How to avoid overeating when you’ve had no sleep

When you’ve been up all night with up with a child of any age, it’s easy to give up on your otherwise healthy eating goals and plan. Because for many women, eating more (or drinking lots of coffee) seems like the best solution to fatigue. But, sadly it’s not.

Eating badly or being wired on caffeine may feel good at the time but it’s the worst thing you can do for overall health and recovery from a bad night’s sleep.

If you’re one of the unlucky mums out there with regular nights of missed or poor sleep, how do you look after yourself properly the next day so the show (life/children/work/routine) can go on?

We asked Susie Burrell, one of Australia’s leading nutritionists (and mum of baby twin boys) for professional help with healthy eating.

Susie’s top tips for seriously tired mums who don’t want lack of sleep to ruin their health and fitness goals:

>> Stick to one portion-controlled treat each day and eat it at a set time. For example, after dinner, or 8pm.

>> Make sure you don’t have extras of any tempting foods lying around the house. It’s too tempting and when you’re tired it’s even harder to maintain self-control.

>> Arm yourself with calorie-controlled snacks. Susie recommends one or two daily snacks between meals and each snack should only total 150-200 calories. Good, nutritionally-balanced choices are popcorn, veggie sticks with hummus, herbal tea, crackers with cheese and berries with yoghurt.

>> Give yourself an eating deadline! Wherever possible try not to eat between 10pm and 5-6am to give your body ample time to digest and recover for a new day.

Originally published on kidspot.com.au

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