But if you approach late-night snacking in the right way, you can avoid packing on the pounds.
First, you need to understand why those 10:00 p.m. cravings can be bad news for your waistline: According to a new study led by McHill published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, eating before bed is associated with a higher amount of body fat.
For the study, McHill and his colleagues looked at 110 people aged 18 to 22, tracking their regular sleep cycles for 30 days and their food intake for seven days. They also tested each participant’s body composition and changes in melatonin, the hormone that makes you feel sleepy, in a lab.
They found that men who had more than 21 percent body fat consumed at least half of their daily calories an hour closer to that onset of sleep-inducing melatonin than leaner men with 5 to 20 percent body fat.
Here’s why that matters for your weight: It all comes down to your individual body clock, or as the researchers call it, your “circadian evening.” This is when levels of melatonin begin to rise in your body.
Your circadian clock is what drives the daily changes in your metabolism. When you eat closer to your bedtime, that internal clock isn't promoting a boost in your metabolism in the same way it does during the day, meaning you'll store those excess calories as fat, rather than burn them off, explains McHill.
For most people, melatonin starts rising about two hours before you normally go to sleep, says McHill. That means if you typically call it a night around 1:00 a.m., you should aim to cut off snacking before 11:00 p.m. If you’re more of an early riser and knock out around 10:00 p.m., you should try to stop eating after 8:00 p.m.
But what if you're genuinely hungry?
In most cases, stopping yourself from snacking really shouldn’t be that big of a deal. “Often, late-night eating is done out of boredom or stress, rather than actual hunger,” says Alissa Rumsey, M.S., R.D., founder of Alissa Rumsey Nutrition and Wellness. “Typically, these calories are extra calories, on top of what someone has already eaten during the rest of the day.”
But going to bed with an empty stomach can be problematic. “If you're actually hungry, you should have a small snack no matter what time it is,” says Rumsey. This will help you sleep more soundly, since you won't wake up starving in the middle of the night.
How do you know when to snack and when to cut yourself off from the kitchen? Use what Rumsey calls “The Carrot Test.” Ask yourself, "If I had some carrots and hummus right now, would that satisfy this feeling?" If the answer is yes, your late-night craving is probably real hunger and you should have a snack.
If the answer is no, and the only thing that will satisfy you is chips, crackers, or dessert, then you're probably just experiencing a crazy craving, rather than true physical hunger, says Rumsey.
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If you need to eat at night, choose foods low in calories with the ingredients for a good night’s sleep, like whole grain crackers with hummus. “Chickpeas contain the amino acid tryptophan, which gets turned into serotonin and converted into melatonin,” explains Rumsey. “The fiber and protein from the chickpeas, plus with the carbohydrates in the crackers, can help you fall asleep while keeping you full.”
Pistachios are another great option, since they contain vitamin B6, “a nutrient that helps convert tryptophan into melatonin,” Rumsey says. “Complex carbohydrates, or those higher in fiber, are a good choice because they release serotonin, which can help you sleep.”
So while you should try to keep snacking to a minimum before bed, you shouldn't force yourself to go to bed hungry, either.
Aim to consume most of your calories earlier in the day, when your metabolism is performing at its peak, says McHill. If you must eat right before you fall asleep, lower-calorie options will be your best bet.
