Updated from September 19, 2012. I can still picture myself sitting on my single bed and writing this post. I was probably hungry and gorging on some snacks late night during the weekend and that would have given me the idea of doing a post on the topic. Life has come a long long way since then!! But, yes, my love for midnight snacks remains unchanged and undisputed.
I totally love to gorge on midnight snacks. Making my disclaimer – having snacks late in the night is not recommended and is an unhealthy habit with long term implications.
You should have a light dinner two hours prior to bed time and should be fast asleep by the time it hits 11PM. Being awake till midnight is bad for your health, ruins your sleep, wreaks havoc on your body clock and helps you put on the extra flab.
Revisiting this post after so long has actually made me also realize how much I have changed in the past six years. Most of the days I am fast asleep or extremely sleepy by 11 and even if I remain awake by stroke of midnight, I usually take a comfort food which reminds me of childhood, have water or green tea which calms me down and helps induce sleep. Well, I have definitely aged and am wiser now!!
Jokes aside, what do you do when you get those midnight cravings? Most people get a sugar rush. On those days, we go out for a glass of falooda which I try not to have but sometimes I do end up having. Of course, it is around 11 by then. And, a couple of months back, I was literally addicted to momos. They are hot and the guy we brought them from used to serve soup and homemade mayo which was to die for. Unfortunately, the cravings remain unsatisfied thanks to the shop closing down or probably moving away. Well, I am sure my body is pretty thankful!! Swiggy, food panda and zomato and dominos have all made our lives easy by providing easy access to midnight snacks as well.
How can you control your midnight cravings?
Sleep Early. Well, this is pretty obvious but many times it might not work out, especially when it is a weekend or a holiday the next day.
Drink Green Tea. Relaxes the entire system, fills you with water, hydrates you instantly and induces sleep.
Protein Rich Dinner. Though I am not really sure if diet or heavy food plays a role in the cravings since they are mostly physical responses to our emotional needs, we can always try addressing through a food which does not get digested immediately.
Keep Something Healthy Handy. Probably fruits or nuts or even a bar of chocolate or a protein bar. For me, it is threptin biscuits complemented with complan. Not healthy at all but it is my childhood favorite comfort food!!
Indulge. Well, another obvious solution is indulging once in a while. May be you could designate one cheat day in a month or a fortnight so you could have your midnight snacks.
Whatever you do, enjoy those snacks and cravings and remember that you are getting older ever passing minute so what you enjoy right now might not be something you would like to do even in a month’s time. So, let it be and focus on the now.
Till then, ciao.
i used to snack on monaco! but these days if i get hungry after bed time- i either drink a glass of water or eat a small cup of dry corn flakes.
hey Pranu…good that u stopped snacking on monaco coz salted biscuits are a big no no. hmmm…corn flakes seems to be a nice idea. shall try it sometime!!
Hi swati.How are you ?Nice article.Ya,i am also a midnight-foodie ;( I mostly get free time only at night to surf the net,so i usually stay awake upto 2am :0 So what i do to maintin my weight(i am on a weight loss resolution),is i never buy any chocolate or chips to store at home.I know myself very well,and in-spite of my promise to only eat a few chips,i will end up eating the whole packet+the chocolates too 😉 Now about the low cal/fat snack,i choose from aliva,corn flakes,or salted backed cookies/biscuits i made from whole- wheat flour or oats.But a tip i use to eat less is i drink 1 glass of water before opening the snack.this way my appetite is reduced 🙂
hey Monali..how are you??? its been so long…where were you hiding 😀 oh me too…I am a big foodie and gorge on so many snacks at night…now, even i have stopped keeping anything and trust me if I don’t regret it!!! haha…drinking water is good but avoid salted biscuits coz that increases water retention due to high amount of salt…weight loss’s first rule – less salt and sugar!!
good point on how to maintain weight if having irregular timings. gotta think on that coz till day, i only thought of maintaining correct timings. see, you always gimme new ideas 😀
I know this sounds odd… but I love snacking on homemade muesli – at midnight. Alright, alright, I’m cutting down… though I sometimes comfort myself by thinking, ooooh, healthy fibrous snacks can’t do me harm. LOL.
haha…never snacked on muesli. yup better to have such foods but some have excess sugar so should be avoided!!!
nice blog do visit mine as well loud-lady.blogspot.com
thanks 🙂
the problem with most of us is that we never get to bed on time or don’t eat properly during the day and hence we land up hungry in bed at night 😛
haha…so true, Coral 🙂 I am hungry as I am replying to the comment right now 😀
Its the Story of my life…I love midnight snacking..I just cant control myself..every single night i tell myself, no i will not eat silly things in the middle of the night and as the clock strikes 1am, something drags me to the kitchen and i end up getting something or the other from the kitchen and eat it =(
haha…me too especially when I am busy reading a novel or something!!! I so need to snack 🙂
Hi swati.I was out of town visiting some relatives and my laptop started to show too many problems.Finally i got it fixed 🙂 i guess i have a lot of blogs reading to catch up to ;)good luck n god bless 🙂
wow…so njoyed your trip 🙂 argh…laptop probs, talk about them!!!
oh,thanks about reducing salt tip.I am working on it,but as i love salt more than sugar i am finding trouble to control it 🙁
me too love salt more than sugar but I try to take them both in control otherwise I am getting a craving for sweets these days!!!
Oh midnight snacking is such a sinful habit 🙂 I used to be famous with my midnight toast!!!! Oh my god, I swear in what time I do that same toast, it is never as delicious as midnight 🙂 Sometimes, I just lose myself and did waffles (more than a few times!) But now I stopped that habit because I gained so many pounds that I can no longer eat like that! And I try not to be awake at those hours, but if I do I only eat fruits!
don’t remind me about toasts…I so love a well-browned bread and butter especially the freshly made white butter or secondly, amul butter….yummmmmmmm, my stomach is really growling even though i had so much in dinner!!!