Healthy night snacks

Late night cravings

There are several things that cause the late night cravings to eat that many people struggle to avoid.

Sometimes it is a learned behavior, like when a child is rewarded for doing something good at night, like finishing homework in time. Sometimes, people soothe themselves after a hard day of work with an unhealthy snack before bed.

Other times the cravings have to do with hormonal issues. There are hormones in the body that help to control the appetite. Gherelin makes a person want to eat while leptin tells the brain that the appetite has been appeased.

Sometimes, like when a person does not get enough sleep, these hormones are a little out of control. Estrogen can also play a role in making people want to eat more.

There are also environmental factors that can lead to late night cravings.

A lot of times people will get hungry or crave a soda just by seeing an advertisement of a fast food restaurant on television at night while they are enjoying their favorite shows or watching the news.

Sometimes passing by a bakery and smelling the bread that is being prepared can make a person hungry.

Cravings come at night because it is the time to relax for many people. A lot of people like to relax and enjoy a night by themselves in peace and quite with some comfort food that they love, because it will help the body to relax itself.

However, there are healthy snacks that people can eat at night when they really cannot say “no” to these late night cravings. Healthy Late Night Snacks

A good and simple late night snack can be to have a bowl of cereal with low fat milk. Apples with peanut butter are a good idea and they are very friendly to the stomach to, which is good, because they will not keep you up all night.

It is important not too consume anything with caffeine in the late night hours, because it will be keeping the person up all night and make them sleep poorly.

Instead of eating a regular candy bar, it is a good idea to have a light chocolate drink with a little bit of sugar. Ice cream needs to be avoided as well because the stomach does not have that much time to digest food before going to sleep.

A cup of non-fat yogurt is a good alternative. Dried fruits like sweet prunes are also a good nighttime snack because they have a lot of fiber, potassium and magnesium.