fat stores
- Eating high-glycemic carbs (pasta, potatoes, white rice, sugar,
etc.) right before bed will spike your insulin levels and blunt nighttime
Human Growth Hormone (HGH) production.
- That's very bad because about 80% of this fat-burning, muscle-building
"super hormone" is released during sleep.
- If you fast for 11 hours (8 PM to 7 am for instance) your body
will begin burning significant amounts of fat around the 5th hour
(1 am) and continue to do so until you wake up.
Here are a few simple tips to make sure you get the most (or the least,
depending on how you look at it) from your last meal of the day:
- Eat frequently throughout the day - small, healthy meals and snacks
spaced about 3 hours apart - to minimize hunger cravings at night
- Eat about 3 hours before going to bed - you'll have some time to
burn off calories but you probably won't get too hungry before going
to sleep
- Your last meal should consist mainly of a lean protein (like baked
chicken breast) and low-calorie, fibrous carbohydrates (veggies and
fruits) - avoid all starchy carbs close to bedtime (breads, pastas,
rice, potatoes, etc.)
- If you're currently strength training to build muscle (as you should
be!), a great end-of-the-day meal option is low-fat cottage cheese
(full of slowly-digested casein protein) with no-sugar-added fresh
or canned fruit (peaches are delicious).
- If, like many of us, you get big-time carb cravings right before
bed.....eat some carbs! Just make sure they're the high-fiber, low-glycemic
kind: apples, berries, peaches, plums, bran cereal, fresh vegetables,
vegetable juice, etc.
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