10 High-Calorie Foods You Should Never Eat Before Going To Bed
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Can you imagine a home without a warm, cozy, inviting bed? Would you even like to address it as “home, sweet home” if you couldn’t manage a proper night’s sleep in it? No? We thought so. That’s how important sleep is! If you don’t get it, even home won’t feel like home.
After all, for most of us, sleep is the only restful escape from the dreary drudgery of daily life. So, getting it is absolutely vital. And if that is so, then why do you eat certain foods before bed that delay and even disrupt your sleep? Shouldn’t you be doing the opposite? No matter how tempting certain foods seem, these 10 calorie-rich foods are strictly not allowed before bed if you want sound sleep and a healthy body.
1. Pasta
Pasta-lovers, our sincerest apologies go out to you, but you seriously have to stop eating this mine of carbs before bed! Despite it offering the convenience of easy cooking after a long day, pasta falls into the category of ‘barred’ foods as it’s quite high in calories (1). This is all thanks to its cheese and oil content. Hence, digesting it can take a while, which can disturb sleep. Besides, it can also add to your body fat.
2. Pizza
Pasta’s fellow Italian cousin, pizza is no less of a good health-and-sleep-enemy! This greasy food item is loaded with ingredients that are high on the acidity level and hence, quite difficult to digest. So, if you have pizza at night, you will experience a bloated tummy and difficulty in falling asleep (2). Besides, if you make pizza a regular meal, expect your body fat levels to rise over time.
3. Candy
What harm can a little piece of candy do? It’s just dessert, right? Wrong! Having candy before bed can result in you exceeding your daily calorie limit. And, as we all know, extra calories in the body are stored as fat. So, if you’re on a weight loss plan, this tiny cheating won’t do you any good! Besides, studies also show that candies can alter your brainwaves and cause nightmares before you sleep (3). Not so sweet now, huh?
4. Red Meat
Red meat can easily be crowned as the most delicious meat. Its versatility makes it taste good whether it’s dry and fried or slow-cooked in a luxurious gravy! And it makes for a very delicious, protein and iron-rich dinner. However, your body requires energy to synthesize and break down protein. So, if you have red meat at dinner, you’ll be up longer and won’t be able to get relaxing sleep as your tummy would be working hard on your food (4)!
5. Dark Chocolate
Dark chocolate is touted as the healthiest dessert by all sundry. However, despite its brain and memory-boosting health benefits, it still has a few drawbacks. Namely, its calorie and caffeine content. While calories lead to the piling up of fat, the caffeine in dark chocolate acts as a stimulant and keeps you wide awake when you should be snoozing.
6. Insoluble Fiber-Rich Veggies
Insoluble fiber-rich veggies (onions, cabbage, broccoli, etc.) are best had in the morning or at afternoon. Why? Because these veggies can make you feel full after a meal, and a heavy stomach is not the feeling you want before bed. Furthermore, such vegetables can also cause flatulence as your digestive system is unable to process these veggies at nighttime!
7. Alcohol
Nothing ensures quick sleep like alcohol! But while you may fall asleep faster after a couple of drinks in your system, you certainly won’t have good sleep. Alcohol can make you experience night sweats, which can greatly impact your sleep quality (5). Also, alcohol is high in calories so it’s not good for your weight either.
8. Cheeseburgers
Cheeseburgers can easily be clubbed with foods like pasta and pizza as they are more or less the same in one way – all of them contain great amounts of cheese! Hence, you should avoid them for dinner for the same reason you would avoid pasta and pizza. They increase stomach acidity and cause heartburn.
9. Chili Sauce
This includes foods cooked in this fiery sauce! You can even add spicy food to this list. Having chili sauce or spicy foods for dinner can increase stomach acidity and cause a strong burning sensation in the stomach. It can also lead to tummy pain and even diarrhea (6), (7).
10. Chips And Other Snacks
If you’re a midnight snacker, chances are you treat yourself with a bag of chips every now and then. Well, you shouldn’t. You shouldn’t have any other processed food items either. During any time of the day, as a matter of fact! That’s because such food items contain monosodium glutamate, which is known to cause sleep disorders (8).
Ideally, your dinner should be light and composed of fresh veggies or lean meat in small portions. You can even consume magnesium-rich foods at night to help yourself catch some sound sleep. So, eat well and sleep better!
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