Controlling your appetite is important if you want to lose weight. While calorie reduction is an important strategy, other factors also play a role in appetite and craving control.
The following tips can help reduce food noise, manage hunger and cravings and achieve a healthy weight. These include: getting enough quality sleep, eating smaller portions and avoiding high-calorie add-ons to meals.
Eat During the Night
Eating late at night is a common practice among athletes, fitness enthusiasts and weight conscious individuals. It has long been thought that restricting and avoiding food intake close to sleep would negatively impact health and body composition and increase risk for cardiometabolic diseases.
However, this old perspective is being challenged and research is showing that consuming small nutrient-dense meals/snacks before sleep may not have negative effects. The key is to choose a low energy/calorie food that provides a balanced supply of protein and carbohydrates.
Ideally, these foods should be easily digestible, nutrient-dense, low-glycemic and include sources of hydration. For example, one study showed that consuming a whey protein and casein beverage before sleep was associated with greater satiety than a high-fat/high-calorie alternative. Epidemiological studies are starting to indicate that meal timing patterns and long-term obesity risk are related, with consequences such as circadian disruption and dysregulation of appetite hormones and gut microbiota. However, more prospective cohort studies that comprehensively characterise meal timing exposure and outcomes are needed to confirm this association.