Ask the Expert: When Should I Stop Eating at Night?
Recently, the media branded the "Don't Eat Before Bedtime" rule as a
myth. As usual, they've taken a complex topic, distilled it down to a
catchy headline, and gotten it completely wrong. The correct answer is
much more nuanced.
The short answer is that sometimes it's okay to eat
before bed, but mostly, it's probably a bad idea.
The old thinking was that when you ate before bed, your body would be
more prone to store food as adipose tissue—in other words, as fat. This
might be an oversimplification, but current research indicates there's
truth to this supposed myth. A 2009 Northwestern University study
separated mice into two groups and fed them both high-fat diets. They
allowed half the mice to eat at night, which happens to be the normal
feeding time for the nocturnal rodents. The other group ate during the
day, when they'd normally be sleeping. By the end of the study, the
night eaters had a 20% weight increase and the day eaters weight went up
48%.(1)
The researchers credited the weight gain to a domino effect that
began with the disruption of circadian rhythms (the biological clock
that indicates what your body needs and when it needs it every 24
hours). Knocking these rhythms out of whack caused an imbalance of
leptin—a satiety-regulating hormone that's heavily influenced by the
amount you sleep.
In 2011, Northwestern published another study that further supported
the results of the first. This one tracked 52 human subjects over a
week. The results indicated that "caloric intake after 8:00 PM may
increase the risk of obesity, independent of sleep timing and duration."(2)
While neither of these studies is conclusive (one wasn't on human
subjects, and the other worked with a limited sample size), they're both
compelling.
That
said, there are a couple times when eating before bed is okay. If
you're trying to build muscle, casein protein (found in dairy but
available in pure, powdered form) before bed might be worth trying.
According to a study in the August 2012 issue of the Journal of Medicine
& Science in Sports & Exercise, men who strength-trained for an
hour, consumed 40 grams of casein, and then hit the sack experienced a
22% rise in amino acid circulation for the full 7.5 hours of sleep. In
other words, the protocol gave their muscles better access to the
building blocks they need to recover and grow.(3)
Also, consider those hectic days when you just haven't had time to
eat during the day. (Not ideal, but we don't live in an ideal world.)
Add to this the hard workout you did. In these situations, your priority
should probably be to replenish lost nutrients such as electrolytes and
make sure your body has all the protein (among other things) it needs
for recovery. You don't need a four-course dinner, but a light, balanced
meal would be to your benefit.
Finally, there's the psychological factor to consider. Last night, my
8-year-old said she couldn't sleep because she was hungry. I chopped
her up an apple. We chatted as she ate half of it. Then, she shuffled
off to bed and slept just fine, circadian rhythms be darned. We all have
an inner 8-year-old, so sometimes, you're going to find it easier to
sleep with a little somethin'-somethin' in your tummy. I wouldn't
suggest institutionalizing the nighttime snack, but if you need the
occasional piece of fruit or air-popped popcorn to detangle your nerves
and send you off to dreamland, it's not the end of the world.
In general, though, here's what I recommend: If you're trying to lose
weight, stack the deck in your favor and go to bed on a relatively
empty stomach. You can follow the 8 PM rule of the second study or, if
that's just not going to work with your schedule, then avoid eating
within 3 hours of going to bed. Or, if you're trying to build mass,
supplement with casein before bedtime.
The "Ask the Expert" Mailbag
Thanks for all your letters regarding our Ask the Expert debut. As it
turns out, we left out one small detail regarding how to eat
pre-workout, so we asked Steve Edwards to follow up. Take it away,
Steve!
"What should I eat if I work out first
thing in the morning? I eat several small meals throughout the day, but
when I work out first thing in the AM, it has been hours since my last
meal." —David Akers
You're not alone. I got a lot of similar questions. I can't believe I
forgot to cover it. Morning eating is tricky because your body can
store glycogen overnight so you may not need to eat anything at all—just
drink water. However, when your diet is lean and you're training hard
(a very common scenario for Beachbody-ers) you can use up all of your
glycogen for the previous day's recovery, leaving your tank empty when
you wake up. Here is our standard recommendation for this situation.
Try eating a banana (or half, depending on your size) or a half serving of Results and Recovery Formula®
in the morning just before your workout. If you feel better during your
workout, especially near the end, you've figured out that you're
running out of glycogen. If this is the case you can do one of two
things: keep eating the banana or something similar (about 100 calories
of mostly carbs) or add a serving of carbohydrates (rice, sweet potato,
etc.) to your evening meal. Both should accomplish the same thing.
When your workout is over, you've burned through your glycogen and
want to replenish it, which means either Results and Recovery Formula
for breakfast or a meal that's mainly carbs with a little protein, like
fruit with
yogurt or or oatmeal with protein powder and berries. Shakeology is also another great option for a post workout meal. It has all the nutnutrition figured out for you. It leaves you with energy and feeling satisfied.
For me the late night snacking is my worst feature! So here are my tips:
1. close off the kitchen. It's closed for business. I get busy with my kids, go in another room and even take it so far as to watch TV upstairs.
2. I drink green tea to stave off hunger.
3. I save my shakeology for my late night snack to curb that sugar craving.
4. I make egg whites and salsa if I need food!
I dig into pinterest and find my fitness motivation and support from my Beachbody community!!!!
Article from www.teambeachbody.com/melaniemitro
Labels: Beachbody, Eating before bed, results and recovery formula., Shakeology