Huh. Seems like a lot of people are afraid to try savory oats. I don’t blame you; I thought it was a crazy idea at first, too – oats were a sweet breakfast food, not a savory dinner one. But oats are a grain just like any other, and if quinoa and rice can be used in sweet dishes, why can’t oats be used in savory ones?
But I digress. Oats aren’t on the agenda for today. I actually wanted to talk about something else that a lot of people seem to be afraid of, and that is this little notion of:
nightly noshing
[a.k.a. eating before bed].
Believe me, I know how it is… I used to roll with that crowd, too. I was absolutely convinced that whatever I ate after dinner, or after the sun went down, would spitefully make its way straight to my butt or thighs, and that I’d wake up looking like a whale or some other lovably large creature.
Eating past 7 o’clock? Blasphemy!
That being the case, there were countless nights where the last thing I heard when I eventually managed to drift off to sleep was the grumbling of my own stomach; which, not surprisingly, also happened to be the first thing I heard upon waking up hungry at all hours of the night. Grrrmmmmbbbblllleeee. Wha? Time to eat?! Sigh. No 🙁 … it’s only 2:17 AM. Grrrmmmmbbbblllleeee. Now?! Sigh. No… it’s only 3:32.
Hunger. It sucks.
Considering that I need to eat pretty much every two hours or I start getting a little wonky in the head, going 12 without any food was extremely unpleasant. Unpleasant enough that it finally convinced me that I needed to man up and start having a snack before bed – anything to stop those sleepless nights.
I started out with things that I felt comfortable with. A bowl of yogurt. A bowl of fruit. Err… a bowl of yogurt with fruit. Yeah, I was kind of a wuss at first, but hey, at least I was eating something.
Unfortunately, while my feeble attempts did help, they didn’t completely alleviate my problem – I was still waking up because it just wasn’t enough -and after a few [read: many] more frustrating and sleepless nights, it was time to bring in the big boys. It was time to call in those crazy carbs…
Maple cinnamon oat bran with yogurt and blueberries.
Kashi cereals with yogurt and fruit.
Err… popcorn.
Those crazy carbs turned out to be a godsend – finally something that gave me the comfort and relief that I was looking for. I was falling asleep and staying asleep; and I definitely couldn’t complain about how comforting those carb-laden meals were after a long, hard day. But there was still something missing… still something that my body wanted that I was afraid to give it. More fat and more treats.
I feared fat and treats for a long time, and didn’t eat them as part of my nightly snack because the very thought of doing so gave me nightmares. I don’t remember exactly when my thought process began to change, but I do remember one particular instance where I was standing in my kitchen one night craving a bowl of oats with almond butter, but telling myself that it would have to wait until morning.
But… but… that’s still ages away.
So? It’s too late. You can’t have it now.
… Why not?
Because I said so.
I? I who? I want some!
Nevermind the fact that I talk to myself. That’s irrelevant. The point is that I don’t handle it very well someone tells me no – it’s my nature to get a little rebellious, and rebel I did…
Oat bran with almond milk and banana/almond butter.
A Cinnamon Raisin Bran Muffin with chocolate; a pair of SuperCharge Me cookies.
Toast with cream cheese & raspberry jam.
… and I continued to do so until I was no longer telling myself that I couldn’t have/do what I wanted.
It’s all a bit confusing… I know.
Sorry, I’ll stop with the I’s.
So that’s the story of how I became a nightly nosher. It was a gradual process of dipping my toe into the water, introducing some fear foods, seeing that nothing bad happened, and introducing some more.
These days, I’m proud to say that I’m quite fearless when it comes to my nightly snacks…
Yogurt mess with Kashi puffs, banana, caramel pudding, and chocolate.
Banana covered with almond butter and trail mix.
Baked pumpkin oatmeal with melted coconut butter.
Anything goes. And the best part of it all? I sleep like a baby 😀
. – . – . – .
Are you a nightly nosher?
What’s your favorite bedtime snack?
I just found your blog!!! I LOVE your food pictures and reading your posts. You have a history very similar to mine…and now I am thinking of trying Greek yog again:)
I am SUCH a nighttime nosher, I just don’t sleep as well if I don’t have a snack right before bed!
