Will A Carb Snack After Dinner Make You Fat?

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Article Title:

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Will A Carb Snack After Dinner Make You Fat?

Article Description:

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Many dieters and athletes are concerned that they'll store fat

if they eat carbohydrates before bed. This article discusses

research and expert advice on what kind of snack will fuel the

body overnight, without storing excess energy.

Additional Article Information:

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861 Words; formatted to 65 Characters per Line

Distribution Date and Time: Tue Mar 21 02:37:39 EST 2006

Written By: Mathers

Copyright: 2006

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Will A Carb Snack After Dinner Make You Fat?

Copyright © 2006 Mathers

Savvy Fat Burning Food

http://www.savvy-fat-burning- food.com/sensible-nutrition

Have you heard the theory that carbs before bed make you store

fat and that protein is the best snack to eat after dinner and

before bed time ? If you're anything like me, you snack

regularly at night and that snack just happens to be a

carbohydrate. You could be forgiven for thinking that this

might be a bad habit to get into if you want to burn body fat.

There have been many recommendations that a good after dinner

snack should be something like cottage cheese (a source of

protein). Reasons for these recommendations are that protein can

increase metabolism and it provides the body with a slow-release

source of amino acids.

Foods high in protein have been a popular choice because the

digestion of protein causes the body to burn more calories than

do carbs or fats. This has the effect of marginally increasing

the rate of metabolism.

Protein also provides the body with the essential biological

building blocks known as amino acids which help to maintain

muscle. Because amino acids can't be stored, having a constant

supply of these is essential. So some recommend eating protein

at the end of the day, to ensure that your body won't be without

the amino acids it needs during the 8 - 10 hours sleep.

So protein is a good after dinner snack, but is this the whole

story ?

What would happen if you ate carbs for your late night snack ?

What about eating both carbohydrates AND protein ?

Dieters and athletes alike worry that they will gain weight if

they eat carbs close to going to bed. Essentially this is not

true. Weight gain does not result if you habitually eat

carbohydrates after the evening meal and before you go to bed.

What The Research says:

Research indicates that carbohydrates at bed time play a role in

helping to lose and maintain weight.

Researchers administering this study split participants into two

groups, one eating a ready-to- eat cereal with skim milk, and the

other not eating anything before bed time over a four week

period. The group who ate the ready-to-eat cereal before bed

actually lost more weight than those who did not eat a bed time

snack. One explanation may be that carbohydrates are necessary

for your body to process and break down fat. So cutting

carbohydrate intake when you want to burn fat might not be the

best way to go.

Another explanation, may be that those who ate the cereal just

ended up consuming less calories. Researchers found that

participants, in both groups consumed less calories, but those

who ate the before bed time snack had the greatest decline in

energy intake overall. [1] So eating carbs before bed will help

you to lose weight, not gain weight.

Interestingly though, the group who ate the before bed-time

snacks in the above study did not just consume carbohydrates,

they also consumed protein not only from the skim milk, but also

the protein contained in the cereal itself.

Expert Opinions on the Right Before Bed Time Snack.

Many nutritionists and dietetic experts recommend that your bed

time snack consists of both carbohydrates and protein. The

American Dietetic Association [2] recommends eating sources of

both carbs and protein together as a snack, giving examples such

as crackers and low fat cheese, yogurt and fruit or cereal and

milk.

In an Australian Institute of Sport sample high energy meal plan

[3] for a young anonymous athlete, fruit smoothies with skim

milk, fruit, ice-cream and skim milk powder was listed as the bed

time snack. Their official site [4] also indicates that

combining nutrients is the way to go.

So according to the experts, examples of the most beneficial bed-

time snacks are:

* fruit and some plain low fat yogurt,

* a skim milk smoothie with fruit, or

* low fat cheese on crackers - my personal favorite.

When you combine both carbohydrates and protein it makes for a

much more enjoyable and varied snack. This way you are not only

ensuring that your body is getting the right fuel and nutrients

for use of overnight, but also ensuring that you're not going to

store fat.

References:

[1] Sandia M. Waller, MS, RD, Jillon S. Vander Wal, PhD,

M. Klurfeld, PhD, FACN, I. McBurney, PhD, FACN,

Cho, PhD, Smita Bijlani, MD and Nikhil V. Dhurandhar, PhD, FACN

Evening Ready-to-Eat Cereal Consumption Contributes to Weight

Management Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Vol.

23, No. 4, 316-321 (2004). See the abstract at

http://www.jacn.org/cgi/content/abstract/23/4/316.

[2] American Dietetic Association Position on Late Night

Snacking. View the page at

http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/home_4246_ENU_HTM

L.htm

[3] Reported by Steve Dow at

http://www.stevedow.com.au/Article/article.asp?id=225

[4] Australian Institute of Sport FAQ " I have been told to avoid

carbohydrate after 2 pm because it will turn to fat. Is this true? " .

Viewable at http://www.ais.org.au/nutrition/qa.asp#24

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