A wonderful late night idea for snaking that won't make you grow a roll...

It is not necessary to avoid eating in the evening hours to lose flab.  In fact, the right night-time meal can often positively affect your results and recovery from exercise by feeding your muscles with quality nutrition as you sleep.

The trick, as always, is choosing the RIGHT foods before bed, and knowing which foods those are.  Here are some general "rules" to creating the ultimate pre-bed meal:

1. Avoid carbs and insulin.  Because consuming carbohydrates will result in a significant insulin release (which will in turn put the breaks on fat-burning), carbs are ill-advised for a pre-bed meal.  Carbs are also much more easily stored as fat in the evening hours when metabolism is naturally slowing in preparation for sleep.  Besides, you have very little opportunity to burn off that energy when consuming carbs at night -- sleep isn't a very calorically expensive activity!

In addition to carbs, certain animal proteins have been shown to yield a significant insulin response as well, such as red meat and certain fish.  While these protein foods are OK for a pre-bed meal, there are better choices, like those mentioned below.

2. Choose slow digesting proteins.  Slow digesting proteins, like white meat proteins such as turkey and chicken, are great night-time meal choices as they digest slowly and fail to produce a significant insulin response.

Another great choice is the milk protein casein, found in our premium protein blend, BioTrust Low Carb, and also in cottage cheese.  Casein coats the stomach, digests slowly, and provides quality nutrition to your muscles over several hours...very ideal as a pre-bedtime protein source!   

3. Add fat.  Quality, healthy fats such as nuts, oils, and nut butters are great additions to a pre-bedtime meal as they will help to further slow gastric emptying and digestion while increasing fullness and satiety so you don't wind up snacking all night long.

Just follow these 3 simple rules for night-time snacking (slow digesting protein, low carb, add fat) and you'll be in great shape...give it a try with an evening snack tonight!

Stay Healthy and have a great day!