I love it!! I am totally a nighttime nosher 😉 For me, it has got to be yogurt, fruit, and cereal 🙂
I recently began accepting the fact that if I’m up late at night, and don’t have a very-late-night snack (…meal!) then I won’t be able to fall asleep at all, and I WILL have to eat at 1 or 2am! Thanks for writing this….I’m glad I’m not the only who was/is previously-afraid-to-but-NEEDS-to-eat-late!
not gunna lie, its still abit tough for me to eat late at night, but i do sometimes have a bowl of cereal right before bed, or sometoast and cream cheese!
Love this post! It is so true! I def. need me some almond butter and chocolate before bed.
Hey! I love this post because I used to have the same kinda debates with myself when it came to night time snacking…..not any more! I’m with you – get carbolicious and reap the benefits of those Zzzzssss! 🙂
yumyum yum!! Im horrible at night snacking. I can easily finish off a bag of popcorn as a “snack” lol and I do serious damage on the nut butters at night!!
Gahhh, I apparently need to become a nighttime nosher!! I feel so in the minority. I don’t snack at night, but I also eat dinner laaate so I guess you could consider dinner my nighttime snack? But if I happen to eat dinner earlier than usual, I will definitely snack before bed, case in point, last night I came home and went to town on some almonds and raisins. I once woke up in the middle of the night after having a light dinner and was so hungry that I had to promptly get up and eat some cereal in the kitchen. Never again, never again.
Because of this post, I NEED to put hummus and pizza sauce on my oats. And broccoli, omg yum!!
speaking of being woken up at night because of hunger, it happened to me too many times. and it’s unsatiable. My ED kept telling me it’s better to be hungry than to have a good night’s sleep. Well screw that.
Now, I find that good bed time snacks MUST have carbs and some tryptophan (whole eggs, beans, etc). I don’t even care if my night snack is as big as my ginormous breakfast because quality sleep and health is very important.
That’s crazy , because I used to be the same exact way! lol Waking up from hunger pains, thinking some tea at night would do the job. But I slowly had to weave my way into nightly noshing, and now I have to have something before I sleep, cause, well I want to:) Great post!
I LOVE my nightly nosh! A few stapleas for me are: A pancake with nutbutter and jam, oats, anything chocolate, granola, or an apple hummus cheese melt.
*Sigh*
So tasty!
oh mannnn these look so delicious girl!
I used to eat my biggest meal in the evening, and snack through the night time, but now I’ve switched to breakfast being my main meal and it feels GREAT. If I’m wanting something to snack on in the evening I’ll usually go for something super light like popcorn or fruit.
I was having trouble sleeping a lot, when I didn’t eat enough. I was just thinking about the food, waking up in the middle of the night. And then, sometimes when I woke up, I went to eat something. Those are my favorites, snacks in the middle of the night 🙂
I adore having cereal with milk before bed, makes me sleepy and happy.
Oh and btw, that yogurt mess with chocolate and caramel pudding? So divine. Need to try asap 🙂
Instead of thinking of food as fattening, I think of it as nourishing. Almond butter before bed? Well, my body can use it in my sleep to make my hair soft and my organs healthy! Carbs? Brain fuel all night long 😀
Even if it took you long to warm up to the idea of eating before bed, you still did it 🙂 And all on your own! So proud of you! And this post is VERY well written, I really enjoyed reading it (I read it all!!)
That’s a great way to look at it!
I’m ALWAYS eating at night. It’s so great to see that it’s normal. I love seeing someone like you who’s healthy but doesn’t base your health off of the “stereotypes” and the “norms”. (No eating at night! No more that ___ calories!) You are such an inspiration to me, seriously. And I agree with @Colleen, your style of writing is GREAT!
Okay, first off – I just freakin’ love your blog and style of writing and I don’t think I’ve told you that yet (wow, now were serious.) Secondly, I have become such a nightly nosher! I usually have a bow of cereal or a piece of toast with PB. Let’s be honest, it’s always carbs. Or sweets. Or both 🙂
All these look so yummy! Do you mind sharing what kind of yogurt and pudding you typically buy?
Sure. I buy Liberte Greek yogurt http://www.liberte.ca/en/ and Zensoy pudding http://zensoy.com/
I don’t usually partake in nightly snacking– especially since I finish dinner in between 6 and 7 pm, and go to bed in between 8 and 9 pm. If I do need a snack though, I an working on finding something compact so that I don’t have to go to bed with an uncomfortable yummy.
Ah, your meals looks delicious!! Love that you are eating every second hour, sounds like a great idea!! Im afraid of night time sbacking too, but Im really trying to get over it!