Protein Cookie Dough Before Bed: Sleep Hack or Snack Mistake?
There’s a huge debate in the wellness world about whether you should eat before bed or not. It’s driven by a mix of science and old-fashioned ideas, and it can make it difficult to make good eating decisions.
Protein is one of the core parts of that debate. Today, we’re going to walk you through eating protein cookie dough before bed, whether you should do it, and some other facts about eating so close to your sleeping period.
Eating Before Bed: Right or Wrong?
First, let’s talk about eating before bed in general. The thought that you shouldn’t eat anything before bed is where a lot of the negative remarks come from.
Well, there are some food items that you certainly shouldn’t eat close to bedtime. Caffeine and large amounts of sugar will wreck your sleep. Foods that cause major insulin spikes might throw off your body’s recovery cycle or impact sleep; fatty foods are likely to get stored as fat, and there are all kinds of other issues tied to eating those types of foods before bed.
That doesn’t mean that eating before bed is a bad choice, though. It just means that those specific foods are a problem.
In fact, there’s plenty of evidence that protein cookie dough bites can be very healthy and beneficial when eaten before bed.
Why Eating Protein Cookie Dough Bites Before Bed is Good
Now, we’ve talked about how a bedtime snack’s impact on your wellness really comes down to what that snack is, but is protein cookie dough good before sleep?
Well, it’s actually one of the best bedtime snack options. Protein cookie dough bites from FUUL are made with 15 grams of protein, 6 grams of sugar, and 8 grams of fat. You get all that for 270 calories.
Those macros are what really make FUUL a great bedtime snack. We’ll go over a few of the ways this works:
1. Protein for Long-Lasting Fullness
If you struggle with cravings around bedtime, that’s an easy way to throw off your diet. You’re far more likely to eat a lot of those foods we mentioned earlier that convert into fat and make you put on weight, or they mess with your sleep due to their sugar content.
Eating protein dough bites makes you feel full and nourished, and because it’s a “clean” option, you don’t get all those negative drawbacks. This helps ward off late-night cravings to keep you on track.
2. Your Muscles Repair in Your Sleep
If you’re using FUUL to help you get big gains and stay up with your protein intake, eating FUUL protein cookie dough before bed is a great idea.
Your gains don’t come in the gym. They build up as the muscles repair themselves during rest periods. That includes when you’re sleeping. That’s why rest days are so important and not just a way to avoid injuries or burnout.
However, there’s a catch. Your muscles also need plenty of protein during those repair periods to properly repair themselves and grow.
When you eat protein cookie dough before bed, your muscles get a nice boost of protein when they need it most.
This can help boost the effectiveness of your workouts by helping your muscles rebuild and grow during rest.
3. No Impact on Tiredness
A big concern with eating anything before bed is that the food is going to impact your sleep. You don’t want to consume a ton of sugar right before bed and lie awake for hours until it wears off. So if you’re choosing protein cookie dough before bed, make sure it isn’t overloaded with sugar.
Well, FUUL snacks are high in protein and low in sugar, with only 6 grams of sugar per serving. That small amount is highly unlikely to affect your sleep, and even if you’re sensitive to sugar, it wears off so quickly that you’ll be sleeping like a baby 15 minutes later anyway.
4. FUUL is Light
Even though protein cookie dough bites provide a lot of benefits, they’re light on your stomach. It’s hard to sleep if you eat something heavy. You feel uncomfortable and bloated, and you’re also more likely to get up to go to the bathroom halfway through your sleep cycle.
FUUL is light and filling. While it satisfies your hunger, it doesn’t feel like you just finished a big holiday meal. This lets you sleep a lot easier without having to sit around feeling unsatisfied.
5. It’s Not Fattening
One of the big concerns with eating at night is that you’ll go to sleep, and all the stuff you just ate will convert to fat that’s hard to shed off in the gym.
There’s some truth to that if you’re eating junk, but that’s not the case with protein cookie dough bites.
There is very little fat in FUUL, and that fat is healthy. It’s not the junk that clogs your arteries or goes straight to your hips. The carbs are also good.
While some foods will definitely help you pack on pounds if you eat them right before bed, Fuul isn’t going to do that. Like most clean foods, FUUL is going to be used up by your body throughout the night, and none of it is going to convert into stored fat.
Who Should Eat Protein Cookie Dough Before Bed?
Protein cookie dough can be great for pretty much everyone as a nighttime snack. While there aren’t any people who stand out as folks who should stay away from it, there are a couple of types who really benefit the most.
First, there’s the athletic crowd. If you’re working out and exercising intensely every day, you need to eat as much protein as possible to repair your muscles, and that extra boost before bed is going to help maximize your sleep cycle’s part in muscle development.
Then, there’s the weight management crowd. Nighttime cravings are extremely detrimental to any good diet plan, and they’re usually where a lot of people cave. Protein cookie dough bites will get rid of those cravings without ruining your macros for the day, and you get a bunch of benefits from the bites, too.
Try FUUL Today
Nighttime snacks don’t have to be bad for you. Try FUUL protein cookie dough bites in flavors of chocolate chip and birthday cake, and enjoy a treat that fuels your body even as you rest.
Contact us today for a wholesome bedtime snack!