5 Nigerian Foods To Avoid Late At Night.

If you have had an extremely busy and long day, and you are finally free to eat at about 11pm, maybe, of course, it makes sense that you would want to gulp down a heavy meal to assuage the persisting hunger no matter how late in the day it is. 

Eating late at night is not a complete no-no as it is important to eat when you are hungry; you just have to be smart about it.

Contrary to popular belief, eating late at night does not necessarily make you add weight nor does it have any negative health implications. 

Eating the wrong foods with the wrong number of calories is what brings on all the extra weight and

most times disrupts your sleep!!

Are you visiting or currently living in Nigeria and you have the habit of eating late at night? Rather than just opting for the nearest, tastiest-looking Nigerian food, 

Take a look at a list of 5 Nigerian foods to avoid late at night.

Amala and Ewedu

A food famous in the western region of the country, 

Amala and

 Ewedu is almost a staple on the menu of most Nigerian 

Restaurants. While the soup is made with vegetable and spices, 

Amala is made with yam powder. 

They both form an appetizing combo, however, can be unfavorable to your stomach when consumed late in the night. 

Although the meal digests very easily, compared to other yam-based meals, it is urine inducing and can bring a lot of interruptions and discomfort to your sleep.

Amala Pepper soup 

A favorite Nigerian meal usually served with rice or yam as a side, pepper soup seems to be the perfect meal for times you are hungry at night as it is perceived as a light meal, but you may actually want to step away from it when you are craving something to eat late at night. 

The pepper soup contains certain spices and peppers that may upset your stomach and chemicals that can also stimulate your senses, making it hard to fall asleep.

A plate of pepper soup

Agege or Oyo Bread

This would be easy to buy off of the streets if you getting back late and you know you would not have the energy to cook or microwave any major meal when you get home because it would be too late already. While Agege bread would be satisfying when eaten with tea, mayonnaise or butter late in the night, it contains a lot of carbohydrate and sugar that spikes up your blood sugar levels, causing your energy levels to spike and plummet, disrupting your sleep in the process. There is also a chance that

you will likely wake up starving a few hours later or in the morning due to the overproduction of insulin the sugar triggers.

Fries (yam, potatoes, akara) If you have had dinner by 7 pm and you are still awake by 12pm

and you are hungry, you may want to indulge in light finger food. 

The go to would be fried yam, plantain , potatoes or even akara. While this food may seem like a light meal, they actually are not. 

They are greasy heavy foods! They weigh on your stomach and take a while to digest, leaving you feeling tired and sluggish in the morning. 

Also, they do more harm to your sleep than good. You may have to deal with stomach pains, cramps, abdominal bloating, heartburn, and acid reflux, resulting in poor sleep quality.

Ewa Agoyin Main Main 

A meal made of beans paired with a spicy sauce made with Palm oil and dried crushed chilies, Ewa agoyin is very tasty but a horrible option for late-night snacking or eating.Not only can it trigger heartburn, as well as upset your stomach, it can totally sabotage a day of good eating and actually keep you from going to sleep.

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How I Lost 25lbs And Take It Off

Before I move on, on this epic voyage, I just want to be clear, my health journey is far from over.
I still have a long way to go but, last year, I decided it was time to end my yoyo weight battle that has been raging for the better part 10 years.

I made a clear and powerful choice that I was no longer going to be a slave to food.
I didn’t want to repeat the constant failed promises to myself that things would change with regards to my weight, only to then self-sabotage myself.

I’m 30 and I’ve realized now that’ it’s now time or never. (Just so you know I’ve recorded a little video which is below to go along with this post)

I’m doing much better now with my weight and food habits than I have done at anytime in my life. It’s not been easy; it’s still a challenge and continues to be.
I’ve been totally focussed on changing my diet and lifestyle and so far, since Novemer, I’ve dropped almost 25lbs in fat. I’m down to 225lbs and my current goal is to get to 200lbs by the end of July.

I posted up on facebook some snapshots of my weight loss and it has got people intrigued and want to know what I’ve been doing; they want to know how I move 25lbs out of my weight.
Before I reveal that, here’s a quick breakdown of the progress so far.
At the end of January 2015 I was at 260lbs.
At the end of April 2015 I was 253lbs.
At the end of May 2015 I was at 240lbs I am currently at 234lbs.
At this point, I want to emphaise that I’m not into ‘fad’ dieting but, I do like to experiement and try different things.

