5 Foods to Avoid Before Bed

Written By RomyRome

October 11th, 2011

Many people have a hard time understanding the concept of metabolism and how it works the same whether you’re trying to lose fat or pack on some muscle. Calories in > Calories out = Weight Gain; Calories in < Calories out = Weight Loss. If this simple formula can be learned by everyone, people would start to look better instantly. A big setback in your fitness goals may be due to the excess of calories that you may ingest right before bedtime. Eating too many calories, especially empty sugar calories before bed is horrible because not only does your metabolism almost completely shut off during sleep, the excess calories are messing up your hormone production and secretion. I will help you learn what not to have a few hours before your 7-10 hour fast and offer some healthy alternatives.

5 Foods To Avoid Before Bed

PASTA

Now everyone in the fitness world has heard carbohydrates at night can ruin your fat loss dreams. Think of the extra things (FAT!) added to pastas that also are not the best things to eat: high amounts of cheese, bacon bits, lots of oil, creamy sauces, and the list goes on. These carbs at night will cause an increase in your insulin production. Pasta is a calorie dense source of carbohydrates that are good during the day like after a workout when you need to replenish your muscles but not in the hours before you sleep.

Instead you can try to eat spaghetti squash. Now before you toss this idea out the window pay close attention. This is a vegetable that is in long strands similar to the texture of spaghetti. A benefit of this is that it contains one-third of the calories found in pasta and it only has about 12g of carbs per serving and some of the protein you want before bed. You can cook it with vegetables and a low-fat cheese and sliced deli turkey, containing a sleep promoting amino acid called tryptophan. Try this great recipe

CHOCOLATE

Chocolate is one of the worst foods you can have at night. It contains a lot of sugar, fat, and also caffeine. The caffeine is already an indicator why it is bad for you at night, it will keep you awake and you need your sleep for your body to recover. The less sleep you get each night, the higher your cortisol levels will be. Cortisol is a catabolic (muscle breaking) hormone that will be counterproductive to your goals.

Instead try this recipe to satisfy your chocolate cravings: Protein chocolate brownies

Get 1 Scoop of Rocky Road Flavored Whey Isolate and mix it in a bowl with 1 egg white, and 1tbsp of pure ground cinnamon and put it in your microwave for 1:30 seconds. This will give you your protein and the chocolate flavor you want without the excess fat calories and caffeine so you can have a good night’s sleep.