Who should eat after staying up late?
People working overtime: Some people are under high work pressure and often work until one or two in the morning. By this time, it has been six or seven hours since dinner. The ideal interval between meals is four to five hours. If the interval is too long, blood sugar levels may drop, affecting work efficiency. Therefore, people who stay up late should have a late-night snack.
The elderly: For the elderly, their digestive function begins to decline, so they should not eat too much in one meal, but at the same time, they need to replenish sufficient nutrients in a timely manner. Therefore, the elderly should eat small, frequent meals and can have an appropriate amount of a late-night snack after dinner.
In fact, whether you can have a late-night snack and how much you can eat depends more on your body type. For thinner individuals, having a small snack at night is generally not a problem. For those of average build or who are already overweight, it is important to control the amount of food consumed at night, especially the energy intake.
It is recommended that people who sleep late or get hungry easily can eat a bit more at dinner to extend the "shelf life" of the food in their stomach.
Blacklist of Late-Night Foods
First, avoid foods high in fat, such as instant noodles, flaky pastries, and meat products. Because they are digested slowly, they delay gastric emptying and may even affect your appetite for breakfast the next day.
Second, avoid fried, grilled, and pan-fried foods, such as fried peanuts and grilled lamb skewers, as they can have an adverse effect on the gastric mucosa.
Third, fruit intake at night should also be moderate. Avoid fruits with high sugar content, as they may cause you to wake up to urinate at night, affecting sleep quality. Fourth, also avoid overly salty foods, as this will not only make you drink a lot of water but also make it difficult for the body to expel fluids. This affects sleep and can easily lead to facial swelling the next day.
Finally, drinking large amounts of coffee and strong tea for a late-night snack can stimulate the sympathetic nervous system, easily causing autonomic nervous system dysfunction of internal organs.
4 Principles of a Good Late-Night Snack
A reasonable late-night snack should meet the following requirements:
First, it should be low in fat, low in energy, and relatively nutritious.
Second, it should be easy to digest, not adding a burden to the gastrointestinal tract, and not affecting post-meal activities.
Third, it should have sufficient volume and provide a feeling of fullness.
Fourth, it should not cause excitement; it is best if it helps with falling asleep and is pleasant to eat.
What are good foods for staying up late?
For food: When staying up late, it is good to prepare some foods like bread, cakes, biscuits, and chocolate. Consuming these with drinks or hot congee can quickly restore physical strength and energy.
At the same time, people who often stay up late can also keep some nuts at home, such as walnuts, pistachios, white melon seeds, and raisins, which are all good for brain health.
For drinks: You can drink some black tea, which is warming for the stomach; you can also drink hot milk to supplement protein; longan water is also a great drink that can replenish sugar and calories in a timely manner.
Hot congee not only replenishes energy in a timely manner but is also easy to digest, making it a very good supplement. For example, longan congee warms the stomach and nourishes the heart; red date congee nourishes the blood and boosts energy; oatmeal is nutritious and easy to digest. Meanwhile, black sesame paste and lotus root starch are convenient and easy to eat, and are also good choices when staying up late.