I’m doing a number of things right now, experimenting with various methods, and I’ve devised a good forumla that works for me. I didn’t dive in head first; I began slowly and built up to the combination of methods I use. Therein lies an important point; it doesn’t just have to be one method you choose, it could be a combination. My prime rule is simple: IT HAS TO BE A DIET OR PLAN THAT IS SUSTAINABLE FOR LIFE. If not – I won’t do it. So here’s what I’ve been doing..

The Intermittent Fasting or the 5:2 Diet: My first step began in November when I began doing Intermittent Fasting or what’s also popularly calledthe 5:2 diet.
Most people I know that have been doing the 5:2 diet or, intermittent fasting, have lost weight and the research is relatively conclusive about the health benefits. (Although I did see a totally contradictory article but try it and make up your own mind.) It’s simple and easy to follow.
Basically for two days out of the seven, you reduce your food intake to 600 calories for men, and 500 calories for women. I stick as closely to that as I can and on the other days I just try to eat as sensibly as possible. In the early days, I did binge somewhat on my non fasting days however, I have that more under control now. Over the course of 3 months I lost around 15lbs.

A Binge Day: Following on from that I decided I knew I would struggle to stay completely off sugar so I decided to allow myself a single binge day a week where I induldge in anything I want.
I don’t drink alcohol or eat meat so it usually only consists of having some snacks and junk food if I feel like it so that it no longer plagues my thoughts.
I have whatever I want, don’t chastise myself about it and move on; it’s that simple.

The Cutting Out Of Sugar: In February I did my 15 day no sugar challenge.
I didn’t cut all sugars, just mainly the refined stuff which included sugary drinks, chocolate, crisps, and snacks.
I did continue to eat fruit, breads and pasta. It was tough but aslo equally uplifting. In February along I lost an additional 7lbs.

The Walking: In addition to the dietary changes, I knew I would need to do slightly more exericse to make sure I kept myself physically fit and healthy.
I find that being tired can also cause weight gain so I didn’t want to over do it.
I decided to keep it exceptionally simple and make sure I hit 10,000 steps every day, which for someone of my size is about 500 calories burned and about 8km worth of walking.
I use my pedometer on my phone to make sure I hit my target but, I don’t just do it for the sake of it, I actually really enjoy my daily walks and so that keeps me going.

The Sport: I play badminton frequently but I decided to cut down a little as it can be a full on sport when played at a higher level.
So, I play in shorter bursts but I also decided to start playing singles again to up my overall fitness.

The High Intensity Interval Training: I’ve also incorporated some HIIT in my regime and my exercise of choice is skipping. I’m still building up to it as skipping can be quite intense.
I’m accomplished at skipping so that isn’t a problem for me, but it’s building up to the highest level of intensity which can take a little bit of time.
For more information on HIIT go here.

The Weight Training: That last thing which I have yet to do is add some weight training into my routine. I will start gently but build slowly with the primary goal of building strength. I feel as though, a sedentary lifestyle has made me incredibly weak.

That basically sums up everything I’ve been doing up until now. I feel like the biggest change came from cutting out as much sugar as possible. Although I do still have some sugar now, I keep it to an absolute minimum.

As an increasing amount of time has passed, most of what I do now has become almost a habit, e.g., walking and using the stairs as much as possible. I had to consciously think about it in the beginning, but now I pretty much do all these things without even thinking about it; including saying no to junk food. When someone offers me a something I would class as junk, I respond first without even thinking about it. That implies that it has become a good habit now and doesn’t require the mental stamina to consciously make theose choices all the time.

Althought I’ve shared with you all the methods I’ve been using thus far, I may still make changes and try different things.

If you make the choice that you want to drop some weight and improve your health, start slowly. Don’t just join a gym and never go. Really find a method that brings you enjoyment and take baby steps to build up to it. So many people I know are under the impression that you need to spend hours in the gym to lose weight and get healthy.
Absolutely not.
If you’re just starting out you can spend a few hours in the gym and burn yourself out within a week.
What’s the rush? Just take your time with it and enjoy the process.
My final piece of advice to you would be to make that public declaration.
I did so on Facebook and now people are going to hold me accountable.
The thought of letting them down as well as myself really keeps me on track.

I still make mistakes and try different things, some of which do not work, but I pay attention to the feedback and try other things. Good luck on your own journey.
Feel free to leave me any feedback or questions in the comments section below and I will answer back as quickly as possible.

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