M14) Foods to Avoid Before 9 Am

 Foods to Avoid Before 9 Am

Foods to avoid before bed

You may nibble on a “light snack” before going to bed to avoid getting hunger pangs in the middle of the night. Despite your efforts, you toss and turn for hours in bed, and can’t help but wonder if it’s something you ate. The truth is there are certain foods, even healthy foods, that can interrupt sleep and wreak havoc on your digestive system.

Unfortunately, all food can really intervene with digestion and sleep if you consume it within two to three hours before bed. Still, read on to learn which types of foods to avoid that can inhibit a good night’s sleep. Plus, check out these unusual sleep tricks that experts say actually work.

Fried foods

Avoid a trip to the drive-through to satisfy your late-night munchies. Greasy, fatty foods get through your system slower than protein and carbs, so your body will still be hard at work by the time you try to fall asleep, says Boulder-based behavioral sleep therapist Richard Shane, Ph.D., creator of the Sleep Easily Method. “You don’t want the engine of the digestive system cranking away when the rest of your body is trying to go to sleep,” he says. Find out why you crave junk food when you’re tired.

Hot sauce

The reasons to avoid spicy foods before bed are twofold. For one, they can irritate the stomach and cause heartburn, making it hard to wind down for sleep, says Dr. Shane. The interaction also creates a passage for histamines to release into your body, says W. Christopher Winter, MD, president of the Charlottesville Neurology and Sleep Medicine clinic in Virginia and author of The Sleep Solution: Why Your Sleep Is Broken and How to Fix It. “Anti-histamines make you sleepy,” he says, but on the flip side, histamines promote wakefulness.

Turkey

Forget what you’ve heard about how the tryptophan in turkey makes you sleepy on Thanksgiving—you can blame your food coma on the massive portions you gobbled down. In fact, turkey on any other day might actually keep you awake. The protein signals the brain to produce dopamine, the “motivation molecule” that gives you energy. You might want to avoid chicken and steak close to bedtime, but there’s still a way to get your protein fixed. “Game meat and salmon are higher in melatonin,” says Dr. Winter. “Those are good for sleep.” (On the flip side, try to not eat these 10 things if you want to live a long life.)

Alcohol

Ending your day with a glass (or two) of red wine might conk you out, but you won’t get good quality sleep. As your head hits the pillow, your liver is still hard at work trying to remove the alcohol from your system, says Dr. Shane. “There’s a connection between your liver and your heart, and your heart beats faster, and that wakes you up,” he says. Once you snap out of dreamland, your pounding heart will make it harder to drift back into sleep. Sleep will also not be as deep and alcohol can interfere with sleep architecture. Snoring and heartburn are also common after alcohol which may disrupt sleep. Instead of wine, try these 11 natural sleep aids that actually work.

Chocolate

You probably wouldn’t down a cup of coffee before bed, but it’s not the only source of caffeine. One ounce of chocolate (about three squares) contains about 23 milligrams of caffeine, which is a quarter of the amount in a cup of coffee. Chocolate also has other wakefulness compounds such as theobromine which is found more in darker chocolate. These are the 50 things nutritionists never eat—so you shouldn’t either.

Coffee

No surprise here, but it’s worth noting just how soon before bed you should cut your coffee consumption. “With caffeine, the general rule in the sleep field is no later than early afternoon,” says Dr. Shane. To enjoy the taste with a mid-afternoon sweet fix, sip on decaf or half-caf, he says. Learn about more of the eating habits that ruin your sleep.

Coffee ice cream

Unfortunately for your after-dinner dessert, coffee ice cream does contain actual coffee—and its caffeine. Some even have bits of coffee beans in them, points out Dr. Winter. “If you can, reduce the amount of ice cream you eat or have it earlier,” he says. Also, watch out for hidden caffeine in nutrition bars, which can contain coffee beans, he says.

Water

Most of the time, extra hydration deserves two thumbs up. As the clock ticks toward bedtime, though, you might want to wind down your liquid load so you don’t need to drag yourself out of bed to use the bathroom. “Drink a sufficient amount of water during the day and even at dinnertime so your body has enough water,” says Dr. Shane. “You don’t want to go to bed thirsty and drink a lot then.” If you do need to sip something, try these best drinks to help you sleep.

Workout helpers

Sports shakes and snacks often contain caffeine to pump up athletes’ performance. Try not to take them close to bedtime, and check the label on your protein shake when you finish your gym session to make sure caffeine isn’t hiding inside. “Make sure the workout drinks you’re eating before bed is a post-workout, not a pre-workout, which will have a lot of caffeine or stimulants,” says Dr. Winter. Instead, try these 16 bedtime snacks that help you sleep better.

Government plans to restrict junk food advertising on television and online have been criticized by campaigners who say they contain too many exemptions to affect rising levels of obesity in the UK.

The new rules, which were announced on Thursday and come into force from the end of next year, will ban adverts for products deemed to be high in fat, salt, and sugar (HFSS) before the 9pm watershed. Paid-for ads on sites including Facebook and Google by big brands will also be banned.

However, the government has allowed numerous exceptions and carve-outs. Companies will be able to show marketing on their own websites and social media accounts. The restrictions will not apply to marketing by smaller companies of fewer than 250 employees.

Some foods that are HFSS that are not viewed as traditional “junk food” – such as honey, Marmite, and avocados – will still be allowed to feature in advertising. So too will zero-sugar drinks and products such as McDonald’s nuggets, which nutritionally are not deemed to be an HFSS products.

Controversially, brand-only advertising online and on TV will continue to be allowed, so companies associated with junk food products can market themselves as long as those products that fall foul of the rules do not appear.

Health campaigners welcomed the further tightening of ad rules but voiced concerns that big brands associated with poor dietary choices will still be allowed to have a large presence in front of consumers.

“The proposals represent a significant step forward in reducing exposure to a constant stream of unhealthy food and drink advertising on TV and online,” said Barbara Crowther, coordinator of the Children’s Food Campaign. “We remain concerned that the proposals will still allow massive multinational junk food companies and delivery platforms to run big brand campaigns.”

The exemption for small companies means that Facebook and Google, where small companies that cannot afford TV ads tend to invest their marketing spend, will continue to feature significant amounts of junk food adverts.

Dr. Petra Hanson, a clinical researcher at Warwick Medical School, said the government needs to introduce a total ban on online and TV junk food advertising to tackle the UK obesity problem.

“I remain very concerned about children’s exposure to unhealthy food advertisements,” she said. “Children have continued to be exposed to unhealthy adverts. Young adults will continue to be exposed to unhealthy food advertisements after 9pm, and we know that eating habits developed in early life often persist into adulthood.”

The government says the TV and online restrictions could remove up to 7.2bn calories from children’s diets in the UK, reducing the number of obese children by 20,000. Currently, one in three children leaves primary school overweight or obese.

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