If you find yourself reaching for a snack in the dead of night, you are not alone. Midnight cravings are a common occurrence, often driven by various factors that go beyond simple hunger. It involves a complicated interaction and psychological and physiological factors. Let's dive into the intricacies of late-night snacking, exploring the reasons behind it, its impact on health, and practical ways to curb those midnight urges. Reasons for Midnight Snack Cravings Unbalanced Meal Schedules Unbalanced meal schedules wreak havoc on the body's internal rhythm, causing a disconnection between hunger signals and actual meal times. When meals are irregular, the body, accustomed to a routine, may erroneously interpret these fluctuations, triggering nighttime hunger pangs. This disruption becomes a significant factor in midnight snack cravings. Hormonal Fluctuations Fluctuations in cortisol and ghrelin levels are pivotal in orchestrating hunger and satisfaction. They play a role in nocturnal cravings. Elevated cortisol, known as the "stress hormone," intensifies at night, prompting desires for sweet or fatty treats.  Simultaneously, heightened ghrelin is the "hunger hormone." It amplifies your appetite during the nocturnal hours and fuels the urge for midnight snacks.  Read more: 5 Yummy Homemade Pizza Recipes for Kids Inadequate Daytime Eating Skipping meals or inadequate calorie intake triggers heightened evening hunger. In the absence of sufficient daytime nourishment, the body enters "starvation mode" and slows metabolism to conserve energy. This often results in intense late-night hunger, particularly if dinner is skipped or kept light.  Stress and Emotional Eating Stress induces cravings for comfort foods, rich in sugar, fat, and salt. Elevated cortisol levels during stress can increase appetite and desire for unhealthy foods. While these provide momentary pleasure, long-term consumption may contribute to weight gain and other chronic health issues.  Dehydration  Sometimes, thirst may be misconstrued as hunger, prompting unnecessary snacking. Dehydration can send signals to the brain resembling hunger, even when food is not required. Maintaining adequate water intake throughout the day aids in distinguishing thirst from hunger and diminishes the likelihood of late-night snack cravings. Read more: 10 Healthy Iftar Drinks for Breaking Ramadan Fasting

The holy month of Ramadan is here and the Muslims have started month-long fasting. It is essential to take healthy foods and drinks at sehri, or sahur, as it is the meal that stores energy for long hours and helps continue the fast. Therefore, it is recommended to consume the right foods at Sehri to get the required nutrients for the body. Let’s take a look at 7 nutrient-rich sehri meal recipes for a healthy start to one’s Ramadan fasting.  7 Nutritous Seheri Meal Recipes for Ramadan Fasting Fruit Cube Salad Recipe Fruit cube salad is only eye-catching to look at but it is delicious, healthy and a creative recipe also.  Ingredients ½ kg watermelon, 2 large bananas, 1 pineapple, 1 large apple, ¼ cup marshmallow For garnishing mint leaves, crushed nuts, sesame seeds, and cinnamon InstructionsFirst, wash the fruits, peel them off, and cut them into cubes. Make sure you use a sharp knife for the fruits. Marshmallows will add a soft texture (sweetness) to the finished cube. The cubes will be around 2.5cm each. This step is a little bit tricky but cutting well-shaped cubes is what makes the whole cube work well. Make one row consisting of three alternating cubes so that no adjacent cubes are the same fruit and the base will have four sides of three cubes on each side. To complete the cube, make two more layers (same). Top with a mint leaf, crushed nuts, sesame seeds, and cinnamon. Enjoy the amazing fruit cube salad.  Read More: Cozy Rainy Day Recipes To Warm You Up Chicken Kebab Recipe Ingredients 300 gms chicken mince, 50 gms onion, 50 gms tomatoes, 30 gms coriander leaves, 50 gms green capsicum, 20 gms green chilli, 5 gms salt, 20 ml oil, 20 gms cashew, 20 gms almonds, 10 gms mint, 5 gms red chilli powder, five gms masala powder, 5 gms ginger garlic paste, 3 gms cumin powder, 10 ml lemon juice, 10 ml fresh cream, 5 ml kewra water InstructionsFirst, take a blender and put mince chicken, onion, salt, red chilli powder, garam masala, ginger garlic paste, cumin powder, lemon juice, coriander leaves, mint leaves, green chilies, fresh cream, kewra water, cashew, and almonds and blend nicely. Put the mince mix on wooden skewers. Now chopped onion, capsicum, and coriander leaves on a plate. Enclose these chopped vegetables around the kebabs and bake them in the oven at 180 degrees for eight to ten minutes. Your Chicken Kebab is ready.  Read More: Ramadan Fasting with Diabetes: Best foods for Sehri and Iftar Oats Kheer Recipe Kheer is the most admired dessert and oats are one of the most chosen and popular ones to prepare healthy kheer.  Ingredients1 cup oats, half litre milk, sugar (optional), 6 dates, 7 almonds, 3 cardamoms, one banana, 7 raisins, 1 cup mixed fruits (optional) InstructionsFirst, cook oats for about 5 minutes. Next, take a pan and put milk, sugar, cardamom, dates, almonds and raisins and let the mixture boil for about 5 to 6 minutes. Now mix oats and cook them boil as long as it becomes thick. Add mixed fruits when the kheer is ready to enjoy.  Read More: Healthy Sehri Ideas: What to eat and avoid for Sehri during Ramadan

