There are a few excellent reasons to quit eating heavy snacks in the evening at home or in your office. It would help if you remembered that snacking’s primary objective is to beat your pre-mealtime hunger pangs. However, that should not fill your stomach to such an extent that you feel like skipping dinner, which, according to health experts, will affect your health and metabolism drastically.
Therefore, make it a point that you stick to the actual concept of ‘snacking’ and eat light food not to end up eating at odd hours or skip dinner entirely. Even if you have guests coming over in the evening, make sure you do not serve them heavy snacks. And if you’re facing gut issues due to this habit, be sure to check out Refluxgate.
Having light evening snacks has nothing to do with ‘dissatisfaction,’ but instead, it should be an integral part of your daily healthy diet plan. Even if you have a hectic schedule to follow, eating a healthy and light snack that is tasty and high in nutrients is imperative.
Have dinner on time
Having healthy and light home snacks will ensure that you have your dinner on time. Even if you are an extreme foodie, you should avoid oily and heavy foods which will have profound effects such as:
- Adding to the accumulation of fat in your body
- Affecting your digestive ability negatively and several other allied issues as well.
Therefore, make healthy and light eating a daily habit to prevent health issues that are sure to arise due to unhealthy and heavy snacking in the evenings.
Leading a sedentary lifestyle will further aggravate the issues as you will feel full till late at night. This will delay dinnertime, which means the food will take a longer time to digest, leading to some serious health problems.
Health problems
Health experts and dieticians say that sticking to healthy snacking and proper meal timings are the cornerstones of living a healthy life. If you eat healthy at the correct times, it will help you avoid many health issues. This is because unhealthy foods are often found to contain harmful contents in high levels, such as:
- Carbohydrates
- Sugar and
- Dietary fats.
These are very low in nutritional value and will even affect your immune system making you vulnerable to cough, cold, and other illnesses and diseases.
In addition to that unhealthy and untimely snacking on a regular basis will also affect different organs in your body such as:
- The liver
- Heart
The different dietary fats in these foods will elevate blood levels which will, in turn, lead to high cholesterol.
The risks are even more when you buy foods unprepared at home because the local vendor may not use quality ingredients, especially the oil. Foods may be sold after frying and re-frying several times, making it highly risky for your health if consumed regularly.
If you want to save on your medical bills and doctor visits, make it a point that you switch to healthy and light snacking right here, right now.
Weight gain issue
If you have heavy snacks at home in the evening and then have dinner at odd hours, it will surely increase your body weight resulting in high Body Mass Index or BMI. It will lead to obesity eventually because even if you consume such foods in small portions, it will add many fat and calories that will cause weight gain.
Couple with that the fact that you will be less active in the evening and nights, unburnt calories and fats will expedite the process of weight gain. This excess weight will further lead to several health issues such as:
- High blood pressure
- Fatty liver
- Heart diseases
- Asthma
- Sleep apnea and
- Degenerative arthritis.
Therefore, avoid greasy and heavy foods in the evenings and power up with those energy bars instead. These are actually good for your health.
Affects metabolism
Heavy snacking will also cause metabolic dysregulation due to the high fat and high-calorie contents. These foods take a lot of time to digest as compared to any regular food. This will slow down the overall functioning of the digestive system and hence your metabolism, which will lead to issues such as:
- Fullness
- Heartburn
- Nausea and even
- Upper abdominal pain.
Therefore, keep your metabolism in check by having healthy snacks right on time.
Tooth decay
According to studies, eating too frequently may also increase the chances of tooth decay. This is because you will not brush your teeth every time you eat. That means that the germs will not be removed apart from the fact that your mouth will be unclean.
This will cause the bacteria in plaque to produce acids that will damage the enamel. If you eat too frequently, these bacteria will get more time to do their work, damaging work to be precise. This risk is even more when you have foods rich in carbohydrates which are the food for the bacteria in the plaque.
Therefore, if you are into heavy and unhealthy snacking in the evening, it is high time that you quit it and look for an alternative that will be good for your hunger pangs and overall health as well.
Making smart food choices
You will be surprised to see the list of healthy foods you can choose for your evening snacks. Be wise to make a smart choice from these low-calorie evening snacks:
- Salted popcorns
- Apples with a spoonful of peanut butter
- Bran flakes with flavoured yoghurt
- Chicken grilled sandwich with apple shake
- Fresh fruits
- Cornflakes
- Vegetable sandwiches
- Biscuits and even
- A boiled egg.
Also, make it a point that you take your evening snacks between 4 to 6 pm. This will give enough time between your meals. Therefore, a nutritious snack taken in small portions a couple of hours before dinnertime will help you beat the hunger pangs uncalled for and ensure that you have your dinner on time. You will this way be able to live a long, healthy and active life.