Late night snacking

It’s 10 o’clock in the evening. You had a great workout and you had dinner afterwards. But, you’re still a bit hungry... So, you open the fridge, take something out and eat it. And after that, you take one more thing. I guess this sounds a bit familiar right? Many of us tend to have late night snacks, but there are reasons why people tell you it's better not to eat late in the evening. Studies have shown that the time at which you eat has an influence on your digestion and (indirectly) on your body weight. If your goal is to tone down your body, it’s better not to take that midnight snack. You probably heard before that late night snacking isn’t really good for you, but did you know why?

Late night snacking can have a negative effect on your body due to it not digesting the food right, influencing the fat/food burning process. During daytime, when we are active, our digestive system is active as well. Nutritionists recommend that when you have these late night cravings, you should eat some fruit or veggies instead of a high-carb snack because your body is not capable of digesting it properly during the night while you're sleeping.

The second reasons why late night snacking isn’t recommended is due to its direct relation to sleep. Foods that are high in sugar and fat can disturb your sleeping pattern as your digestive system will keep you awake during the night. Besides, late night snacking might cause some more toilet visits at night that keep you up.

However, we know that there are evenings when we just feel hungry (or worse: hangry) and really want to eat something. Just take something small like fruit, veggies, a cup of hot milk or camomile tea (this tea contains no caffeine and has a soothing and relaxing aroma).

So, we recommend you to eat what is needed to get those cravings calmed down and then go to bed. You’re digestive system will thank you for that and will cooperate on having a good night's sleep.