mini meals and eating at night

[Theresaann]

I was wondering what opinions are out there about eating at night if one is eating several small meals a day. If I stay up past 10 pm, I sometimes get a little hungry. Mostly, if I absolutely HAVE to, I'll eat an apple or a grapefruit. Just wondering if people have experimented with eating something small or nothing after say, 6-7pm, and if they noticed a difference. Thanks!

[glassorion]

I eat fruits at various times day or night! imo dont see a problem with it..

[Nathan Nearing]

I eat meals at night, but I tend to try to keep the cupboards closed half an hour to an hour before bedtime.

[auburnoutlook]

i like protein before bed.

[Guest]

AFAIK, the main thing to keep in mind is to not eat anything for 2-3 hours before you FALL ASLEEP (not just go to bed), since then our metabolism slows down considerably. So if you go to bed at, say, 1am and fall asleep at 2am, it should be fine if you ate something before 11-12pm. It's all relative to when you go to bed and fall asleep. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Tarz]

Say you don’t eat anything after 6-7pm, then go to sleep 10-11pm and get up 6-7am, that’s a long time without food….

 

If you’re hungry then your body is trying to tell you something, and I don’t think depriving yourself of food – until you absolutely have to - is a good idea especially if you are about to go to bed so that it will be several hours until you next eat.

 

I eat late at night, sometimes just snack or sometimes a big bowl of porridge, often very soon before I try to get to sleep. I just listen to my body – if it wants fuel then I’ll feed it, and I won’t attach any significance and read anything into what the time is and the amount of food I want.

[Theresaann]

thanks for responding, everyone. I agree with the high protein before bed. Lately, I've been not eating 2-3 hours before bed, maybe just having herb tea with a little soy cream and stevia. If I get REALLY hungry, I have a small bit of frozen strawberries with rice protein and water in the vitamix or 1/2 and apple with a little peanut butter. I have noticed that if I don't eat after dinner, I seem to lose fat faster.

[veggieprincess]

AFAIK, the main thing to keep in mind is to not eat anything for 2-3 hours before you FALL ASLEEP (not just go to bed), since then our metabolism slows down considerably. So if you go to bed at, say, 1am and fall asleep at 2am, it should be fine if you ate something before 11-12pm. It's all relative to when you go to bed and fall asleep. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

yes, you are right.... eating every 3 WAKING hours should be your goal... thus if you are awake until 1am... and your last meal is at 6pm... this would be bad. Aim for a meal every 3 waking hours, omitting the starchy carbs as your last meal of the day.