Six Things Night Owls Should Keep in Mind When Eating a Late-Night Snack

Introduction: I wonder if the younger generation has noticed that staying up late has become the norm, and it's actually quite rare for someone to rest before 10 PM. Closely linked to staying up late is late-night snacking! So how can night owls eat late-night snacks correctly?

A series of unhealthy eating habits, such as staying up late, has led to a trend of "three lows and one high." The "three lows" refer to low awareness, low diagnosis rate, and low treatment rate, while the "one high" refers to a high incidence rate. To avoid illness, night owls should pay attention to the following six points when eating late-night snacks.

1. Don't eat sweets on an empty stomach

Besides pastries, smooth-textured and sweet-tasting sweet soups and various dairy products are the favorites of many people who value their quality of life.

However, eating sweets on an empty stomach can lead to excessive stomach acid, causing stomach discomfort. It is recommended to eat sweets after dinner or other late-night snacks to reduce fat accumulation and prevent sugar from rapidly turning into the main culprit for a bad figure.

Red Date, Oat, and Goji Berry Porridge

2. Porridge is the top choice for a healthy late-night snack

The starch in porridge can fully combine with water, providing energy without lacking moisture. It is also delicious, soothing for the throat, easy to eat, nutritious, and easy to digest, making it the top choice for a healthy late-night snack. Fish porridge, pork liver porridge, and beef porridge are usually people's first choices. In fact, having some eight-treasure porridge is also a good option. The main ingredients of eight-treasure porridge are grains, commonly including japonica rice, glutinous rice, and Job's tears. When cooked with red dates, beans, walnuts, and other ingredients, these raw materials generally have the beneficial effects of replenishing qi, nourishing the body. Regular consumption can calm the mind, clear heat, moisten the lungs, and soothe coughs, and it is very helpful for regulating the stomach and relieving work stress.

Pumpkin, Corn, Almond, and Oatmeal Porridge

3. Don't drink too much alcohol with late-night snacks

Do you often feel a burning sensation in your chest? After a heavy meal, does the contents of your stomach reflux? Have you ever considered that your stomach might be the problem if your asthma or pharyngitis doesn't heal?

Experts remind that if you have the above symptoms, you may likely be suffering from gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). GERD is a commonly overlooked digestive system disease, and its typical symptoms are acid reflux and heartburn.

Experts point out that the symptoms caused by GERD are varied, and many patients also experience chest pain, shortness of breath, chronic cough, pharyngitis, and a feeling of a foreign object in the throat, which are easily mistaken for other diseases, leading many patients to frequently visit the wrong clinics.

Chestnut Porridge

4. Those who often stay up late should have a late-night snack

Regarding whether to have a late-night snack, many beauty-conscious women are often hesitant, fearing weight gain. In fact, as long as you pay attention to nutritional balance and don't overeat, having a late-night snack will not affect your figure. The timing of a late-night snack must be determined based on dinner and work hours. If you have a light workload during the day, eat three full meals, and go to bed early, then you can skip a late-night snack. However, if you often work late and haven't rested by the early morning, a snack is very necessary. It not only allows you to work more energetically but also helps avoid the cold and fatigue caused by an empty stomach.

5. Best choices: Soup, porridge, and oatmeal

So, what should you eat for a late-night snack? Starchy foods and dairy products are the top choices for a healthy late-night snack, such as light porridge, rice noodles or noodles, milk, and bread. Starch can fully combine with water, providing energy without lacking moisture, and it is delicious, easy to eat, and easy to digest. Oatmeal, in addition to being high in calcium and low in fat, is also rich in vitamins A, B group, iron, and folic acid, which are most needed by women. Some oatmeal is also sugar-free, making it most suitable for women who want to maintain their figure while supplementing nutrition. "The best late-night snack combination is dairy products, a small amount of carbohydrates, and a little fruit. If dinner was light, you can slightly increase the late-night snack; if dinner was already丰盛 (fèngshèng - abundant), you can just drink some milk or eat some fruit."

Shiitake Chicken Porridge

6. Blacklist: Instant noodles and seafood

Some people think that instant noodles are convenient and simple, so their late-night snack is often a fragrant bowl of instant noodles; some people like to add a lot of meat or seafood to their porridge, or have cured meats with porridge; many young people also like to order fried food from KFC, McDonald's, etc. In this regard, Zhong Shuting points out that instant noodles are very high in oil and calories and nutritionally unbalanced. Some fried foods and seafood are even higher in fat and protein, making them difficult to digest. Eating them as a late-night snack not only affects sleep but can also affect appetite the next morning.

3 Important Notes for Late-Night Snacking

1. The amount of a late-night snack should not be too much; eating too much can make the stomach bloated.

2. It is best to have at least a 1-hour interval between the late-night snack and sleep.

3. Don't make it too salty. This is very important. Besides making you want to drink water continuously, it can also lead to difficulty in expelling water, causing facial swelling in the morning.

Of course, the best scenario is to avoid meaningless late nights, after all, health is the most important.

Pi Dan and Lean Meat Porridge