Sundown Snacking
Do
you binge on chocolates and pizzas to satiate a rumbling stomach post-midnight?
Here are some healthy options that you can choose from
There is a biological reason for
these midnight cravings as well. According to Kiran Dawal, a nutritionist with
Fortis Escorts Hospital, Faridabad, “You usually crave for something to eat
late at night because your body’s sugar level goes down,” and to compensate for
that one tends to consume high fat, high sugar foods.
According to psychologists and
nutritionists, people who have ‘nocturnal eating disorder’ — in which people
wake up and are unable to go back to sleep unless they drink or eat something —
are usually obese, highly stressed and/or have anxiety issues, or are just in
search of comfort food. Those who work late into the night or have an erratic
sleeping cycle would also quite frequently be seen munching a bar of chocolate
or leftover pizza, while poring over their laptops. Dawal even says that people
in the pre-diabetic stage “get these urges to eat something even after they’ve
slept”.
Although, ideally, midnight eating
should be avoided, it’s a habit that is very hard for some to overcome. So,
while opening the refrigerator or cupboard, try and do some mental tabulation
of the calories you’ll be taking in.
A bowl of plain salted popcorn is
one of the healthier options for the night — it’s crunchy, it’s tasty and it’s
just around 25 kcal, says Harshita Dilawri, senior nutritionist with Dr
Shikha’s NutriHealth, a firm that offers healthy dietary advice and options.
Dawal advises breaking up one’s dinner into two parts if someone is certain
they will go foraging for food after the ‘witching hour’. “Keep the dessert for
later...store that cup of pudding you’d generally have at the end of your meal
in the fridge for an extra couple of hours,” she counsels. One may even
consider fruits such as watermelon, papaya or pomegranate (all with high water
content and less than 100 kcal). While looking at packaged foods, one serving
should not be more that 25-30g, should have high fibre content, less than 3-4g
of sugar and not more than 5.6g of protein.
Dilawari also suggests stocking half
a cup of roasted peanuts or channa (100 kcal), 2-3 wheat rusks (90 kcal), or a
snack mix (with popcorn, olive oil, almonds, wasabi peas, rice crackers and
rock salt) for those inclined towards savouries instead of something sweet. For
the latter category, low-cal, high-fibre nutrition bars offer a wonderful
alternative.
Celebrity chef Ranveer Brar, who
hosts the show Snack Attack, on Zee Khana Khazana, recommends whipping up a
serving of hummus and pita bread to satiate one’s hunger. Instead of that tub
of ice cream, consider a bowl of chilled coleslaw salad or fruit and yogurt
salad, sweetened with honey that would not only help in keeping the calories
off, but also give the body some well deserved roughage and fibre). You can
also use the coleslaw to make a wholewheat or panini sandwich.
At least now you have an array of options to choose from — a
little less harmful, at least!
shruti.chakrabortyBW131002
(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 2-10-2013)
- See more at: http://www.businessworld.in/news/after-hours/fitness/sundown-snacking/1098803/page-1.html#sthash.jCqLFGeQ.dpuf
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