At The Edge of My Sanity | Fat is Best for Pulling an All Nighter?

Fat is Best for Pulling an All Nighter?

I never thought of trying fat as a good keep-me-awake during all-nighters. I always tried to keep things balanced with an actual complete meal rather than a snack. Maybe snacking is a better idea than full scale meals. Avocado, fish, and tree-nuts, and greek yogurt are the first four foods that come to mind with good, clean and high fat content. I’ve actually never eaten an avocado on its own. I’ve had guacamole (thanks Qdoba, lol) but I’ve never just dug into an avocado. I have to try it sometime… In the meanwhile, I’ll definitely make sure my fridge is stocked with a better choice of foods should the night come that I spend not sleeping lol.

nutritionista:

littleoneblog asked: What advice do you have for someone who has to constantly pull all-nighters (prob 2 times a week) for work? Ignoring the lecture about how important sleep is (believe me, I KNOW, and I love sleep, but I also love my paycheck) and how I’ll never loose weight until my stress levels go down and my sleep hours go up, do you have suggestions on getting through this?

Specifically, s/he wants to know what kinds of foods to eat at 3am for energy that won’t sabotage her weight loss efforts, and also what to do the next day to stay satisfied.

I have one word for this problem: FAT. If you’re up all night studying or working, fat is going to fuel your brain but not lead to a big crash later (try eating a few cookies at 3am and see how quickly your head starts to drop!).

Something like an avocado (yes, you can eat the whole thing if you’re hungry!) would be perfect. It’s got enough calories and fat to sustain many hours’ worth of studying or working. If your hungry for something more substantial, try fat mixed with some protein and veggies (e.g., an avocado mixed with tomato and onion over a piece of chicken or beef; Greek yogurt mixed with nut butter and berries; etc.).

Mini “meals” like that will tide you over much better than any quick-fix snack food ever could!