At night after dinner, the worst thing you can do is eat a large portion of processed carbs or sugar, because it causes your blood sugar to spike and then crash through the night.
You’ll wake up feeling sluggish, tired or grumpy in the morning. Even worse, you may wake up craving sugary breakfast foods. Snacks to rethink is your chocolate while watching Netflix, dessert after dinner or a bag of flavoured chips or popcorn, coated with a chemical shit storm (aka the flavouring!).
Apart from the day-after effects of nighttime snacking, nighttime snacking with sugary or highly refined carb foods is a surefire way to disrupt sound sleep and can lead to weight gain.
In an ideal scenario, it’s best to stop eating after dinner, ideally by 7pm and at least 2 hours before you go to bed.
If you have a long history of late night eating, it can be hard to kick the habit. Nobody likes to go to bed hungry, so until your body is used to your new routine, you can start with replacing your regular go-to after dinner snacks with these healthy alternatives.
Remember to keep portion sizes small – you’ve just eaten dinner so you shouldn’t be hungry!
- Chocolate Avocado Pudding – see recipe below
- Banana and Peanut Butter Smoothie – recipe below
- Boiled edamame with salt
- Veggie slices and almond butter
- Drink herbal teas.
Chocolate Avocado Pudding
Ingredients
2 ripe avocados, peeled and pitted (must be ripe)
¼ cup raw cacao or cocoa powder
¼ cup almond milk, unsweetened
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon stevia
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a high-powered blender and blend until smooth. Add more liquid if necessary to get the desired consistency.
Banana Peanut Butter Smoothie
Ingredients
1 large ripe banana
1/2 cup almond milk unsweetened
1.5 tablespoons of natural unsweetened peanut butter
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a high-powered blender and process until smooth. Top with flaked coconut (unsweetened) or additional cinnamon for extra blood sugar balancing effects.
