You have heard about cheat day and cheat meal before, but what’s a cheat snack? With late-night movies, Netflix binging, erratic sleep pattern is a norm these days, and so craving for food in the middle of the night is quite common. However, if you are on a weight loss diet, adding extra calories while snacking at midnight can ruin your weight loss goals. But an angry tummy can spoil your sleep and you would wake up much more hungry or should we say “hangry.” Just like a cheat meal, you can have a cheat snack once or twice a week, but please do not make it a ritual every night. However, that being said, we would like to present some healthy options that you can pick for midnight snacking rather than munching on a high-calorie bag of potato chips. Even though it is a cheat snack, a bedtime snack should range between 150 to 250 calories and should either be rich in protein or fiber, or at least be metabolism boosting so that you can burn some calories while you sleep. Also, if the snack has the amino acid tryptophan, it would help you sleep better.
Awesome Tips While Picking a Midnight Snack to Satisfy your Hunger:
- Keep the calories low, ideally between 150 to 200.
- Keep away from biscuits, potato chips.
- Your midnight snack should not have refined carbs or sugar.
- No added sugar either.
- Should not have transfat content.
- Ideally should have the amino acid “tryptophan,” which helps to make serotonin and melatonin, where serotonin helps you to feel better and melatonin helps you have better sleep.
- Should either have protein or fiber content. Consuming protein would stimulate muscle growth and repair post-exercise and fiber helps you keep full and helps the digestion process.
- Should not have unhealthy fats.
- Should boost metabolism.
We have a lot more snacking options on Rati Beauty diet programs that are healthy and would not upset your diet routine at all. Check out the diet programs on the Rati Beauty app. In this post, we have 15 food options to keep in your fridge as cheat snacks:
15 Food To Keep in your Fridge as Cheat Snacks:
1. Apple with peanut butter: This snack will fall below 150 calories with slices of one apple and one teaspoon of peanut butter. This butter has healthy fats and this snack tastes extremely delicious, and you would sleep better with a happy stomach.
2. Greek yogurt with berries: Greek yogurt is extensively used in Rati Beauty diet programs and that’s because it is rich in calcium, protein, potassium, and other minerals. With blueberries or strawberries added, it would taste just awesome and will satisfy your sweet tooth as well.
3. Whole Grain Bread Sandwich with Paneer Filling: Hmmm, this is an indulgence, but whole grain bread is a much better option than white bread. Also, paneer filling would supply the body with a good amount of protein.
4. A cupped handful of nuts: A few walnuts, almonds, pistachios has high protein and fiber content and has vitamins, and mineral content too. This is a guilty-free snack option that would nourish your body while you sleep.
5. Chia seed pudding: If you have chia seed pudding leftover from the morning, it would supply healthy fats, protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and fiber to the body.
6. Banana with Sunflower Seeds: Banana is a great source of magnesium which helps to sleep better. The fiber and healthy fat will keep you satisfied for longer. Mash the banana and add a few sunflower and pumpkin seeds as topping.
7. Oatmeal Cookies: Biscuits are made from refined flour and added sugar and salt. Instead, oatmeal is a good option to make delicious cookies rich in fiber which will help with weight loss too.
8. Fruit Chaat: Make yourself a fruit chaat with fruits like pomegranate, banana, apple, cherries, and berries. You can also add in a few nuts and pumpkin seeds, without adding any sugar. The tryptophan and magnesium content in the fruits will help you sleep better and the fruits will also supply vitamins and fiber to the body.
9. Protein Bars: Make your own homemade protein bars with dates, walnut, pistachio, flaxseed, peanut butter. Don’t binge on the bars, it should be a single bar!
10. Chocolate milk: It’s probably the easiest snack kind of a thing to make when you are craving something in the middle of the night. Milk has calcium that can help burn belly fat. It also contains tryptophan which would help you sleep better. But one thing, make sure the chocolate does not have high-fructose corn syrup or too much of added sugar.
11. Kefir: This snack will make your gut bacteria happy because it is a probiotic food. It also has tryptophan which would help you sleep better with calcium that would help you slim down.
12. A bowl of cereals with hot milk: Make yourself a small bowl of fiber-rich whole grain cereals with hot milk, that will get you the fiber and the calcium too.
13. Popcorn without butter: If you cannot stop thinking about popcorn while binge watching Netflix or prime series, make yourself some popcorn (not the packaged ones), and skip the butter.
14. Cucumber and Carrot Slices with Hummus: Cucumber are extremely low in calories, carrot is full of nutrients, and hummus is so rich in protein, indulge guilt free in this snack.
15. Roasted Chickpeas: It’s better to munch on roasted chickpeas than potato chips. Chickpeas are a god source of protien, fiber, and also B vitamins.
