20 Healthy Midnight Snacks

By Sindhu Bharadwaj

Thursday, April 4, 2013, 20:10 [IST]

Sometimes hunger pangs can haunt you late in the night. Even after a sumptuous supper you tend to feel hungry and crave for something chewy and that which satiates your pining for food. Midnight snacking may sound unhealthy and not advisable, however, with the right combination of nutrients, and choosing healthy snacks one can ignore worrying about the calorie clock ticking around your waist, legs and other parts of the body.

A lot of options are available at your disposal in choosing a midnight snack. You can pick from crunchy salads, healthy nutri-bars, smoothies, fruits and even chocolate. It is important to choose the right kind of midnight snack because your body tends to be inactive during the night and less activity would mean easy weight gain.

Let us look at a few healthy midnight snacking ideas-

Cereals

With high fiber content, cereals are the best midnight snacks. They get digested easily and would also help satiate your hunger. Multi-grain cereals, rice crispies, flakes and clusters are fulfilling snacks to munch in midnight.

Nutri-bars

Nutri-bars are energy replenishing and reachable snacking options. They are available even in office vending machines. A single bar has 14 grams of protein and 22 grams of carbohydrates.

Oatmeal

Oatmeal is an absolutely fat-less and nutritious option for a snack. You could add a fruit of your choice and milk along with oatmeal to savour the taste.

Granola bars

Right from almonds, raisins, pecans and dates granola bars are available in different forms to fulfill your midnight pangs. Bite into a single bar and feel your energy gushing.

Fruits

If you're bored of eating any of the above, you may try your favourite fruit as an option. From bananas, apples, peaches, plums, cherries, grapes and mangoes you have it all to just dig into a medley of fruits.

Nuts

The highest source of protein you find after cereals and lentils are in nuts. A handful of almonds, pecans, walnuts, pistachios and dates could drive away your hunger the very next moment also fulfilling the Vitamin E quotient.

Juice

A glass of fresh fruit juice not only hydrates your body but also fills your tummy.

Coconut water

With electrolytes like potassium, manganese and sodium, coconut water strikes the right balance of salt in the body and also fulfills the fiber quotient.

Milk

A glass of almond milk is extremely good for restoring energy in the body. However you could also try plain milk or add your choice of flavour and enjoy it chilled or warm.

Smoothies

Smoothies are blended with yogurt or milk. A glass of apple, mango, banana or a berry smoothie is a healthy and filling midnight drink.

Yogurt

Yogurt is rich in Vitamin C and calcium. It helps your body gain energy instantly. Strawberry, blueberry, cherry, banana yogurt are the best. Greek yogurt is advisable as it has a high source of protein.

Chocolate

Nobody would say no to chocolates, however dark chocolate is known to satiate hunger as well as induce good sleep, since it releases endorphin- a hormone related to happiness.

Baked chips/cookies

Compared to the fried chips, baked chips or cookies have lesser calories, hence chips that are baked does not add weight to your body.

A mini sandwich

If you have chopped veggies stock in your refrigerator, just add them to a slice of bread and sprinkle pepper and salt- a mini sandwich is ready to be devoured as a healthy midnight snack.

Salsa and guacamole

You could dig into a bowl of salsa or guacamole without worrying about calories. Guacamole, a Mexican sauce made out of avocados have good cholesterol and does not make you fat. Salsa, would just have tomatoes and onions, so you could even dip your baked chips in it.

Soup

A bowl of sweet and sour soup is the easiest thing to make and will be done in minutes. It not only clears sore throat, but also fills your stomach. You can also try other soups like tomato, spinach, minestrone and chicken.