Eating late can lead to impaired sleep, acid reflux and weight gain. Photo / Getty Images
Eating late can lead to impaired sleep, acid reflux and weight gain. Photo / Getty Images
Grazing in front of the television is linked to poor sleep and a host of health problems. Here’s how to change your habits for the better.
By now, we should all be aware that eating late is a terrible idea. Habitually sitting down for your evening meal shortly before bedtime can result in acid reflux, impaired sleep and weight gain. It plays havoc with your blood sugar levels, leading to chronic inflammation and other long-term health problems, with studies suggesting that consuming calories too close to bedtime increases your risk of metabolic syndrome. This is linked to high blood pressure, insulin resistance, high cholesterol and a range of serious illnesses, from Type 2 diabetes to cancer.
Armed with this knowledge, many people – especially those of us in midlife – endeavour to eat our evening meal at a decent hour. This is a positive step. There’s just one problem: the rest of the evening then yawns ahead: long, peckish hours when the temptation to reach for a calorific top-up may prove hard to resist.
“Late-night snacking is a huge problem for a lot of people,” says Stephanie Moore, a clinical nutritionist, health coach and author of Eat Your Brain Happy. “It’s one of my biggest bugbears, and one of the first things I try to address with my clients.”
Moore recommends that if you usually go to bed at 11pm, you should have finished eating by 8pm. “You need to leave a gap of at least three hours between your last calories and bedtime and that includes liquid calories,” she says. “When people watch TV after dinner, that’s often when snacking happens.”
Late-night eating is linked to a host of health problems. Photo / 123rf
Our brains can’t clean themselves if the body is digesting food while we sleep
Whether it’s popping a tube of Pringles while you’re watching TheWhite Lotus or polishing off a tub of ice cream as a “nightcap”, late-night food consumption will negatively affect your sleep. The same goes for drinking alcohol.
This is because we have a higher body temperature when we’re digesting, which in turn inhibits good sleep. Normally, when we fall asleep, we go into light sleep, then quite rapidly into deep sleep, which is when our core cellular renewal and our brain cleaning processes happen. However, deep sleep only occurs when our body temperature is cool enough. Alcohol and food being processed stops this from happening.
In addition, when people eat very close to bedtime, they often eat rich foods with high fat content, foods that stay in the stomach for a long time. If we then lie down in bed, we haven’t got the force of gravity to help the food pass through. “There could also be pressure pushing acid and enzymes and even some food back up into the oesophagus,” she adds. “So then you get acid reflux or heartburn or some kind of regurgitation, which will affect sleep and bring longer term health consequences. That can impair sleep throughout the night and make you wake up with what I call a ‘food hangover’. Even with no alcohol involved, you wake up feeling groggy and headachy.”
Eating later makes you fatter
Eating late may also contribute to weight gain. Research presented at the 2020 European and International Conference on Obesity found that late-night eaters consume 40% of their daily calories after 6pm. Not only that, but the type of foods eaten during that period tended to be higher in sugar and fat, and lower in protein and fibre.
The foods we eat while watching TV in the evening are often actively designed to be over-consumed. As our home viewing has become closer to a cinema experience, we’ve imported the snack culture of cinema.
“I dissuade people from eating in front of a screen at any time of the day, because when we’re engrossed in a TV show, the unconscious filling of your mouth takes over. And it’s usually picky foods that don’t require any concentration. They bypass our signals of being hungry. Most of the time we’re not even hungry to start with – we’ve just eaten dinner. So the potential to over-consume is huge.”
The nightly process of renewal also demands a lot of energy, which means that under normal circumstances, you would burn body fat at night. However, if we’ve eaten shortly before going to bed, that doesn’t happen. Over time, the double whammy of eating high-calorie foods and not burning body fat is bound to make you put on weight.
Eating late keeps your body temperature raised, reducing your chance of getting crucial deep sleep. Photo / 123rf
Messing with your blood sugar causes angst in the small hours
Most classic snack foods are disruptive to our metabolism and cause insulin resistance, which can then lead to diabetes and weight gain. Whether it’s savoury snacks or sweet treats, the refined carbohydrates and sugars will cause a huge blood sugar spike.
