This is an archived article and the information in the story may be outdated. Please check the time stamp on the story to see when it was updated last.
There are nights we crave a little something extra before bed – even if we had a balanced dinner. There’s a banana on the counter but….meh. What about the ice cream hidden in the back of the freezer? No way! There’s really no reason to review all the snack option. We know what we want: cereal. It’s our ideal pre-slumber snack. A bowl or two won’t hurt, right? It’s a great choice if you want to add some extra rolls to your stomach. So maybe not.
“Sugary cereal is a terrible food,” says David Baillie, a Connecticut-based personal trainer and owner of Front-Line Fitness. That means basically any box with a cartoon character on it. He says many cereals are highly processed, and full of sugar and refined carbohydrates. All of that added sugar is a big reason why cereal-eaters put on pounds. “If you end the day on a massive sugar high your blood sugar levels will spike, which will cause your body to produce the hormone insulin in order to gain control,” says Baillie. And then your blood sugar levels will drop. Ugh. The result: you feel low energy and crave another high sugar meal or snack before you fall asleep so the process starts all over again. This is the perfect storm for weight gain.
It’s super important to read the food labels on cereal boxes and aim for one that has at least 3 to 5 grams fiber and no more than 5 grams sugar per serving. And then look to see how much is in a serving. A typical recommended serving size is 30 grams, which Baillie says is about half of what the average person eats. “Any cereal that claims it has ‘reduced sugar’ or ‘less sugar’ is not healthy,” he says. “It just means the sugar content is less compared to the cereal’s previous incarnation and not that it’s actually low in sugar.” Don’t fall for this misleading info.
Being aware of what you do and don’t eat doesn’t mean you need to starve. Aside from eating healthy meals in an effort to drop pounds, you definitely need to snack. Unfortunately a bedtime snack is not a bowl of cereal, a bag of chips or a pint of ice cream. The best snack is low in calories - 200 or less - and low in carbs. The ideal snack is also high in fiber, says Tanya Zuckerbrot RD, bestselling author and founder of The F-Factor Diet. “Fiber swells in your stomach and leaves you feeling full,” she says. Fiber also absorbs and removes fat, calories and toxins, and boosts metabolism. “Eating low-calorie snacks like almonds help people achieve weight loss goals,” she says. Try eating 15 almonds. They contain less than 10 calories, 2g of fiber and 4g of protein. Add an apple and you have 180 calories, 6g of fiber and 4g of protein.
Enjoy almonds with a cup of tea. Sip ginger tea after a meal to balance out your stomach acids and prevent nausea from overeating (you couldn’t let that last slice of cheesecake go to waste, it’s ok). Steep a few pieces of fresh ginger root in hot water or use store-bought tea bags. Peppermint tea works, too, and is more than just a soothing sip. The herbal content improves the flow of bile in your intestines which means food is digested and eliminated in a timely manner. There’s no time for feeling too full and gassy after a cup of peppermint tea.
