Best foods before bedtime – what to avoid and what to eat

Did you know that there are some foods that harm your sleep and others that are sleep promoters along with enhancing your weight loss process?

All anyone wants after a long day is to hit the bed and fall asleep immediately. But do you experience days when sleep plays hide and seek with you? Before you go on saying, this is not in my control, you must know that the last bite you eat before bedtime, plays a pivotal role in determining your quality of sleep. It’s true, there are some foods that act like sleep stealers and some as sleep inducers, let’s find out what you should be eating and avoiding before bed.

Falling asleep on an empty stomach leads to hunger pangs which have the power to keep us awake at night. And eating a very large meal can make us bloated and lead to disturbed sleep too.

To avoid any of these, sometimes light snacking before bed can come to your rescue. These will help to keep your stomach filled and without messing up the efforts you’re putting into mindful healthy eating.

Follow these simple guidelines to ensure your sleep is not disturbed due to digestive issues.

FOODS TO EAT

• Early dinner preferably soon after sunset is the best for your internal body clock and also so your system is not working on digesting your last meal when you hit the bed.

• Keeping a check on your portion count, ensuring that 50% of your meal is comprised of vegetables in the form of salad or cooked preparation.

• Soups are perfect for any weather. They are easy to digest saving your digestive system from working overtime. Keep in mind to use chopped chunks of vegetables to retain fibre while preparing soup.

• There are low-calorie foods like lentils and beans, leafy greens like spinach, avocados, broccoli, green peas that are naturally high in vitamins and minerals these help produce melatonin, the sleep hormone.

FOODS TO AVOID

• Avoid fatty, greasy and spicy food before bedtime. These can easily work towards disrupting your sleep. Stay away from sugary drinks and sodas too.

• Most people have trouble digesting foods like paneer, heavy pulses like rajma, chole, meat in the latter part of the day and can interfere with sound sleep also affecting gut health which can lead to digestive problems and affect weight loss as well as immunity which arises in the gut!

• Dark chocolate may be a favourite of chocolate lovers who want a guilt-free chocolate binge experience, but it’s not suitable before bed. Did you know, a bar of chocolate contains the same amount of caffeine as decaffeinated coffee. So of course, coffee is a big no before bedtime.

• Green tea is best when taken during the day. What you may not know is that green tea is not decaffeinated, that’s the component that disrupts your sleep.

In addition to the above self-awareness is very important as foods that help one person could irritate your gut so always be aware of how your body reacts to various foods and what suits you best as your body will always give you a sign so stick to what works best for you and your beauty sleep and eliminate what does not suit your body.