So you’ve finally made it home, bushed after a long day of work, you just want to plunk yourself down and relax before going to bed. You also feel a bit peckish as you sit on the sofa, in front of the TV, and you’re wanting to feed yourself a bit during the later evening hours.
What you decide to reach for may make you full, but the type of food you choose poses the danger of unwanted weight gain, acid reflux, tissue damage, and more importantly will mess with the quality of your sleep, robbing you of valuable well deserved rest.
While there’s always the smart choices of low acidic based foods, such as herbal teas, grain cereal, yogurt, certain berries, or bananas, which soothes the stomach and mind to comfort, there are certain unsuspecting highly caffeinated, high in sugar or fat, acidic foods which will disrupt your sleep patterns.
They’ll also force the fat to stay on your waistline, while forcing your esophagus and throat to react unnaturally. So the best solution is knowing which foods to avoid that can cause damage while your getting yourself ready for that sleep you deserve.
Foods To Avoid Before Going To Sleep
Ice Cream
You’ve had a bad busy day at work, and feel that soothing ice cream is the perfect solution. What you need to do is make sure that you have it earlier in the evening, this at least a few hours before bedtime.
The culprits of ice cream includes unhealthy substances such as refined sugars and bad fats. This fat also won’t burn off while you’re sleeping, and the sugar will cause your energy and insulin to spike upwards, resulting in you twisting and turning in bed, and even potentially causing bad nightmares.
Avoid All Carbonated Sodas
Drinking soda is an absolute no-no before bedtime, this because they’re extremely high in acid along with carbonation. What the acids will do is wear down the enamel on your teeth, especially if you don’t give them a thorough brushing.
Soda is also known to cause acid tissue damage inside your body. If the excess carbonation lingers in your stomach, it can increase in pressure, causing stomach pain once you lie down.
Certain Citrus Fruits
Citrus fruits covers a wide range, a variety of fresh foods, the most common being oranges, grapefruit, tomatoes, orange juice, lemonade, etc. All which appears healthy to consume at night.
Others that are classified in this food group includes cherries, green apples, blueberries, and peaches, all considered healthy. But know that if you eat a bowl of blueberries or cherries, this right before going to sleep, that it may cause acid reflux.
Nuts Of Most Varieties
Most realize the health benefits of eating most varieties of raw natural nuts. However, when it comes to eating them before going to sleep, most of them won’t digest that well in your stomach.
Most nuts are high in fat content, and although it’s the “good” polyunsaturated omega-3 fats, fat is still fat, which has a difficult time to burn off, this without doing activity.
So once you lay down to sleep with a stomach full of nuts, which can include almonds, walnuts, macadamia, cashews, or peanuts, they’ll just sit in your digestive system, making you feel bloated, making it difficult for you to fall asleep.
Processed Fatty Foods
These types of fats are just plain obvious as foods to avoid. This group includes the instant convenience foods such as hamburgers, hotdogs, fries, potato chips, candy, store bought cookies or cakes.
These are the comfort foods that will reduce stress after a hard day, but what they do is instantly cause weight gain along with guaranteed acid reflex, which disturbs your good night’s sleep.
Eating Chocolate
Another favorite comfort food. You feel you deserve something nice for yourself at night. What you reach for is that chocolate bar to satisfy that sweet tooth.
This becomes routine, you attack your stash whenever you need a lift, this usually right before going to bed. Doing so instantly attacks your waistline, as it has no where else to go. Chocolate is also high in caffeine as it contains theobromine, which is a bitter alkaloid that’s derived from the cacao bean.
Caffeinated Beverages
The most obvious being coffee and tea. You brew a cup of caffeine after dinner to keep you alert, this hours before going to bed. The brewing process of coffee makes it extremely acidic.
Then what happens is it attacks your stomach acids while you’re sleeping. If you absolutely need a cup, then opt for decaf or green tea instead, which limits the caffeine and acidity.
Avoid Alcohol
You’re thinking of having a nightcap, a nice glass of red wine or a small tumbler of scotch, this in the hopes to calm your nerves while making you sleep better.
Although the alcohol does relax you, what it also does is it affects your valves and esophagus. The calming effect as a result keeps the food in your stomach from digesting properly, which causes acid reflux while you’re sleeping.
Say No To Cheese
You can’t enjoy a nice glass of wine without a few pieces of cheese. But similar to the wine which causes esophageal issues, the cheese can compound the problem as it has the same effect.
Know that any type of soft cheese such as brie, feta, Havarti, and even cream cheese, are usually more prone to causing acid reflux than the hard cheese variety, such as Swiss, Gouda, Parmesan, or Cheddar.
They just don’t sit that well in your stomach, and may cause potential tummy turmoil as you attempt to sleep, or wake you up while you’re sleeping.