Every hungry night seems to be a disappointment to the delicious food. Obviously, it is the same food, which will become more attractive at night and occupy your mind. The more you think about it, the hungrier you get ... < P > If you are hungry before going to bed, should you eat? Life Times interviews experts and tells you how to face the "hunger" before going to bed.

Interviewed expert

Wang Xufeng, Executive President of Capital Health Care and Nutrition Food Society

Zhang Ding, Vice Chairman of China Nutrition Society and Chairman of Henan Nutrition Society

Yang Meng, Editor of this issue

Not only makes you "hungry to sleep", sleeping on an empty stomach will also have various adverse effects on your health. This popular science video tells you why sleeping on an empty stomach hurts.

Muscle mass declines

When we sleep, our bodies are still working hard to repair cells and produce muscles. These processes need energy, and energy comes from food.

If you sleep with an empty stomach, you will limit the energy required to complete these tasks, which may reduce your muscle mass.

Affect sleep

When sleeping on an empty stomach, it may be difficult to fall asleep because of low blood sugar. Even if you fall asleep, it is difficult to enter a deep sleep.

Night is the time for the brain to rest. Being hungry will affect the quality of sleep, and then affect the mental state of the next day. Moreover, sleeping often with an empty stomach will also cause memory decline for a long time, which will affect the ability of work and study.

Gastrointestinal diseases

An empty stomach may cause gastrointestinal diseases. Gastrointestinal fasting time should not exceed 1 hours. If you don't eat at night, you will be on an empty stomach for a long time from noon to the next morning, and your stomach will be in a state of direct acid erosion, which will easily cause stomach problems.

getting fat

Sleeping on an empty stomach may also make you more likely to get fat. Go to sleep hungry and wake up feeling very hungry.

This hunger will prompt you to eat a lot of food immediately instead of cooking yourself a nutritious breakfast.

Hungry is a signal that the body needs energy. Don't be too hungry before going to bed, you can add a little energy to your body.

If you have to eat something at night, you should grasp these four principles:

◎ Avoid dessert

Dr. Joan Sabert, a professor of health and nutrition at Linda University in Rome, USA, suggested that you should avoid eating very sweet biscuits, cereal or other traditional dessert foods before going to bed. These desserts will quickly raise blood sugar and make it harder for you to fall asleep.

You can choose complex carbohydrates before going to bed, such as whole wheat bread, non-starch vegetables, popcorn, fruits, etc. These foods decompose slowly, which helps to prevent blood sugar from soaring and will not disturb your sleep.

In addition, milk (milk, yogurt), porridge and pasta (hot noodle soup, dough soup) are all good choices.

◎ Choose light food

Try not to eat high-fat, high-oil, and foods with strong irritation and easy gas production, such as barbecue, spicy crayfish, potatoes, etc. Eat less fruits with high moisture and sugar, such as watermelons.

Don't eat too salty either, otherwise it will lead to water retention in the body, which will affect the quality of sleep and edema after getting up.

◎ Don't eat 2-3 hours before going to bed

The peak of digestion and absorption of sugar in gastrointestinal tract is about 2 hours after meals. If fat is ingested, this time needs to be delayed.

Therefore, snack and sleep should be at least 2-3 hours apart, and try to eat before 9 pm.

◎ Don't eat too much

Sleeping after eating too much is likely to cause the human body to store extra calories as fat instead of using them as fuel.

Just make sure you don't feel hungry before going to bed.

Some foods can be eaten before going to bed, and some foods are best kept away. The American magazine "Prevention" published a 3-year study by Dr. Jamie coffman, a throat specialist in new york, pointing out that some foods are not suitable for eating before going to bed.

1. Nuts

Nuts are rich in unsaturated fatty acids, which are good for health. However, both saturated fatty acids and unsaturated fatty acids are easy to cause gastric acid reflux.

Try to eat less or no nuts such as cashews, walnuts and peanuts before going to bed.

2. Citrus fruit or juice

Citrus fruit is rich in vitamin C, and it tastes sour. Eating too much before going to bed is more likely to lead to acid reflux.

3. Chocolate

Chocolate is a high-fat food, which also contains caffeine and the little-known stimulant theobromine.

Eating chocolate before going to bed can easily lead to lucidity and difficulty in falling asleep. The average residence time of these substances in the body is 3~5 hours, sometimes even longer.

4. Wine

Some people think that drinking before going to bed can help you fall asleep quickly. But alcohol will reduce our REM sleep time. Sleep after drinking, sleep is always in a shallow sleep period, and it is difficult to enter a deep sleep period.

Besides, even after sleeping for a long time after drinking, I still feel tired and weak after waking up.

5. Greasy foods

High-fat foods, such as ice cream, biscuits and cheeseburgers, can easily lead to gastric acid reflux, and may also delay the gastric emptying time and affect the appetite the next day.

6. Soda water and carbonated drinks

Soda water can damage the cardia, so it is easy to increase the chance of acid reflux. Carbonated drinks can also easily lead to increased stomach pressure and should not be drunk before going to bed.

More often, the "hunger" before going to bed is not because we are really hungry, but because we are greedy.

Nutritionists believe that we should try not to eat too much before going to bed. After all, it is not so easy for our bodies to give a "warning" when they are hungry.

Here are some ways to avoid "greedy":

Brush your teeth early

You can brush your teeth immediately after dinner, which will help reduce the possibility of eating again.

Eat high-quality protein

Try to match three meals with high-quality protein during the day to make you feel full for a longer time and reduce the possibility of hunger before going to bed.

Drink some warm water

You can "plug your teeth" with zero-calorie water before going to bed, but be careful not to drink too much, which will cause edema the next day.

prepare some snacks

when the "greedy worm" is on his upper body and warm water can't satisfy you, prepare some healthy snacks to satisfy your "greedy mouth". ▲