This often makes us feel tired – because it’s followed by a blood sugar crash. Snack foods can therefore be quite soporific. However, that doesn’t mean they’ll help you sleep, because the blood sugar crash causes an adrenaline response as your body attempts to get its blood sugar back up to normal. “So now you’ve got your adrenal glands engaged,” says Moore, “which will wake you up and keep you awake, feeling restless and angsty, with your heart pounding. In short, eating those foods late in the evening sends your blood sugar on a crazy roller coaster ride that will ultimately leave you feeling exhausted in the morning.”
The worst late-night foods and what to eat instead
If you really can’t resist an evening snack, certain foods should be avoided. Nutritionist Stephanie Moore offers some healthier alternatives…
Swap biscuits for cereal bars
Biscuits before bedtime will trigger blood sugar peaks and troughs that may have long-term health implications. In the short term, they will result in suboptimal sleep and weight gain. If you choose a cereal bar that contains oats and nuts and not too much sugar, it’s better than gorging on biscuits. And unlike a packet of biscuits, once the bar is finished, it’s finished.
Try swapping a biscuit for cereal bars to reduce the risk of a blood sugar spike. Photo / Getty Images
Swap ice cream for yoghurt with fruit
Most supermarket ice cream is an ultra-processed food laden with added milk fat, high fructose corn syrup and other additives. The resulting dramatic insulin spike that will disrupt your normal sleep patterns. You will then experience a blood sugar crash that may cause you to wake up in the night – and you’ll feel terrible the next morning.
The best foods to eat at night are those that are easiest on the digestive system. A bowl of good quality live yogurt is easily digestible, and it contains protein and some good microbes to improve gut health. Add a little bit of fruit: chopped apple, berries or cherries if they’re in season. The best fruit option is sliced kiwifruit. It contains lots of prebiotic fibre, which helps sleep latency, so it gets you off to sleep more quickly. For a really healthy choice, sprinkle some pumpkin seeds and/or chia seeds on top. Both contain omega-3, which helps you get off to sleep.
Yoghurt is a great substitute for ice cream and can be topped with fruits and nuts. Photo / 123rf
Swap cheese and crackers for nuts
High-quality cheese in your diet is not a bad thing but it shouldn’t be eaten late at night. Cheese is a high-fat, high-protein food, so it passes through the digestive system very slowly and will still be high up in the gastrointestinal tract when you go to bed. There’s also an amino acid called tyramine, which is found in cheese, that activates the adrenal glands and increases cortisol levels. Some people are more sensitive to it than others, but most will experience an adrenal response, which has to be worked through before your brain can switch into sleep mode.
Raw nuts (i.e. not roasted and salted) are one of the best options for an evening snack. They contain magnesium, which relaxes the muscular system and the nervous system making it easier for the body to go into restoration and relaxation mode. Almonds, Brazil nuts and cashews are all high in magnesium, while pistachio nuts and walnuts contain melatonin, which is the sleep hormone. With a small bowl or a handful of mixed of nuts you’re getting some good fibre, nutrients and fats. And they’re quite filling, too. Salted nuts are less healthy, but they’re still a lot better than most ultra-processed snacks, and actually contain less sodium, despite tasting much saltier.
Nuts are a lot healthier than most ultra-processed snacks. Photo / 123rf
Swap milk chocolate for dark chocolate-covered Brazils or almonds
Milk chocolate in particular, because of the amount of fat and sugar it contains, is incredibly addictive. If you really can’t resist it, eat a small amount of good-quality, high-cocoa-count chocolate immediately after your meal, because the impact is much milder on a full stomach than it will be few hours later.
As mentioned previously, Brazil nuts and almonds contain magnesium, which is beneficial for sleep. A few of these will provide a sweet treat with less fat and sugar than chocolate alone. One caveat: dark chocolate contains caffeine, which might prevent you from getting to sleep. If you’re sensitive, it’s probably best avoided.
