what's a good low fat bedtime snack?

Question

i know i'm not supposed to eat before bedtime, but sometimes I need a little something, what do you suggest?

Answer 1

Replace a late-night snack with a cup of herbal tea. This, as you know, is my personal strategy, but I find that it also works for a lot of other people. The warmth of a cup of herbal tea (I find chamomile especially calming) is comforting, and the liquid helps give you a feeling of fullness. And if it's boredom that is driving you to eat, the tea will help keep you busy until the urge to eat passes. The ritual of tea drinking also gives you time to reflect on your day and set your personal goals for tomorrow.

Four tips to end late night snacking

1. The more frequently you eat, the more often you'll give your metabolism a boost. You might think that you're doing yourself a favor by skipping meals. You might even feel as though you're doing yourself a favor by not eating until dinner. But physiology dictates that eating -- and eating often -- is actually a better strategy. Eating has a stimulating effect on the metabolism, increasing the rate at which you burn calories for some time after a meal. Eat often, and your metabolism will operate at its maximum speed all day long.

2. Calories eaten earlier in the day boost the metabolism more than calories eaten later in the day. When you eat, you increase the rate at which you burn calories, but your metabolism still has a natural arc to it and it declines as it gets closer to bedtime. For that reason, it may be that the food you eat in the evening doesn't increase your calorie-burning ability as much as the food you eat earlier in the day. Once it's settled into its resting mode, your body is resistant to being revved up at night.

3. Eating makes you feel more energetic during the day but not, typically, at night. Have you ever finished dinner and thought to yourself, "I feel as if I could run a few miles! " I didn't think so. Most people feel fairly lethargic after dinner. One reason is that they've usually eaten too much and their bodies are hard at work digesting the food, leaving little energy for anything else. (This is especially true when the meal is high in fat and protein, which take more energy to digest than carbohydrates.) Another is that the body begins to wind down in the evening, preparing you for sleep.

4. Eating the majority of your calories at one meal can create an insulin spike, causing the body to store fat. When you take in a large number of calories -- and, in particular, carbohydrate calories -- a signal is sent to your brain, which then sends a message to your pancreas to pump out more insulin. That big dose of insulin is going to cause your body to store many of those calories as fat (insulin, you'll remember, is responsible for taking glucose out of the bloodstream and depositing it into fat storage). The majority of people eat their biggest meal at dinner time, but having an oversized meal any time of day can cause an insulin spike. If, however, you spread out the calories over many hours, your insulin level will stay steady and your body will be less likely to hoard fat.

You should eat three meals -- breakfast, lunch, and dinner -- plus two snacks -- midmorning and midafternoon -- a day. I suggest that you try to make each meal 25 to 30 percent of your total daily calories, with snacks making up the remaining 10 to 25 percent. The size of the portions will vary according to the number of calories you individually need to eat in a day. If you're inclined to make one meal bigger than the others, make that larger meal lunch. That way you'll still have half a day to burn off the extra calories.

Here is an example of what kinds of meals and snacks make up a well-proportioned day.

Breakfast

A bowl of oatmeal with blueberries and sliced strawberries.
or
Low-sugar cereal mix with 1 percent or skim milk and a glass of orange or grapefruit juice.
or
Egg-white omelet filled with onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, and peppers.
Lunch

White-meat turkey or chicken sandwich on whole-grain bread and a cup of tomato-basil soup.
or
Salad with assorted vegetables, canned tuna and low-fat dressing.
or
Teriyaki fish or chicken with brown rice and vegetables.
Dinner

Pasta with chicken and broccoli and a garden salad.
or
Fish with salsa, grilled asparagus, and brown rice.
or
Couscous with curried vegetables and a cup of spinach soup
Snacks

Choose one from this list, twice a day:


Raw vegetables and fat-free ranch dressing

Fruit

One ounce of pretzels

Air-popped popcorn topped with Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, or, cayenne pepper

Soup (not cream-based)

A small or medium baked potato topped with salsa

A small or medium baked sweet potato

A low-fat frozen yogurt bar

A frozen fruit bar

Low-fat or fat-free yogurt with one teaspoon of maple syrup and sliced bananas

One cup of steamed edamame

One cup of brown rice

One ounce of raw walnuts, almonds, or cashews

One ounce of low-fat cheese

A low-fat cookie

Answer 2

I love....

* A little cheese (cheddar, brie, parmesan, whatever you like as long as it's cut thin) and apples.
* Those 100 Calorie packs are AMAZING - they come in all different flavors - doritos, cheez its, chips ahoy, etc.
* Fat free Jell-O w/whipped cream on top
* Fat free Jell-O Pudding
* Fat free fruit popsicles - they're made with real fruit and taste soooo yummy, especially in the summer
* A little angel food cake w/ strawberries on top

YUM!

Answer 3

Low fat yougurt, Sugar free(low fat) Jell-O w/whipped cream on top, a glass of 1% milk, herbal tee such as chalmamile, low sugar fruit such as watermelon

Answer 4

Low fat popcorn.

Answer 5

Foreplay. Its the only snack that actually burns calories!

Answer 6

2 graham crackers and a cup of hot skim milk.

Answer 7

the 100 calorie chips ahoy packs or the oreo packs!!!!

Answer 8

handfull tortilla chips with some salsa

Answer 9

a healthy cereal (not coco puffs, lucky charms etc) popcorn (non buttery kind)

Answer 10

a cup of tea "no caffeine", a lemon and a handful of almonds.