Health & Wellness
Becoming
WeighSmarter By Esty Weiss
Rebalancing Your Leptin Levels As I mentioned in my last article, sleep is the number one step in reestablishing healthy leptin levels. So, today I want to discuss the second step, which is one of the most important components of your weight-loss journey: Stop eating two or three hours before you go to sleep at night. Eating before bed gives your body immediate fuel that can be used as energy — the only problem is that you don’t need energy at this point. The food that is not used for your standard bodily functions (remember that our bodies are still active when we sleep) will be digested and eventually stored as extra fat, even though the body simply wants to be resting! On the other hand, not eating in the two or three hours before bed allows your body’s natural sleeping metabolism to help you burn fat. Sleeping is the perfect time to give your body a rest from food. After all, your body needs to digest what you’ve eaten earlier in the day, so eating extra food late at night won’t help you any. Many people believe that it’s best not to eat anything after six o’clock at night, while some say after seven or eight. I agree with this if you go to sleep at ten, which is ideal. Now, if you’re still working on going to bed in a timely manner, and instead of retiring at 2 o’clock in the morning you go to sleep at twelve, that is indeed progress. If you’re a night owl, it will take you quite a bit of time to adhere to earlier sleeping patterns, but if you make a conscious effort to do so, you will. So, for those of you who go to sleep around 10, it’s good to stop eating at seven. But for those of you who go to bed at
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Sleeping is the perfect time to give your body a rest from food.
one or two o’clock in the morning, then simply stop eating two or three hours before you call it a night. If you eat dinner at seven, you can have a bedtime snack at 10 and go to sleep at one. If you decide not to eat anything after seven and you go to bed at one, that might be a huge challenge for you. You can do it, but it’s okay to have a bedtime snack a few hours before you go to sleep if you feel you need extra fuel. Again, the top choice would be to eat dinner at around seven and go to sleep at 10. Not only will your leptin levels change, but you will lose weight and wake up feeling exhilarated and ready to start your day. Instead of feeling lethargic, you’ll have given your body a good night’s sleep to regenerate. Eating right before going to sleep can have negative effects on your sleep quality. 1. It can make you feel bloated. 2. It can cause acid reflux. 3. Your body will store the energy from the food as fat. 4. It can cause poor digestion.
WHAT TO EAT BEFORE BED IF YOU ARE TRULY HUNGRY First, I want you to be aware that if you’re a “nighttime eater,” you need to break that habit and give yourself at least 21 days (for some people, it takes much