Should I eat a late-night snack?

Nguyen Quang Feng, Director of Science and Technology Department of Kexin Food and Nutrition Information Exchange Center

Working overtime, immersing yourself in playing mobile phones to watch videos, for many people, staying up late has become the norm in life, and with it comes - late at night, hungry
.
"Would you like a late-night snack?" "Is it really bad to have a late-night snack before bed?" Many people say that eating a late-night snack before going to bed is not good, and the reason is that they will gain weight
.
In fact, gaining weight has little to do
with eating late-night snacks themselves.
Gaining weight is because the body eats more calories than it needs, and the excess calories become fat
.
Therefore, as long as the intake of calories is less than the body needs, you will not gain weight
.

For people who lose weight, when they first lose weight, they will eat less, and they will feel very hungry at night, in fact, they can eat a little late-night snack and slowly reduce the amount of
food.
On the contrary, if you are already full and have too much energy intake, you will gain weight
even if you do not eat late-night snacks.
But eating a late-night snack too late can also lead to some diseases
.
For example, night food syndrome, these patients have no appetite in the morning, do not want to eat, but have a strong appetite at night, energy intake after dinner accounts for more than 50% of the day, and the incidence of obesity is high
.

Is it healthier to sleep hungry? In fact, skipping dinner at all and going hungry to sleep can also be harmful
to the body.
If people skip dinner directly, other living habits will remain unchanged, and malnutrition will occur in the long run
.
For some patients with special diseases, skipping dinner has a greater impact on them, such as patients with peptic ulcers, which may lead to aggravation of peptic ulcers; Some people who work during special periods cannot get energy
for work without eating at night.

Generally, there are only two types of people who can choose to skip dinner and go to bed hungry:

One is people
who eat a lot before dinner.
If you eat a lot of big fish and meat for lunch, or eat a lot of snacks, fruits, potato chips, biscuits and other snacks and meals, and do not exercise at night, then you can choose not to eat
dinner.

The second is people
who control their weight.
If you have a high body weight, or even reach the "obesity line" (BMI>28), you need to properly control your diet, limit your energy intake, and occasionally skip one or two dinners
in the early stage of weight control.

Is the "16+8 Weight Loss Method" healthy? It is actually a fasting diet
.
If you strictly adhere to fasting, you can have a significant weight loss effect, because it helps the human body reduce energy intake
.
However, fasting is not a recommended approach
.
If people fast for a long time to lose weight, it is easy to have some side effects
.
Due to the insufficient supply of carbohydrates, it will bring a strong sense of hunger, poor spirits, severe cases will affect study, work and even daily life, and may also appear malnutrition, dizziness, headache, irritability and anxiety, etc.
, and weight is easy to regain
.
The fundamental path to weight loss is to control the total energy balance and maintain the vitality
of the body.

From a health point of view, people should try to regularly arrange three meals a day, do not skip dinner, go to bed hungry, but also not overeat late-night snacks
.

If you want to eat late-night snacks, it is recommended to eat
1-2 hours before going to bed.
Do not eat a lot of food before going to bed, it is easy to affect sleep, resulting in poor
mental state.
Try to choose light, healthy foods
.
Many people like to eat instant noodles, biscuit cakes, barbecue, fried chicken for late-night snacks, but they are basically high-fat, high-salt, high-sugar foods, not suitable for late-night snacks
.
Late-night snacks are also not suitable for eating condiments such as chili peppers and peppercorns
.
It is recommended to give preference to fruits, grains, legumes and milk, which are low in protein and fat, easy to digest and absorb, and do not burden the gastrointestinal tract
.

China Food News(November 10, 2022, Version 06)

(Responsible editor: Zhu Meiqiao)