Ever start craving naughty foods late at
night and feel like you simply cannot go to sleep until you consume them? I
know this feeling very well and have trained my body to change these habits due
to my early morning, late night schedule. Below are some strategies for dealing
with these natural cravings for sweet, salty & starchy foods that your body
is programmed to desire at night!
1. Prepare, Prepare, Prepare
I know that it can be difficult to find
time to eat during your busy day, especially if you are relying on a takeaway
lunch and vending machine snacks. Get up a few minutes earlier than usual each
morning (or stay up a few more minutes at night) to prepare snacks that you
think you will need for your working day. Pack leftover dinner, fresh fruit or
cut up carrot, celery, zucchini and/or cucumber sticks. One of my favourite
snacks at work is a hard boiled egg, as it is a meal in itself. Don't have a
fridge at work or travel in your car during the day? Throw some mixed nuts and
dried fruit into a small container or make your own goodie balls using these
ingredients for a tasty, filling & healthy on-the-go snack. My rule is to
always pack more snacks that I think I could ever possibly eat, that way you do
not run the risk of running out of food and being tempted to buy crap. You'll
also snack a lot during the day, which will decrease your appetite for dinner
and late night feasting. And I do not want to hear that you don't have time to
prepare snacks; its a poor excuse! I wake up at 4:30am for work every day and
usually do not get home from work or finish work until 9pm and I find the time,
so you can too! All it requires is an attitude shift and perhaps a 10 minute
sacrifice of extra sleep.
2. Eat the majority of your calories
before 7pm
Do you recall this saying; 'Eat breakfast
like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper'? Truer words were
never spoken. Go large at breakfast and lunch. I try to eat my main meal around
12pm every day, as I know that if I eat after 1 or 2pm I will not be touching
any more food until at least 7 or 8pm. Fill your body with lots of good,
healthy food during the day so when you crash at home at night you are less
likely to try to 'catch up with calories' and consume the bulk of your daily kilojoules
then.
3. The later the dinner, the lighter the
meal
This is something I struggled with for a
long time, as I often do not get home from work until 9pm. What I finally
realised was that eating heavy, carbohydrate-rich dinners late at night was not
only leading to weight gain, it also meant that I woke up for work the next
morning not hungry and skipping breakfast (the most important meal of the
day!). As you can see, this can lead to a rather vicious weekly cycle. Nowadays
when I get home late at night, I cook up an omelette or a filling, yet light
salad. A light piece of fish like salmon or a tin of tuna will also go down
nicely after 7pm. This does not mean that I never indulge in pasta or rice or
noodles; I just pick my timing and usually eat these meals on the weekend at
around 5 or 6pm so they have plenty of time to digest. This also means that I
look forward to these meals and think of them as a 'special treat'.
4. Use your freezer
I'll admit that myself and my fiancé are
quite big eaters so we often do not have any of our meals left over to freeze!
However, if it was just myself at home I would definitely utilise my freezer as
a means to prevent late night dinner blowouts. Freezing a healthy meal you have
made yourself is a much better scenario than coming home starving to an empty
fridge and reaching for a convenient bag of chips or ordering oily takeaway.
Try to cook an extra serving or two of what you make for dinner on Sunday or
Monday and you will be set for half of that week. Remember to freeze individual
serves so you eat a small portion size and are not tempted to eat more than one
serving.
5. Keep your pantry & fridge well
stocked
I may not often follow point 4 above, but
I certainly keep my pantry filled to the brim. My pantry looks like I am
getting ready to hibernate for winter. I always keep tinned beans, corn &
rice crackers, nuts, dried fruit and healthy tinned soups on hand. My fridge is
constantly bursting at the seams with eggs, fresh fruit & vegetables, other
salad ingredients and leftovers from the day before. I overstock my kitchen
with supplies for a few reasons; the most prevalent to this discussion being
that I feel very guilty if I have to throw anything away at the end of the
week, therefore I am constantly making healthy meals to use up all my
produce!
Emily's 5 top late-night dinners
1. An omelette with fresh tomato, onion
& herbs.
2. A salad with hard-boiled eggs, beans
and balsamic vinegar
3. A baked sweet potato stuffed with
beans, corn & chicken
4. Lentil salad, featuring brown lentils,
diced tomatoes & cucumbers, parsley with a garlic, lemon & lime juice
5. A filling smoothie with a protein
supplement
x Emily
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