Having a regular and healthy lifestyle is quite important for our body’s proper functioning. Providing the body with nutrition, exercise and good sleep is the key to health! When something or the other from these factors fluctuate, you can see harmful alterations in your health and well-being. One such alteration is midnight cravings.
Midnight cravings are cravings you get at the odd hour when you should be actually sleeping. What are the main reasons for this? Is it healthy to eat anything at midnight? What are the healthy options to satisfy such midnight cravings? Let’s find out.
The problem with midnight cravings is that it causes sleep disturbance as you are hungry and can’t sleep. Your blood sugar levels spike up and you feel acidic or heartburn the next day. You start gaining weight which in turn leads to obesity in the long run.
The foods people majorly crave are rather sugar-loaded or spice loaded which would commonly fall into the category of junk food. You rarely have time to make something healthy during midnight and the first thing you can quickly prepare are either instant noodles or a snack on a packet of chips!
How do we know when the cravings are getting serious?
Even the duration or the period of time you have been snacking in the midnights can be an important factor in determining how serious the problem could actually be. For instance, craving food once in a while during the night is normal which indicates you might have been hungry throughout the day. So your body needs food to put you to proper sleep. If you have been craving food at midnight very often, almost every day or every other day, it can indicate an underlying cause. The cause can be something bigger than just hunger pangs. Maybe you need to make some alterations in your lifestyle to stop them.
What causes midnight cravings?
Although there is never one reason for midnight cravings, it can be one of these alone or a combination of all of these.
Poor nutrition intake throughout the day: Maybe you are not eating nutritious food during the day that will help you be full. When you are not satiated you might not purge your hunger and your hands roam in the kitchen at midnight! Try following a proper diet and add more nutritious foods.
Lack of exercise: You not exercising during the day makes you less tired and unable to sleep. When you are unable to sleep you binge! Exercising even promotes healthy eating habits so you wanna try exercising sometimes folks.
Lack of a proper sleep schedule: Maybe you are eating right during the day but not getting enough sleep as you are into watching movies late at night and your body doesn’t know what to do except eat mindlessly. So put your circadian rhythm into play and get enough sleep.
A lot of stress at work: A poor work schedule can lead to stress and often may lead to binge eating or you completely forgetting your meals! When you don’t eat right at work, you are likely to indulge at night! Try managing your stress so this does not happen.
Hormonal imbalances: Now these can be caused due to all the above causes altogether or even any one of those. Solving the problems above will take care of binge eating due to hormonal play very easily.
Lack of satisfaction from breakfast, lunch, and dinner: Oftentimes you may eat nutritious food and healthy meals but never get satisfied. To feel happy 80:20 ratio is the rule, eat 80% nutritious food and you can have 20% of your favourite food items during the day so that you are satisfied and not binge at night. But, moderation is the key!
Although it is not healthy to eat during the midnights as one should be taking care of their diet throughout the day. Having a proper dinner is a must if you need to get out of your midnight cravings. Our body is at rest and in repair mode during the night and when you eat something at that time it goes on to digest that food. The body never gets time to repair and rest and even has sound sleep! You feel tired the next day and get onto the same cycle.
Foods you can have at midnight to purge your cravings: Berries, Nuts, A spoonful of peanut butter, sprout bhel, quinoa salad, peanut salad, skim curd, zucchini noodles, sauteed vegetables, vegetable or paneer cutlets, boiled or scrambled eggs, whey smoothie, Whole grain crackers, Makhanas, Popcorn, Carrots, Roasted gram are always safer options to binge on at midnight. You can even quickly prepare a warm soup that will help you to sleep. Always keep some leftovers during dinners if you know you are going to work late at night and will need something to snack on. A quick chapati wrap from leftover vegetables will help rather than some processed food.
A bonus tip: Have a glass of warm turmeric milk before you go to bed to stop that craving and even enjoy the benefits of great sleep!
Anything that comes out of a packet is a strict no! So it would really help if you remove chocolates, instant noodles, chips, biscuits, brownies, etc from your sight. Never indulge in junk food even if you crave it during the midnight hours.
The writer is a chief nutritionist at Fitza – Your Digital Wellness Buddy.