I always have a late snack. Sometimes I am bad, I eat Fiber One crackers—but I do have cottage cheese, yogurt or almond butter with them.
As I sit here and type this, the time reads 11:06 PM. And you know what? I’m eating.
*Gasp*
What?? Eating after 7 PM?! Yes, I know, I’m breaking the rules.
But frankly, that’s what I do.
When rules don’t make sense to me, I simply choose not to follow them (unless, of course, those “rules” are “laws”…not really into the whole illegal activity thing).
But as far as the whole “no eating after 7” nonsense goes, I break that one just about every day.
And so should you.
Here’s why:
Well, first, let me just say that most general rules of thumb in the fitness world are oversimplifications, and the whole “Don’t eat after X o’clock” is no exception.
The recommendation is based on the idea that metabolism slows in the evening hours as you prepare for bed, and eating during this time should be avoided so as not to have those calories stored as fat.
A good premise, but again, oversimplified.
What we really want to avoid in the evening are foods that give rise to insulin, specifically carbohydrates, and for several reasons.
First, when blood insulin levels rise, fat burning takes a dive and a “storage” environment is created within the body. This is a good thing after exercise or after an overnight fast to allow the body to “refuel”, but not so good when metabolism is falling off in the evening hours.
Secondly, something called insulin sensitivity drops drastically in the evening, which simply means that your body is not as responsive to insulin at night as it is during the day. When insulin sensitivity is low, carbohydrates are easily stored as fat.
Needless to say, we can see why eating carbohydrates late at night isn’t a smart move, but that doesn’t mean we can’t or shouldn’t eat anything.
So, what should you eat to curb late-night cravings and support muscle tissue maintenance as you sleep? Simple: a small meal consisting of mostly slow digesting protein and fibrous green veggies within a couple hours of bed works best.
Animal protein (chicken, fish, beef, etc) are great choices for a late night meal, as is something like cottage cheese. Both digest slowly over time, providing a mild, but steady influx of nutrients to muscle throughout the night, all while not interfering with your insulin levels.
Or maybe I’m just a rebel who doesn’t know what the heck he’s talking about? ;-)
Got a favorite late night meal or snack? Agree? Disagree?
Drop the comments below!
Joel
P.S. Want to up your nutrition IQ even more? Watch this video from my good friend Isabel where she reveals 4 other “healthly” foods that you should NEVER eat, along with her TOP 5 foods for a flat belly:
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my fav is a small shake of milk,vanilla protien,and a tsp of peanut butter .yum
Sorry for my ignorance,,,I’m a little confused. You mentioned Carbs aren’t good late at night. I understand eating a slow digesting animal protein but aren’t fibrous vegetables carbs??? I guess stay away from fruits late at night too because they’re also carbs.
well,i do agree with you,i tried eating carbs at night and protein based fods at night and surely your theory works,no doubt about it but i’m also sure that lots of people don’t crave protein at night-like me…very rarely i get a craving for some cottage cheese or kefir but on most nights right before i get to bed i NEED to get me some chocolate…maybe because i’m a female and maybe because it’s been a 10 years habit in my case but the best i can do about it is try to eat no more than 20g and it has to be 88%dark organic chocolate…and that kind of cravings happen to me only at night…so i let myself get away with it and try to eat no sugary foods during the day…any comment on that? i would be gratefull to hear some-thanks
dora
I agree with the Nuts (Almonds, Walnuts ) and Turkey. Late nights are the worst time for me. I also find I am not starving hungry when I wake up after a late snack
Joel what do you think about chugging a glass of Fibre before eating something late at night? I have found it fills me mostly so I can control portion size and maybe control that Insulin spike.
great tips!!!! but how do you feel about supplements speifically L-Carnitine and Creatine.
Thank you,
CCC
Hi joel,
I am just wondering, about your CYWT manual suggestion of meal time.
Do we really need a prebed protein shake?
What was the reason behind it?
I don’t think muscle loss is that big of a deal (unless we are talking bodybuilding here where it’s about gaining LOTS of muscle). So no harm here.
But sugar and bread/pasta stuff is a def no in the evening for optimal leanness.
I like to eat organic salmon in a green salad or organic turkey at night. I might add a protein shake, but mixed with water only, no milk! I noticed that if I eat carbs at night I gain weight fast! For me, this post is right on the mark!
Good post Joel!
Originally Posted By Joel Marion@Uschi – Re: Fasting for 24 hours. It can be done in the right context w/ the right set-up (it’s even something I’ve used w/ clients), but when you are “fasting” for 12 hours every day at night, it becomes problematic for muscle tissue.
Joel
Not according to Brad Pilon, Joel. This is the author that Uschi spoke of and goes into detail about diet and muscle loss in his books Eat-Stop-Eat and How Much Protein?
By the way, I am not associated with Brad Pilon in any way, except from having bought his books and follow them! He’s very good at cutting through a lot of the BS in this industry.
i never knew this, cheers for this post
Wat about a glass of skimmed milk at night? is it still bad?
And what if I trained 5 hours before bed?? And the post workout meal is the last meal I have? Do I still have to watch out for GI?
I’m definitely a late night eater, I’m also a bit of a night owl, and I do my workouts at night, so I have to eat a snack afterwards. I remember seeing this the first time it went up and thinking “great, so I’m not crazy or screwing myself over!”. Thanks Joel!
Awesome! I love it!
I’m really glad to hear some sense on this.
I sometimes have difficulty getting to sleep, and find that a small protein snack before bed makes a lot of difference.
One of my favorites is a couple of oatcakes with cheese or cod’s roe spread or tuna, etc.
You may not be familiar with oatcakes – they’re a British thing – like crackers made from coarse oat flour; the ones I eat are just oats with a bit of oil and salt, very low GI. A more traditional recipe can be found at the link below, if anyone is interested. They aren’t hard to make.
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usrecipes/oatcakes/index.html
@Seth –
x2…this is what I have every night before bed…and probably the ‘meal’ I look forward to the most!
Very interesting comments Joel
And i would certainly support what you say
I would also be very interested, in light of what you said, what you personally think of Brad Pilon’s Eat Stop Eat program of intermittent fasting for 24hrs and how this doesn’t show any scientific proof of causing muscle loss?
Thanks Joel,
Being a vegetarian, I make a delicious cottage cheese (no salt type) pudding that is simply ‘to live for’ and often have it as a bedtime snack thanks to your advice from earlier chats.
Late night eating sounds good even tho I don’t do it very much. Just wondering if too much prot before bed interupts serotonin production. Cos when I used to do a small prot shake or cottage cheese and PB a few hours before bed I didn’t sleep well at all.
@Alvan –
Alvan, I agree, I just had low-fat chocolate milk last night before I went to bed, but I thought it was a “cheat” food, since yesterday was my cheat day…so now I know it’s not, I’ll have it more often!
Thanks for the tip
Sam
I am happy to read this – I probably still tend to get carbs which I know is not the best choice – but I will try and switch to protein & veggies. :)
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Hey, it’s Joel! So you want to know a little more about me, huh? Well, I’d be happy to oblige :-)
I guess it all started back in 2001 (my freshman year of college) when I was just a “skinny fat” 19-year old kid. At the time, I was spending close to 2 hours a day in the gym (now my workouts last about 30 minutes), and despite my efforts, you’d probably never guess I worked out a day in my life by looking at me...