Midnight snacking on junkfoods

[eLiu]

Is having a midnight snack on some potato chips or other junkfoods particularly unhealthy? (e.g. even moreso than eating some in the afternoon?) Is it supposed to make you feel crappier the next morning or something? I feel like I've heard something to that effect, but I don't remember.

Just curious as to whether I should stop doing this...
-Eric

 

[iamaelephant]

Your metabolism tends to wind down when you sleep, so eating unhealthy food at night is more likely to lead to fat gain. Also most of that junk food is high GI, meaning it will be more readily stored as fat if you don't burn it off. If you want to take good care of yourself, have something that is high in protein like cottage cheese, peanut butter or jerky. Your body can't readily synthesize protein and going 8 hours without any is likely to wear away your muscles. Give yourself a top up before you sleep and you minimise muscle waste.

 

[eLiu]

I see... cool. Looks like I'll put away the chips and get myself some deli meats or something like that.

 

[Mill]

Originally posted by: iamaelephant
Your metabolism tends to wind down when you sleep, so eating unhealthy food at night is more likely to lead to fat gain. Also most of that junk food is high GI, meaning it will be more readily stored as fat if you don't burn it off. If you want to take good care of yourself, have something that is high in protein like cottage cheese, peanut butter or jerky. Your body can't readily synthesize protein and going 8 hours without any is likely to wear away your muscles. Give yourself a top up before you sleep and you minimise muscle waste.

Not quite. Even though your metabolism slows it still doesn't mean you will gain wait. When you eat doesn't really matter in a day. It is what you eat and how often you eat. You use more calories during the day so it makes sense to eat more during the day and reduce your eating as you get closer to bed. However, just because you eat before bed doesn't mean that the calories are turned into fat. Your body can still use them. In the end, it always comes down to calories consumed vs. calories burned.

If you burn 3500 calories during the day and eat 2800, a 250-350 calorie snack before you go to bed will not make you gain weight. The problem with snacking at night is people are tired and they don't cooke something healthy. They go for something with minimal preparation, so it is typically a processed food high in calories.

 

[Mill]

Originally posted by: eLiu
I see... cool. Looks like I'll put away the chips and get myself some deli meats or something like that.

Junk food is junk food. It does not matter when you eat it. It comes down to HOW much you eat it. There's nothing wrong with allowing yourself to have some junk food from time to time (if that's something like you like). Eating 600 calories of crap in the middle of the day is no better than eating 600 calories of junk food at night.

 

[Captante]

Depends on exactly what you eat & how long after you eat it you go to sleep .... not to say that junk food is ever good for you butit is somwhat worse for you to stuff yourself with crapp shortly before bed.

 

[Roguestar]

Drink milk. It's great.

 

[Eeezee]

That depends on whether or not you're about to go to sleep. Eating right before bed = bad

 

[Azraele]

It's junk food. of course it's unhealthy.

If you really need a snack, grab an apple or something.

 

[skace]

If you are really hungry when you go to bed, you may not be spacing out your meals well enough. Instead of eating something right at bed, I'd change your schedule so that you are eating something a few hours before bed and not being as hungry when you go to sleep. You don't want to go to bed starving because you will wake up with very little energy to start your day.