Love late-night snacking but worried about weight gain? Try these 5 healthy options

For those of you who are trying to lose weight, improve digestion, and sleep better, nighttime meals are perhaps the most critical ones.

Several foods can help with leading healthier lives, however, some specific food items are better placed to provide you with the right nutrients to enable your wellbeing.

Here are five foods to include in your nighttime meals

To ensure that your nighttime meals are adding value to your overall health, aiding digestion, and helping you sleep better, try including the following foods in your diet:

1. Beetroot

This vegetable contains a wide range of essential vitamins, fibre, antioxidants and minerals, that helps in boosting cell health, metabolism, bone growth, and immunity system. Betalains, the antioxidant found in beetroots boosts digestive health and suppresses inflammation. The digestive health gets an additional boost by way of high fibre content in beetroots, as it helps clean the colon and improve constipation.

beetroot
Beetroot can have multiple benefits for your health! Image courtesy: Shutterstock

2. Yoghurt

A staple with Indian meals, yoghurt offers a wide variety of health benefits. Yoghurt is made from fermented milk and contains friendly probiotic bacteria and protein. This bacteria aids digestion, and improves gut health, while the protein helps strengthen bone and muscles. Gastric issues such as bloating, constipation, and diarrhoea, can also be managed by adding yoghurt to your diet.

3. Kiwi

As per research published by the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, kiwi is packed with vitamin A and E and minerals such as potassium, calcium, magnesium, copper, iron, manganese, while also containing meaningful amounts of vitamin B6. This high fibre and low-calorie combination prevalent in kiwi is ideal for weight management. Kiwis are a rich source of fibre, which works brilliantly for digestion, and also improves constipation issues, as fibre has a natural laxative effect on the digestive system.

4. Spinach

Spinach is a low calorie and high nutrition food source that improves overall health. There are a number of recipes that can be made with palak. This leafy green vegetable is also a rich source of iron, vitamin C, and antioxidants that boost immunity levels. Spinach is an excellent source of insoluble fibre, which helps add bulk to your stool, speeding up its passage through your digestive tract.

folate rich foods
A bowl of spinach will improve your overall health. Image courtesy: Shutterstock

5. Beans

Beans are high in fibre, and a rich source of antioxidants. It contains both soluble and insoluble fibre. So, it slows down the digestion at first, making you feel full for longer durations, and then adds to the stool bulk in the digestive system, to prevent constipation. Beans are also great for regulating blood pressure and sugar levels and can help manage diabetes.

So, consider including these foods as part of your nighttime meals, and enjoy the many health benefits they provide!