Sinful Temptations of the Dark Hour
When the clock strikes 9, there raise head the ghost of our cravings. The stress hormones which are at the peak at night time, cleverly dupe us into thinking that junk food tastes great. Sure, it does! But, everyone knows it’s not healthy; especially in the night when we store all the fats and go to sleep without giving our body a chance to digest or burn out the piled-up calories. Let’s recognize the 10 night-time food temptations that could hamper your health and dieting efforts.
Ice-cream
A research published online by American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that those who regularly ate ice cream needed more and more to replicate the 'high' they first experienced. Ice-cream cravings are similar to desires experienced by drug addicts.
Chips
Most of us empty a whole bag of chips within minutes due to mindless eating while watching TV or playing on computer. Ads can make food look very good and lead to over-consumption. We readily binge on chips even when we are not hungry.
Chocolates
Chocolates have chemicals present in them that are related to the THC found in marijuana and theobromine- a compound similar to the caffeine that gets people addicted to coffee. In total, chocolate is a brew of 380 chemicals, a bunch of which affect your mood. No wonder it helps the blues!
Beer
Just because alcohol is liquid, it is not any better than a cheeseburger or fries. A calorie is a calorie. A beer still adds pounds to the weighing scale and cholesterol to your arteries.
Cookies
Low serotonin and/or blood sugar levels and stress cause you to crave for cookies. And the craving can occur up to 24 hours post stress response.
Candy
More than sugar, your body needs sleep. Craving for sweets through the day indicates an underactive thyroid gland, which leads to fatigue. Another aspect would be Steroids and stress, which increase your body's secretion of the hormone cortisol, can suppress your immune system, allowing yeast to run wild, making candy cravings constant.
Burger
A craving for red meat is often a sign that you’re lacking iron and/or conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a fatty acid that helps your body burn stored fat.
Pasta
A pasta craving bizarrely usually indicates a lack of sugar. When your sugar levels are far too low, your body enters a state called hypoglycaemia, which causes you to crave carbohydrates. So craving pasta and bread usually means you need to find something sugary, such as fruit, fast!
Popcorn
When you plan a cosy movie night with your partner, it is incomplete without popcorn. So is watching late night series of your favourite show; and that craving for popcorn is difficult to subside. Stress hormone fluctuations are responsible for salty, buttery popcorn craving.
