Helpful Tips for Those Midnight Cravings!

Howdy folks, I'm here with some quick diet tips for those midnight cravings!

It's 4 a.m., and you just woke up, your stomach is rumbling, you are hungry! What to do? You walk into your kitchen, maybe have a drink of water and see how you feel. Sometimes we confuse thirst for hunger, common thing by the way so it is a good idea to hydrate first.

Nope, you drank water and you are still hungry! Okay, did I mention that it is 4 a.m? This is where your preparation and planning ahead will work wonders!

What's in your fridge or pantry? This is key towards your long term success when it comes to fitness. For instance, if your fridge is loaded with sweets and chips, then guess what you are going to eat? I can't blame you, it's 4 a.m., and you want to go back to sleep!

It is human nature, and heavily pushed by our culture and powerful industries that we eat this way. They don't want us to choose the healthier foods! They want you to choose convenience, quick, easy, and they make that more accessible to make you more likely to go for it!

I know, it's not your fault, you are a product of your environment. However, like many products of the environment, you do have a choice. Perhaps, instead of that garbage, you get some nuts, some dried cranberries, or even have some boiled eggs on the ready?

This is exactly what happened to me, and I went in on my peanut stash! I always have peanuts in the house. Peanuts are loaded with healthy fats and protein, and though they are small, they pack a lot of calories and actually can fill you up! I prefer to get them roasted, with no salt, and with the shell. The shells slow down my consumption, and makes me work a little harder to eat them. It's all psychological strategy to prevent me from binging!

Some foods that I recommend keeping around for 4 a.m. consumption would be cashews, dried cranberries, pistachios, peanuts, almonds, and though not the best choice, rice cakes are a low calorie alternative that can satisfy a quick craving in a pinch.

You can possibly have some egg whites pre-made, some tuna on the ready, or even some other form of protein ready for eating. The key here is to keep it simple and readily accessible. The easier you make it for yourself, the more likely you are to succeed.

Some folks will argue that you should not eat this late, and hey, that's all on you and your specific goals, body type, age, discipline, etc. My goal is long term success, and in order to achieve that, I have to be smart about how I do this. I learned long ago that depriving yourself of food when you are ravenous is the biggest mistake you could make, it will almost always lead to a binge episode. Especially at that vulnerable time of 4 a.m.!

Try to stay away from the sugary junk food, and unless you have some medical condition, try to avoid heavy carbs during this late night meal. I prefer to stuff myself with some healthy fats and proteins. I'll eat just enough to get the hunger under control until the next meal. The idea behind making this specific choice of macro-nutrients is to decrease the odds of it being stored as body fat! Weird right? Eating fats, in hopes of not storing any fat!

Please note by the way, I am not a doctor, and you should probably talk to a doctor if you have any major health concerns. I repeat, I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice! I'm just saying!

So what are your favorite late night meal options?

An earlier version of this post was originally posted on AngelrTalk.com.