FITNESS 101: THE TRUTH ABOUT EATING BEFORE BED
Audra Yocom is a certified personal trainer based out of Los Angeles and Las Vegas, who brings you monthly fitness tips and helps us to disspell those myths we’ve all been subjected to regarding fitness at one point or another in our battle with the bulge. To learn more about Audra or to inquire about training sessions visit her site http://audrayocom.com.
As a personal trainer I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve heard people say proudly, “I always make sure I don’t eat after seven o’clock.” As if this, in and of itself, is some sort of critical piece of the puzzle to losing weight– and it always makes me chuckle. This concept plays a very minor role in weight loss and may even serve to hinder your fitness goals. What matters most for weight loss is consistently burning more calories than what you take in.
According to Nutrition: The Complete Guide by John Berardi, PhD and Ryan Andrews, MS/MA, RD, eating small meals every 2 – 4 hours stimulates metabolism, regulates blood sugar levels, and helps maintain body mass. It also explains that if the 2-4 hour time frame happens to fall right before bed, you should eat regardless of what you have heard to the contrary. PJ Glassey (author of Cracking Your Calorie Code) has some great suggestions on foods to eat before bed (see link http://pjfit.com/?p=123) that can actually boost your fat burning ability while you sleep such as whey protein and organic cottage cheese.
Studies do show people who eat infrequently and wait until late at night after eating little all day tend to eat more when they finally do eat. In addition, they tend to eat higher calorie foods that are quicker to get or easier to prepare such as: fast food, fried food, frozen pizza, or vending machine food. These behaviors are partly to blame for the misconception that eating right before bed can cause weight gain. Keep in mind that when your body thinks it’s starving (which it tends to do when you go several hours without eating) it stores fats and carbohydrates from your next meal to use as fuel later, because it’s preparing for another fast. Just imagine what this does to your body when you go for that greasy burger after seven or eight hours without food. The flip side to your body storing fats to use as fuel later is when your body depletes all its fat store reserves and starts using muscle in its place.
This brings us to the next argument: Muscle catabolism.
Muscle catabolism is when the body breaks down muscle for fuel. When the body doesn’t have enough fats and carbohydrates to use as an energy source it will then break down muscle in its place. Remember, the more muscle you have the quicker and more efficiently you burn fat, so when your body is burning up its own muscle there’s a slight conflict of interest. I know of trainers who actually have heavily-training clients wake up in the middle of the night to eat a lean snack just to avoid muscle catabolism. By eating the right foods before going to bed you actually help your body’s metabolism process continue using the fat and carbohydrate fuel sources instead of the muscle fuel sources during an all night fast. Eating the proper snack before bed time can also help you sleep better, which is proven to help your body maintain proper hormone levels and, in turn, helps maintain a healthier body weight.
Things to remember:
- For weight loss you must consistently consume fewer calories per day than you are burning
- Eat every 2 – 4 hours even if that happens to fall right before bed time
- Stay away from greasy and sugary foods before bed (go with more protein, less carbohydrate as it gets later)
- Avoid muscle catabolism
- Get the recommended 7 – 8 hours of sleep as consistently as possible
References:
Nutrition: The Complete Guide by John Berardi , PhD & Ryan Andrews, MS/MA, RD pg. 335-336
“Eating Before Bed and Gaining Weight”: http://www.livestrong.com/article/87749-eating-before-bed-gaining/
Pubmed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11255140
“Protein Foods to Eat Before Bed to Delay Metabolism While Sleeping”: http://www.livestrong.com/article/286044-protein-foods-to-eat-before-bed-to-delay-metabolism-while-sleeping/
“Sleep Yourself Skinny and Eat Yourself Thin”: http://pjfit.com/?p=123
Losing a Buck Twenty Five: Reinventing the Wheel
Losing a Buck Twenty Five is a weekly column that will document Cinderella Undercover’s quest to lose 125 lbs. You may also keep track of her progress at http://www.weightitout.com
Reinventing the Wheel
by: Cinderella Undercover
Nearly two months after my initial meeting with my trainer, and after a month of working out with her, it is now time to fully solidify the other portion of the diet and exercise program—the diet.
Most people on a rigorous weight loss program have to stick to a low calorie, low fat, and balanced diet– which is hard enough with a busy schedule that leaves room for little else besides fast food—but add a few medical maladies and you have a daily struggle with food that seems hopeless.
Because I have a digestion disorder known as Candida, and a medical condition which causes hypoglycemia, I have to be more concerned with what I eat than the average dieter.