Food is one of the most important basic human rights. Even though global food production is more than the demand, the geopolitical and distributional bureaucracy causes 10% of the global population to go hungry each day. Against the backdrop of such a pressing issue, one organization is aiming to challenge the status quo with one child and one meal at a time. Here’s the inspiring story of Thrive. What is Thrive?  Thrive is a 501c3 and Bangladesh Registered Trust that currently operates in Bangladesh and the Philippines. Thrive was co-founded and started by Priscilla Heffelfinger, Regina Landor, and Gina Gabel. The main goal of the organization is to provide nutritious meals to school-going children every day.  The Story of Thrive  It all started back in 2012. Priscilla Heffelfinger has just moved to Dhaka, accompanying her husband, who was the country director of CDC and had a role with ICDDR, B. Priscilla Heffelfinger, along with Regina Landor and Gina Gabel, saw hungry children and knew they wanted to help.  Read More: Majority of children with disabilities are not enrolled in any formal education: Survey They asked local schools what they needed most, and the resounding response was food. The children were either not showing up or were too hungry to learn took the first initiative for a definitive answer to student hunger. Thrive grew, but not overnight. It took the work and dedication of many volunteers willing to give their time to help hungry kids. While Thrive began as an expat start-up, it grew due to the generous support of the Bangladesh community. Local leaders Amna Rahman, Sadia Moyeen, and Kanwal Bhagat, who joined in 2013, propelled Thrive’s work by engaging local individuals and companies to commit financial support, in-kind donations, and their volunteer talents to expand our work to feed more needy schoolchildren.   Read More: RU teachers ‘beat’ students on hunger strike But there were a lot of constraints while starting. The idea was to help socially neglected children by means of support. But support how exactly?  The Need for Food  While doing groundwork, Priscilla and her team found that the most pressing need for growing children is the lack of adequate micro and macro nutrients. Social welfare schools set up for economically challenged students pointed out that the immediate need for such institutes isn’t often money. Rather a meal since a fair share of students are unfed or half fed.  Going hungry often challenges these students to reevaluate their priorities. As a result, there are a large number of student dropouts who opt for wage-earning instead of going to school.  Read More: Imprisoned Egyptian activist calls off hunger strike Priscilla and her team thought of this as the exact opportunity. Having worked in the development sector for over 20 years, Priscilla understood the imminent need.  A mix of two basic human rights is fulfilled through food.  How Does Thrive Work?  Thrive is different from traditional NGOs or INGOs in Bangladesh in the sense that it was initially an expat-led social venture that aimed to work with students from slum areas. The venture has been supported by both local and international well-wishers and has seen rapid growth over the years.  Currently, Thrive serves nutritious meals to over 12000 students each week in Bangladesh and the Philippines. Thrive claims that there is an imminent wait list of another 3000 students waiting to be incorporated into their meal plan.  Read More: Global hunger numbers rose to as many as 828 million in 2021: UN Report Now feeding hungry children and school performance may seem unrelated. But from the socio-economic concept of Bangladesh, where 50 million people live in extreme poverty, it's not surprising that child labor is ever so prevalent. These children turn into breadwinners for themselves and their families while they should have been studying.  With a nutritious meal each day, hunger is addressed. The balanced diet ensures children are getting their essentials which act as brain fuel. The culmination is increased concentration, focus, physical and mental development as well as increased attendance in classes. 

Consumption of a balanced diet is the key to health. Besides this, drinking adequate water, taking shower, getting proper sleep, doing regular work outs are essential to keep your body sound, functional, and healthy. However, sometimes these actions can defer your body to get the best out of your food and make your sick. Yes! We are talking about some usual post-meal habits that can harm your body instead of doing well. Read this article, to know which things you should never do right after eating a full meal.