Waking up - hungry

[Slow.Patrol]

I am suffering with disturbed sleep following a knee replacement which was not straightforward due to having a number of bone spurs which needed grinding down.

The problem is I wake up in the early hours and I'm hungry and I cannot get to sleep with an empty stomach.

I generally have a bowl of cereal and get back to sleep after an hour. However having extra food is resulting in weight gain.

Any suggestions for avoiding the night munchies.

[alabbasi]

Avoid carbs, especially complex carbs or processed food like cereal. Try some a small hand full of macadamia nuts a few hours before you go to sleep or when you wake up. Cereal will spike your your sugar and raises insulin levels, which tells your body to store the sugar in your blood as fat. thus leading to weight gain.

Also, sometimes when you feel hungry, you might actually be thirsty.

[danb79]

Slow.Patrol said:

I am suffering with disturbed sleep following a knee replacement which was not straightforward due to having a number of bone spurs which needed grinding down.

The problem is I wake up in the early hours and I'm hungry and I cannot get to sleep with an empty stomach.

I generally have a bowl of cereal and get back to sleep after an hour. However having extra food is resulting in weight gain.

Any suggestions for avoiding the night munchies.

Try a banana before you go to sleep; they're well known for helping with sleep due to the potassium and magnesium in them, plus the tryptophan which helps to relax muscles

Works for me - we get 2 bunches each week; one small/organic (for the pre bedtime snack) and large ones for breakfast or other times etc

[oddman]

Big spoon of crunchy peanut butter washed down with some milk is what I use when the night munchies strike - seems to work

[Xerstead]

Slow.Patrol said:

I am suffering with disturbed sleep following a knee replacement which was not straightforward due to having a number of bone spurs which needed grinding down.

The problem is I wake up in the early hours and I'm hungry and I cannot get to sleep with an empty stomach.

I generally have a bowl of cereal and get back to sleep after an hour. However having extra food is resulting in weight gain.

Any suggestions for avoiding the night munchies.

I certainly agree with avoiding sugars and carbs. Following surgery your body's looking to repair itself, to do that it needs protein. Fortunately protein is very good at satiating the appetite for relatively few calories so it can be a great tool for weight loss too. Theres also the argument that deficiency triggers hunger signals, and the standard diet doesn't have enough early in the day (breakfast cereals/toast etc) to shut it off, leading to snacking & obesity.

Unless youre already on a high protein diet try switching up breakfast and having a few chicken legs or boiled eggs shortly before bed. It should help shut off that hunger and give your body the nutrients to heal.

[Slow.Patrol]

pearson_n said:

what are you having for dinner normally and when do you have it?

Being retired, we have the main meal at lunchtime.

Evening is normally a salad or soup.

[Slow.Patrol]

Oddly enough, I seem to have grown out of it.

I am drinking a pint of water in the evening and it is working

[DaveGrohl]

Slow.Patrol said:

Oddly enough, I seem to have grown out of it.

I am drinking a pint of water in the evening and it is working

Sounds like an extremely odd "solution". A pint? Wow.

I used to wake up in the night needing to pee, but I’d drink lemonade in the evening watching the TV. Now I only have a small glass of water to hand and barely sip it. Never need to pee during the night now.

Few years ago I had a hip op. I was on morphine, which during the night made me insanely thirsty, so I had no choice but to drink some water. Then 2 hours later I’d be absolutely bursting for the toilet. Horrible self-perpetuating couple of weeks that was.

[Slow.Patrol]

I find that drinking a pint of water during the evening gives me a hydration boost and I will only need to get up once in the night.

I have also stopped eating sugar which was not helping.

[popeyewhite]

Slow.Patrol said:

I am suffering with disturbed sleep following a knee replacement which was not straightforward due to having a number of bone spurs which needed grinding down.

The problem is I wake up in the early hours and I'm hungry and I cannot get to sleep with an empty stomach.

I generally have a bowl of cereal and get back to sleep after an hour. However having extra food is resulting in weight gain.

The fact you're hungry suggests either your medication is making you hungry or you've eaten less food during the day. A bowl of cereal later on will not make you put on weight, something else is the cause.

[Mirinjawbro]

alabbasi said:

Avoid carbs, especially complex carbs or processed food like cereal. Try some a small hand full of macadamia nuts a few hours before you go to sleep or when you wake up. Cereal will spike your your sugar and raises insulin levels, which tells your body to store the sugar in your blood as fat. thus leading to weight gain.

Also, sometimes when you feel hungry, you might actually be thirsty.

doesn't work like that. total calories for the day dictates weight loss or gain.

on your logic eating nothing all day and having a small bowl of processed cereal before bed would mean weight gain

[Slow.Patrol]

popeyewhite said:

The fact you're hungry suggests either your medication is making you hungry

I'm on medication for pain from arthritis. One of the side effects is weight gain.