Waking up hungry at night?

[Anonymous]

Does anybody else wake up hungry in the middle of the night and have to eat before falling back to sleep?

This happens to me pretty regularly and drives me nuts. I'm relatively active, have a super fast metabolism regardless, and eat lots of small meals/snacks throughout the day. I'm trying to figure out what I, if anything, I should eat before bed to make this less likely to happen.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like you're not eating much food during the day. Why are you only eating small meals/snacks instead of regular meals?

[Anonymous]

Sorry, wasn't clear enough! I do eat a normal sized breakfast (usually cereal or a fried egg with wheat toast), lunch (usually leftovers from the previous night's dinner), and dinner (whatever I cook). I just also eat mini-meals/snacks (like cheese and pretzels, pistachios, hard boiled eggs and fruit, turkey cubes, etc) in between those because I get extremely hungry in between. Despite that, I still wake up hungry in the middle of the night at least twice a week.

[Anonymous]

make sure you drink enough water during the day.

Have something with protein before bed, like string cheese or a glass of milk.

[Anonymous]

Maybe you aren't consuming enough healthy fats? Fats help us feel full. The pistachios are great, but maybe add more sources of fat. Avocado perhaps? Almonds? More olive oil?

Also, oatmeal is great for satiety (and health). Have you tried oatmeal as a snack after dinner, but long enough before bed that you have enough time to absorb it?

[Anonymous]

Yes this happens to me too. I usually eat some almonds or some soy nuts and / or a small piece of Swiss cheese right before bed and that does the trick

[Anonymous]

Make sure it's hunger and not GERD (acid reflux). I made this mistake…when you lie flat, it creates the conditions for reflux. The irritation feels like hunger.

Here's a quick experiment--get two books of the same thickness and one of them under each leg of the bed (at the head). So your bed is on a slight slant--your head is up a little higher than your feet. See if that helps.