Eating just before bed time

had a long slow run by my novice standards today (9miles at 9 min miles). Ive re-hydrated myself and eaten the 'right' food but Iam starving is it a good idea to eat a bowl of special K before sleeping or is it a bad thing eating carbs just before I sleep.

 Should I sleep hungry or listen to my body and eat?

You will find it difficult to fall asleep if you are hungry.  If you eat now then that full feeling will get you to sleep anyway.  BTW calories can't tell the time !

Blimpy wrote (see)

I wouldn't touch Special K with a barge pole!  Although it's common knowledge tht if you eat late at night the food will just store as fat, if you really do need to eat, why not try Shredded Wheat or fruit? 

Blimpy wrote (see)

Although it's common knowledge tht if you eat late at night the food will just store as fat

No it won't.

I'm not sure it's entirely accurate to demonize Special K like this!  OK, it does contain more sugar than cereals such as shredded wheat but you're talking about 4g (16cals) per serving, just less than a spoonful. And I know it's got a higher GI than wholewheat cereals but this isn't such a bad thing if we're talking about post-run nutrition since it will re-stock glycogen stores more quickly.

The only problem I can see with eating very close to bedtime is that you will still be digesting food when you're trying to get to sleep.  Hence the old tale about cheese giving you nightmares - high fat content, takes longer to digest, disturbed sleep...

Yep, most nights I'll have a bowl of cereal before bed, especially if I'm planning an early run the next morning.

And nothing wrong with Special K..... sure, there's more healthy cereals, but in the scheme of things it's a reasonably healthy choice.

BTW, according to nutritiondata.com there's about 10cals* difference between a serving of Special K and Shredded Wheat.  A quick jog up and down the stairs should take care of that.    I often get the impression that the way Special K is marketed as the ultimate diet cereal has backfired somewhat and people love to slag it off.

*In fact, Shredded Wheat contains more calories per serving because the serving size is bigger.  Is this because Shredded Wheat is eaten by Ian "Beefy" Botham, and Special K by young women in red swimsuits?

Blimpy - sorry but that is a complete myth.

I eat when i'm hungry - bed or not, usually I'll have bread or oat cakes, bit bland but i just crave carby food, if you like special K- eat the special K.

Personally, i like cornflakes, with loads of ice cold milk and covered in sugar OM NOM NOM!!!

I'm often hungry at bedtime and therefore find it difficult to sleep, so I usually scoff a lovely bowl of porridge down. Works a treat and stops me being quite so ravenous the following morning.

FWIW I quite like Special K - but won't buy it because its too bloody expensive and isn't filling enough!! I'd need such a large bowl of it to fill me up, the box would be empty in three days.

I alway eat late at night - otherwise I wouldn't get any dinner!

I don't think it's massively important to avoid eating late at night, as long as it doesn't keep you awake

Do all of you only eat healthy food ?

I'll eat anything, curry being my favourite

I have a bowl of Weetabix almost every night. No issues here.