Health & Wellness

Five Foods to Avoid After 8 PM

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 Men’s Fitness

You’ll sleep better if you skip ’em.

You do all the right things—train hard, eat clean, and get plenty of sleep…or do you? The post-workout snacks you are indulging in late at night could be sabotaging your fat-loss and muscle-gain efforts by ruining your rest. For a better night of rest, skip these five foods after 8 p.m.

NIKKI DONNELLY

Though dark chocolate is a healthy snack that contains magnesium and antioxidants, chocolate also contains caffeine, which could keep you awake.

Yes, nuts are a healthy source of fat and can even help you lose weight. Unfortunately, fats are very slowly digested and will sit in your stomach all night if consumed in large quantities. “Since I do advise eating a good portion of protein and carbs at night, try to keep fats moderate,” says Nate Miyaki, C.S.C.S.  “Eat fats as by-products of protein foods (salmon, meat, eggs, etc.), but keep added high fat foods (nuts, cheese, cream sauces) relatively low.”

While you probably already know that excessive alcohol is terrible for your body if you’re gunning to gain muscle and shred fat, it might also disrupt your sleep cycle. Even though booze makes you drowsy, your R.E.M. (rapid eye movement) sleep will be disrupted and you won’t feel as revitalized in the morning.

We all have those nights where we want something sweet before we hit the sack. But in addition to the heap of refined sugar and saturated fat it delivers, junk food can actually cause you to have bad dreams. In a small study published in the Journal of the Mind and Body, 7 out of 10 people who ate junk food before bed were prone to having nightmares.

For more restful sleep, avoid chicken wings before bed. A study published in the International Journal of Psychophysiology found that adding Tabasco and mustard at dinner caused six male subjects to have poorer sleep. This could be because spicy foods cause body temperatures to rise.

Read more at mensfitness.com