Chocolate-coated nuts provide a sweet treat with less fat and sugar than chocolate alone. Photo / Babiche Martens
Swap hot chocolate for a cacao drink
Chocolate in liquid form is no better than solid chocolate. Most hot chocolates tend to consist mainly of sugar and dried milk powder, with a little bit of chocolate flavouring. From a health perspective, Horlicks is not much better. The ideal option, if you like a hot drink in the evening, is a herbal tea such as chamomile or peppermint. But if that doesn’t quite hit the spot…
There are a lot of cacao drinks on the market that are much better for you than bog-standard hot chocolate. They’re nourishing and great for soothing stress. They have a higher cocoa content and contain magnesium, alongside things like maca root and ashwagandha, and possibly some medicinal mushrooms.
Cacao drinks are packed with nutrients, compared to hot chocolates.
Swap crisps for lightly salted popcorn
Whether it’s chips, potato crisps or any variations on the savoury snack theme that combination of refined carbohydrates, salt and fat should definitely be avoided in the hours before you go to bed. High-fat foods are easy to over-consume, spike our blood sugar and stay in the stomach for a long time, when ideally you want your digestive system to be as empty as possible when you go to bed.
Most commercial popcorn is high in saturated fat, salt or sugar and contains additives. Microwave popcorn is the worst: it’s made with artificial flavourings, while the lining of the bag has been linked to health risks such as cancer and liver damage. But if you make your own popcorn in a pan and lightly sprinkle with salt (not sugar and butter), it’s a lesser evil than Pringles. Popcorn is high in fibre, which provides fuel for the gut microbes, which are very active at night. However, too much fibre takes a long time to digest and can cause bloating and discomfort. Consume in moderation.
Popcorn is best made in a pan at home. Photo / 123rf
Swap toast for porridge
Toast like crackers contains gluten, so for the many people who are gluten intolerant, it’s inflammatory and an irritant to the gut lining. The butter you will almost certainly put on it is high in fat, and if you then have jam or honey, you’re adding sugar to the mix. This combination will affect your blood sugar levels and is also quite moreish (gluten triggers an opioid response in the brain).
A wiser option than toast because the oats in porridge are gluten-free, and therefore less aggravating to blood sugar levels. Have a small bowl, cooked in water, and add in some Greek yoghurt to make it creamy and delicious.
Porridge is less aggravating to blood sugar levels than toast. Photo / 123rf
Swap a doner kebab for shish or chicken kebab (but throw away the pitta)
You’re on your way home after a night out from the pub and you decide that stopping off for a kebab and chips makes perfect sense. Alcohol can be triggering to the adrenal system, which causes anxiety. Rich, fatty food may actually stabilise how you feel when your nervous system is being jangled by alcohol, but the gains are short-lived. When you go to bed the food will still be high up in the stomach, causing reflux and heat. Your liver will be overburdened, you’ll have fitful, restless sleep, and you’ll wake up feeling awful. So while it might seem like a good idea to grab a post-pub takeaway, you’re just adding to the poor sleep quality and general toxicity the body has to deal with through the night.
A little bit of grilled meat isn’t all bad; it’s the combination of fatty meat, pitta bread, chips and (probably) a can of cola that makes it really harmful. So, skip the cola and chips and just have the kebab – shish or chicken are better options – with the onions, lettuce, chopped cabbage, and savour each mouthful of meat. But if you really want to be healthy, don’t eat the pitta. The other thing that’s good to munch on if you’re hungry on the way home is a good quality biltong.
Skip the chips and just go for the kebab if looking for the healthiest option. Photo / 123rf
The secret to changing your habits
However compelling her arguments, Moore understands that most of us would sooner ignore her advice. “Unfortunately, evening snacking is something people love to do. Of course, people would rather not know about the negative effects, but once they do know, hopefully they won’t forget.”
Her key piece of advice is to get ready for bed straight after dinner: “Have your evening meal and eat enough that you feel comfortably full. Then go and you brush your teeth, do your ablutions, do your flossing. Make yourself a cup of peppermint tea and cosy up in front of the telly with that. If you create a routine and make a rule for yourself – I do not eat after 8pm – it becomes easier to adhere to. Yes, it will feel dull and boring at first. But after a week or two, it won’t even occur to you to go looking for food.”
