Healthy hint of the week: Sleep more, eat less

Of course, the more you sleep, the less you might do of anything. That doesn't mean you should sleep all the time just to lose weight (Although, look what happens to a fat little caterpillar when he curls up in his cocoon! Hmmmm....)
But think about it. What do you do when you're sleepy, and you want to watch the last 1/2 hour of that movie? Your tired brain might even trick you into thinking it's hungry instead of tired. You might grab some popcorn to munch on, or a soda to keep you awake.  And eating something might even work for a little while when your mind is distracted from being tired. People don't always make the best choices when they're fatigued, either -- when you're tired, you're more likely to choose the easiest thing to eat or get ready to eat, and that's not always going to be that bag of baby carrots, believe me. In a recent study, 13 men and women were kept on the same diet for 4 days for two sessions each.  For one of those sessions, they got plenty of sleep. For the other session, they were only permitted to sleep for 4 hours. At the end of the 4 days of both sessions, they were allowed to eat whatever they wanted. On the 5th day, people consumed about 300 more calories when they hadn't slept as much. Furthermore, most of the calories they chose to eat came from fat! Just imagine what a steady diet of sleep deprivation could add up to. Very interesting! Here's something else interesting: did you know that some foods can prevent you from sleeping? Watch this slideshow for more information. Good night! ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz