What Happens Late Night

Yesterday was what we call in the running world (or at least in the SUAR world), “perfection.”

47 degrees. Crisp. Sunny. Fall colors.

I had a super busy day on tap with work and other crap (and I missed this drunken roll-over accident by about 3 minutes – I get so infuriated with stuff like this. Some 24 year old woman was drunk, driving way too fast and flipped her car – it’s amazing that someone else was not hurt or killed. Go drink yourself to death in your bedroom and keep the rest of us out of it).

I was determined to get a run in before the madness of my day started. I did a leisurely and lovely 6  miles, no music (even though I usually do run with it). I skipped my pre-run banana because I was somewhat satiated from the night before.  In a few stress-filled moments I had eaten a some handfuls of this:

Then had one or two of these:

Then topped off the evening with a serving in bed of:

Yes, I am a trash can.

I’m not usually one who eats when I am bored or stressed, but for some reason I needed these things that night and I thoroughly enjoyed each morsel. People think because I run a lot and have a life focused on fitness that I never do anything “unhealthy.” What a joke. They should be in my house after 8:00 p.m. when the wine/snack fest begins.

I am a total believer in the “everything in moderation” model. I believe this because then I feel allowed and entitled to eat crap as long as I typically eat well balanced and healthy meals. I am a complete and total evening snacker and I’m not giving it up. My two favorites are:

• Popcorn with butter and parmesan cheese
• Cinnamon sugar pita chips

I would never get along with whoever said don’t eat after 8:00 p.m. That is just not going to happen. I did find a great article that said eating at night does not necessarily cause weight gain:

“While eating after 8 p.m. won’t increase the amount of weight you’ll gain, there are still some risks to late night snacking. The issue is simple: when you’re tired, you’re more likely to overeat. To compensate for fatigue, your brain will tell you to eat more and you might grab an unhealthy, calorie-dense snack. This is why you may run into trouble when you eat late at night. It’s not because your body gains more weight, it’s because you eat the wrong foods.”

So, the moral of the story is, go ahead and stuff your face at night, but eat sort of healthy stuff and pay attention to portions. BORING! But, if you do want to try this, here are some late-night healthier snack alternatives from this article:

• Water (are you freaking kidding me? When did this become a snack?)
• Milk (not going to cut it)
• Nuts (yes, if they have lots of salt and have M&Ms mixed in)
• Popcorn (butter, cheese)
• Whole Grains (in the form of a cookie)
• Turkey (meat is not my choice for late night snack. Sorry).

Yeah, I might do the popcorn with lots of butter. Or, I could just roast a big turkey and eat the leg like they do at a Renaissance Festival.

Sorry, this might be the most random post in the world. You have to give me credit for covering topics from drunken driving to eating candy in bed to roasting a turkey. You can’t find that on the Huffington Post.

Are you a night-time snacker?

What’s your favorite snack?

Do you sometimes feel you are entitled to eat certain foods because you run?

SUAR