Training & Nutrition - what to eat at night when im hungry

okay, i watched opera one time, and she and her trainer suggested to set a cut off time for eating at night. but, most days out the week my last real meal is around 3. at night i get hungry to the point my stomach growls really really loud. when this happens what should i be eating? should i be eating full meals late at night?

You definitely should NOT eat full meals at night. It doesn't do any good to your sleep nor to your digestion. Sleeping just after eating a lot will slow down digestion and possibly lead to indigestion. Also, it will be harder to get to sleep just after eating.

Next, I've heard that the meals eaten at night usually turn to fats. Can someone help me to confirm my point?

Anyway, small meals won't do much harm. What I usually do is to take cereals (I know that's for breakfast) and put some into my mouth, without any milk. Maybe you can try the same. I personally feel it satisfies me.

Special K works.

A bulky salad

A small yogurt

4 glasses of water (this also has the added benifit of additional excerise at 3am).

The thing to remember is you are going to be going into an extended low activity state during sleep so to eat accordingly which would mean to cut back on carbs particularly if your muscle stores are near topped up.At the same time as you lift weights you have to guard against the prolonged catabolic state that can occur if you become too low on carbs or don't have enough protein.Therefore a good late night snack would be a long lasting slowly absorbed protein such as milk based(casein) and some carbs if you are really low on them.Milk or yougurt would provide the casein and carbs plus calcium and L-tryptophan(the amino acid I previous mentioned turkey was also high in)which both help induce sleep.

Oxologic makes some good points.....eating a heavy meal late at night is not advisable for digestion, etc. However, cutting off your daily nutrition in the late afternoon is not wise either. If you stop eating at 3:00 in the afternoon, this means you're planning to go at least 15-16 hours without food......not good.

You didn't say what your nutrition-related goals are....trying to lose weight? If this is the case, it really does come down to calories consumed versus calories spent. In other words, you will gain weight if you eat more calories than your body needs and lose weight if you eat less than you burn. It's not quite right that food will be stored as fat if eaten late at night. As I understand it, if you go to bed with an empty stomach, you will burn fat rather than the recently stored food. That said, you don't have to cut off your eating at 3:00 in the afternoon to have an empty stomach....3 hours before bedtime will do. Also, rigid restrictions (such as stopping eating at 3:00 in the afternoon) sets you up to develop problematic eating patterns such as binge eating -- you are starving yourself, and this makes you vulnerable to bingeing and the potential development of an eating disorder. You want to make wise food choices that give you a lot of bang for your calorie buck. The way to do this is to choose things like complex carbohydrates (whole grains), fruits, and veggies -- These all do a good job of filling you up. 1oldroadie offers good suggestions/examples of this.

Best Regards
Mary Ann

i was always told: if it grows out of the ground then it is healthier for you. nothing like natural vitamins, etc.

i either have a small piece of chicken or a whey protein shake with glutamine and lecithin, keeps me from piggin out on sugary stuff that will keep me awake all night :)

Unless your going to bed at 6, 3 is way to early to be cutting off food. I also found that I have a lot more energy these days now that I eat several times a day. sort of nibble all day long until about 7 at night. And drink lots of water that will trick your stomach into thinking it is full. But you do need to eat something after 3 in the afternoon some of your most active times and be after that time. Again I say watch what so called experts say on diet and weight control I still have found no one that can come up with a study that says proper diet and exercise is not only harmful for you but it doesn't work. So just eat the right amount of calories I do try to adhere to the 40/30/30 rule 40% carb, 30% protein, and 30% fruits and veggies. You folks with special heath situations follow your DOCTORS advice not your physical trainers when it comes to diet.

Originally posted by 1oldRoadie
4 glasses of water (this also has the added benifit of additional excerise at 3am).

Hahaha...

I try not to eat after 4 hour before my bedtime. I don't succeed to often as I usually get hungry shortly before bed. If I am adhering to a strict 'loose weight' diet then I fight the urge. If I am in bulk mode I eat, if I am in average mode...depends on hunger.

Originally posted by killerasp
okay, i watched opera one time, and she and her trainer suggested to set a cut off time for eating at night. but, most days out the week my last real meal is around 3. at night i get hungry to the point my stomach growls really really loud. when this happens what should i be eating? should i be eating full meals late at night?

Hi,

Do you do shift work ? I used to do shift work and had really odd eating habits to cope with it which actually resulted in quite a weight gain. I would crave the worst stuff when I came home after a shift at 1 or 2 AM and ate like crazy.

I then ended up stocking up on a massive amount of fruits and veggies - especially bananas, pears, oranges, and apples. They fill me up the most and I was able to go to sleep pretty easily after satisfying my appetite with something like 2 bananas and an apple.

It may not work for everybody..just a suggestion.

Justen