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A Guide to Aid Your Late Night Snack Ritual

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(@prognenxusa)

Posted : 08/05/2024 10:53 pm

There is all kinds of advice urging people to avoid the temptation to eat late night snacks, and some of this advice is good. For the most part, however, the general taboo status of late night snacking is out of date. At face value, the logic of limiting caloric intake to the hours when youre most active appears valid. Thats because its based on thinking that the earlier you consume calories, the longer you have to burn them off before reloading. It makes basic sense, especially if youve got some radical weight-loss goals in your sights. There is also research that suggests people who eat during their more sedentary hours of the day, like after 8:00 pm, burn fewer calories digesting the meal throughout the night. And, Its also true that a poorly chosen bedtime snack can spike your insulin, causing you to store more of those calories as fat. But those facts apply mainly to a broad and general population sample. People who follow regular fitness routines and who pay at least some attention to balancing their macronutrients require a different set of dietary guidelines. Regular exercise trains your body to use insulin more efficiently, according to the Journal of Applied Physiology.1 And if youre exercising to build muscle, then a balanced and well-timed healthy snack before bed will help your body maintain an anabolic state throughout the night. If youre in the first category, evening snacks are fine as long as you stick to healthy snacks that fit your macros. If youre in the second category, a healthy late night snack may give your bodys nighttime recovery process an added boost. But whichever category youre in, here are some details to help you figure out whether (and what) you should eat past 8:00 pm.

Late Night Snacks Support Both Muscle Building and Weight Loss Goals

If youre working toward weight loss goals, then late-night snacking can actually be the right way to go. Another study conducted by Florida State University5 found that healthy, physically active college-aged men who eat a snack of protein and/or carbs a few minutes before bed showed higher resting energy expenditure (REE) the next morning compared to a control group. If your fitness goals involve heavy resistance training because youre trying to build lean muscle, then late night snacks will help with that too. The Journal of Nutrition6 reports that late night snacks containing 27.5 grams of protein, 15 grams of carbohydrates, and .01 grams of fat generate superior increases in muscle mass and strength over the course of a 12-week resistance training program, when compared to a control group.

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