Candida is a digestion imbalance of the yeast and good bacteria that aid digestion in the stomach. Without a balance, the yeast infects the digestion tract and prevents absorption of nutrients; spills toxins into the blood stream infecting other organs; and causes the sufferer to gain weight and crave sugars and starches on which the yeast feeds. Candidais most often caused by prolonged use of antibiotics, or large consumption of foods which contain large portions of the Candida albicans—such as breads, wine, beer, and other fermented products.
At age six, I suffered from cold and allergy symptoms that were caused–unbeknownst to my pediatrician–by pinched nerves from scoliosis. I was put on a heavy regimen of antibiotics for two years, after which I gained weight immediately. I remained a chunky kid into puberty where it was discovered I had another medical condition that caused hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia—or insulin resistance– is a condition where the body produces too much insulin.
Insulin is produced by the body to eat any excess blood sugar that has not been burned by activity. With hypoglycemia too much insulin is produced and stores sugar as fat. The blood sugar—the gasoline of the human body engine– remains low, causing hunger and fatigue. Eating foods high in sugar on the glycemic index causes the insulin to be produced in greater quantity, overworking the pancreas and thereby making senile diabetes more likely. Hypoglycemia requires frequent meals—about every three hours–made of balanced proteins and carbohydrates to maintain healthy blood sugars that keep the body functioning properly.
So where does this leave me? As far as food is concerned, the diet seems a bit bleak. Because of the Candida I cannot eat any foods with wheat (gluten), yeast, sugar, or fermentation—this means no breads, no wine, no beer, no nuts (except almonds); and no inorganic vegetables or meats. Dairy and fruit, because of their sugar content, are also limited to one serving a day. Because of the hypoglycemia, I have to eat constantly! Who has time for all of this?!
Having to constantly think about what to eat, what not to eat, and when to eat is utterly exhausting! Why do I have to have such regimented diet when others can just cut some calories?! My love/hate relationship with food is so exhausting that sometimes, I just say: “Screw it! I will eat whatever I want!”
I realize, however, I cannot have this attitude at this stage of the game if I want to actually lose weight, keep it off, and live a long, healthy life. I have to embrace my freakish diet needs if I truly want to become a fit, healthy person with a healthy weight. Everyone has his or her own crosses to bear in life, and this is mine—and it could be a lot worse, I tell myself. But, there are many, many days when I lament having freakish maladies that make me less than “normal.”
One such day, I was vociferating my disdain for “being different” and having to follow a diet that wasn’t “normal” when my nutritionist stopped me. She reached into her attaché, and pulled out a laminated sheet with the picture of what looked like a caveman on it. On the opposite side it showed in a cartoon, the progression of man from his cave dwelling days on up to his days behind the computer with a fast food drink in hand. The progression of man showed how man has gotten distinctively fatter over time, and finally obese due to our diet and inactivity.
My nutritionist raised the picture to show me and said “You see this guy? Anything he had to eat, you can eat—anything he didn’t, you can’t.” Great—I was going to eat like a caveman. I pictured horrible feasts of virtually raw bison—and, for the record I hate beef, so its cousin didn’t sound so appealing either. I sighed with disdain.
She went on to explain that man’s digestion—nay, man’s whole body system—has not changed since his early days, about 10,000 years ago. We as humans are not made for processed foods, chemicals, and preservatives. We are made for meat, vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. We are not made for dairy, and sugar, and alcohol. We are made for water, and lots of it. She also explained that the caveman worked all day physically and awoke with the sun’s rise and slept with its set.
I looked at her with disbelief and slight disgust. No cheese? No Diet Coke? No Grey Goose? I tried to convince her that early man did in fact ferment potatoes and grain to make vodka for martinis—she was disinclined to concur. How was I supposed to eat nuts and berries and meat and go to sleep at sundown?! I couldn’t—I can’t! Sigh. We compromised.
I am to get at least eight hours of sleep each night and must work out each day. I have to eat five, three hundred calorie meals a day, made of lean protein and green veggies—two of which also need to include a serving of legumes. I can have dairy, fruit, and a whole grain once a day. I can drink organic green tea, and water—and that’s it—alcohol very, very sparsely.
Although this diet seems limiting, cumbersome, and hefty, I am somewhat relieved to know that I am not the freak of nature I thought I was—just a victim of man’s ingenuity, convenience, and gluttony gone awry—for 10,000 years!
In this modern world of convenience and comfort foods, this diet will be difficult to maintain, but I look forward to looking and feeling as nature intended—and after all, I’m keeping in mind that I am not reinventing the wheel—just myself.