Here’s What Not To Eat (And Drink) Before Bed

What not to eat before bed is our next question from our mailbox to answer. This question is of great importance due to the fact there are some eatables that may cause weight gain during sleep, and also for the fact that some eatables make it harder for you to fall asleep.

Apart from weight gain and not being able to fall asleep, following are other causes of harmful eatables: nightmares, insomnia, an irritated tummy, and sleep-interrupting trips to the potty. All of those can cause you to feel depressed as well when addicted.

With that being said, it makes sense and is important to discover foods you must not eat prior to going to bed.

Also, if you came here by mistake and wanted to read about what to eat before bed, we have an article for that query as well – you can either search it on our website or click the query itself in this sentence.

Let’s get started with knowing what not to eat before bed.

What not to eat before bed:

Following are the foods you must not eat before going to bed.

1 – Cheese:

Cheese makes it to the top of the list of foods to not eat before bed. This is because it has amino acid tyramine which makes your mind to be alerted in some way, causing you to experience weird dreams when you are asleep. Not only does it make it harder for you to fall asleep, but also makes you experience strange dreams thus causing you to wake up immediately.

With that in mind, it is easier to say it isn’t a good sleep promoter but a bad food to consume before bed.

2 – Bacon:

Bacon is the second of foods to not eat before bed. It is because it is both a fatty food and its every slice contains stimulating chemical tyramine which makes it harder for a stomach to perform digestion. As long as your stomach hasn’t done its digestion, you will unlikely be able to fall asleep. It, therefore, is not a good idea to consume bacon before going to bed.

3 – Dark Chocolate:

One of the foods that answer what not to eat before bed is dark chocolate. This is because chocolates have, to some extent, caffeine in them which makes it harder for you to fall asleep – especially the dark chocolate. Another reason it being not a good sleep promoter is the fact that dark chocolate contains theobromine, which increases heart rate and causes sleeplessness.

4 – Cereal:

Cereals, especially bought from stores, have lots and lots of sugars and syrups, making your blood glucose running on high. This is very bad for when you want to fall asleep. Therefore, it can be said that cereal is not an eatable you should consume prior to going to bed.

5 – Chicken:

Chicken is another one of foods to answer what not to eat before bed. This is because chicken has lots of proteins, and lots of proteins make it harder for a stomach to do digestion – especially when you are asleep (your digestion gets slowed by 50% when you are asleep). If you’ve consumed chicken before bed, your body will find it hard to focus on sleep, but perform digestion processes in your body.

6 – French Fries:

French fries or anything fried is harmful, both for when you want to go to sleep, or in general. They are high in fat and are so much oily. Not only does it make it hard to digest such eatable, but also contributes to the fat deposition in your body, making you gain weight. Such type of food is the worst food you can eat, both before bed or in general (anytime throughout the day).

Dried foods are also dangerous for when you’ve given a birth.

7 – Burgers:

Burger, like french fries, is also a fried food – thus not a good eatable to consume. Again for the same reasons; oily content and lots of fats found in it.

Burgers are being covered again (a type of fried foods) even though we mentioned that any fried food is harmful because it is seen that most people prefer eating burgers prior to going to bed.

8 – Pizza:

If you’ve been used to ordering pizza at night, you should immediately stop. Not only does it have a cheesy topping, but also a lot of calories, which are harmful to your stomach and can cause you to make visits to the bathroom late at night.

Some people are also found to eat pizza even after they are done with a dinner, which adds more calories to their bodies, causing obesity in return – this is worse than eating pizza for dinner only. This combination of cheesy content and calories along with lots of fats make this eatable one of worst foods that answer what not to eat before bed.

9 – Raw Vegetables:

Raw vegetables are hard to digest, especially broccoli and celery. This makes your stomach to work for hours, making you not being able to fall asleep easily. Therefore, it can be said that raw veggies should be avoided prior to going to bed.

10 – Ice Cream:

Ice cream has lots of sugar and fat, both of which are harmful to your desire of sleeping well. And not just that, some ice creams also contain caffeine (like chocolate ice creams) which make you stay up all night long.

11 – Spicy Foods:

Spices cause heartburn which may result in sleeplessness. Even though they promote metabolism, they are not a good type of foods to eat before going to bed. This is because your stomach may experience inflammation, causing you to not be able to fall asleep easily.

You should also avoid spicy foods if you want to go for a run in the morning.

12 – Sugary, Fiber-rich, and Fat Foods:

Sugar added foods increase energy levels while fat added foods make your digestion processes harder – both of which are some of the elements that are important to analyze your overall sleep. Fiber, on the other hand, is capable of causing digestion processes slow.

Anything that has lots of sugar or fiber contents or foods that are high in fat contents are also your answer to what not to eat before bed.

13 – Dried Fruits:

With things like sugar, fiber, and fat covered earlier – it is easier to place dried fruits on the list of foods that not recommended when going to bed. Dried fruits are high in fiber and sugar contents.

14 – Red Meat:

Like chicken, red meat comes with a high amount of proteins, making it harder for you to sleep relaxed. It sits on your stomach for hours, causing non-relaxed feelings.

Also, eating meat is strictly not recommended if you have typhoid.

15 – Tomatoes:

Similar to cheese, tomatoes also come with tyramine, making your mind to be alert thus falling for sleep an harder task. Therefore, tomatoes also make it to the list of foods that answer what not to eat before bed.

16 – Watermelon:

If you are wondering why watermelon is harmful for when you want to go to sleep, it is because watermelon stores a lot of water and when you consume it, the chances of you running for bathroom late night are higher than when you sleep without eating watermelon. This immediate emergencies to a bathroom can lower your sleepful satisfaction.

Now that we’re done with what not to eat before bed, here are fluids you must avoid prior to going to bed as well.

What not to drink before bed:

Following are the fluids you must not drink before going to bed.

1 – Coffee:

Coffee is a no-brainer when it comes to answering what not to drink before bed. This is because of caffeine. Caffeine’s effect is found to exist for 10 hours, therefore, drinking coffee just before going to bed is a big NO.

2 – Alcohol:

Alcohols stop you from falling into deep sleep, regardless of its types. This is because it metabolizes faster in your body (system) and the chances of you waking up during sleep becomes more. You do not want that to happen, do you?

3 – Soda:

Many sodas are found to have caffeine in them. Even if some sodas don’t have caffeine, chances of sugar added content found in them still exist. For both reasons, it is better to avoid soda before bedtime.

4 – Orange Juice:

Orange juice is also harmful in a sense that it is a citrus fruit which is very acidic in nature and can cause heat-burn or other related problems – it is also very problematic if your bladder is weak or sensitive.

5 – Mountain Dew:

Mountain dew, similar to soda, also contains caffeine, is, therefore, a no-no when you want to go to sleep.

6 – Red Bull:

Again for the same reason, caffeine found in red bull is not a good sleep promoter, therefore a bad idea to drink before going to bed.

When to see a doctor:

Even though the results of better sleep can be achieved by avoiding the mentioned eatables and fluids, it’s still better to work with your dietitian for satisfactory purposes throughout the course.