“Why does my body do this every night?? I’m a curious person, so I needed to figure this out.”

The other night I was sitting on the couch and it hit me: an intense urge to eat something sweet before going to bed.

I’m no stranger to this feeling. Every single night, despite my best intentions, I have a strong craving for a dessert after dinner. Sometimes I’m also hit by the desperate need for something salty.

On this particular night, I turned to my boyfriend and said, “I want to eat something so badly but I’m not at all hungry. WHY?! What is happening? Why does my body do this every night??”

I’m a curious person, so I needed to figure this out. And figure out if there’s actually a good way to stop. Because eating when you’re hungry is one thing, but eating sugary, greasy foods when you’re not hungry is just plain not good for you.

Why are so many of us plagued by late night snacking?

“If you make the appropriate changes, you can lower your cholesterol and your risk for these serious health problems.”

I think cholesterol is the epitome of changing healthcare recommendations over time. And how health guidelines can sometimes just be plain wrong. Seriously, this topic can be so confusing because of all the conflicting information out there.

So I’m here today to bring you the latest information on cholesterol from the most-trusted­ resources. What that means is this post is based on scientific research findings and is the best we have right now. That’s not to say the recommendations won’t change again. They very well could. But I’m going to share with you why these guidelines do absolutely make sense and what the medical field has found to be working.

Why is this topic important?

Because high cholesterol can severely worsen your health by increasing your chance of developing cardiovascular disease. The more plaque in your coronary (heart) arteries, the more likely you are to have a heart attack. And the more plaque in your arteries, especially your carotid arteries (the ones in your neck that supply blood to your brain), the more likely you are to have a stroke.

“The more we have, the more we want –  and so continues the vicious cycle.”

We can all agree that sugar is bad for us. No doctor will recommend an increase in daily Snickers bars and Pepsi. And none of us are surprised they wouldn’t.

But why is sugar bad for you? Do you know the physiologic reason?

And what’s with the sugar in fruit? Is it bad too?

When I had a patient ask me why sugar is bad for you, I realized I didn’t really have a good answer. I knew it was high in calories and has little to no nutritional value, and I knew having too much could cause diseases, but I couldn’t tell him exactly why.

So I turned to old college textbooks and resources online I knew I could trust, places like the Cleveland Clinic and ChooseMyPlate.