\r\n \r\n Hi JustMe, congratulations on your weight loss and keeping it off! It so nice of you to offer to cook for them, that\'s one way to introduce healthier foods for them to get accustomed to.
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\nWorking different shifts like that is hard when it comes to eating and sleeping for sure. Maybe a supplement fiber like Glucomannan would help if taken before bed to give the stomach a full feeling, you definitely have to drink a lot of water with it, here\'s some info and side effects from webmd.
\nhttps://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supple...me=GLUCOMANNAN
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\nA good snack I just started eating is Dannon Plain Greek Yogurt. It has 0% fat, 10mg cholesterol, 50mg soduim, 160mg of potassium, carbs 6g, sugars 6g, and protein is 15g. The only ingredient is cultured grade A non-fat milk, so there\'s not a lot of junk like HFCS in it. A touch of honey, lemon or conserves can be added for flavor if desired. Good source of protein for a pick-me-up.\r\n

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\r\n "We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." ~Immanual Kant~
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\r\nNatMedTalk and Beyond\r\n

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\r\n \r\n Just me, that work schedule would cause anyone to gain weight because of so maniy reasons. Their bodies aren\'t in a synch or rhythm and their hormones have got be very unhappy. I don\'t know how to balance hormones with their work schedule.
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\nSleep is the MOST important thing. I would focus on what can help them sleep better. Try a melatonin supplement or more magnesium. Or try the herb valerian so they can sleep without waking. Have them get something to block light from their eyes like a sleeping eye patch and ear plugs or white noise to keep from waking with noises. If they could sleep well then they probably won\'t wake up to eat.
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\nThat would be the first and most important thing.\r\n

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\r\n \r\n I agree with mommysunshine - melatonin can be very helpful in shift work situations. I used to take 19 milligrams (mg) consisting of two of the Life Extension Foundation\'s 5 mg Natural Sleep MELATONIN capsules plus 3 of NATROL\'s 3 mg Melatonin tablets which would give me 6 to 8 solid hours of sleep when I was working the night shift and had trouble sleeping days. That\'s an unusually high dose which I don\'t recommend for everyone, but anything less wouldn\'t work for me. The usual dose range of 1 to 3 mg, which seems to work for most people (even 1/2 mg reportedly has been effective for some) would put me to sleep but I would always wake up after only 1 to 2 hours and remain wide awake. Experimenting with gradual increases led me to the above cited dose which always worked extremely well for me. However I made it a point on my day(s) off not to use melatonin at all so that my body wouldn\'t adapt to and become resistant to its sleep inducing effect.
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\nRegarding something that your son can eat both to help him lose weight and to eliminate the late night food craving, assuming he may not take the melatonin or it may not work for him, a supplement that can be extremely helpful is Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. Coconut Oil was once fed to cattle with the idea that it would fatten them up. However it had the opposite effect and the cattle became lean and muscular!
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\nBelow are four articles which should answer just about every question you may have regarding the use of coconut oil and its health benefits, including weight loss. I would suggest incorporating it into your cooking for the health benefits alone. However, your son should take a tablespoon of it before each meal. It should help eliminate his late night eating problem. Although if he finds himself still awakening and hungry, one or two tablespoons of the coconut oil in its semisolid butter-like state (very tasty that way) should satisfy him and contribute to his fat reduction just as it did with the cattle.
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\nAs coconut oil is liquid at room temperature, your son will need to refrigerate it for about an hour or two to harden it up. Then just before he goes to bed he should remove it from the refrigerator and leave the container on the counter or table so that it will slowly warm up and assume the butter like consistency by the time he awakens - if he still has that problem after supplementing with the melatonin, and I would suggest L-Theanine (from green tea). The latter has a calming effect and helps many achieve restful sleep even without melatonin.
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\nThe brand of coconut oil I use and highly recommend is the Jarrow Formulas Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil available at Swanson Vitamins at about the lowest price you will find. I just eat it by the spoonful in its butter-like state; it\'s absolutely delicious:
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\nhttps://www.swansonvitamins.com/SWF035/ItemDetail?n=0
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\nClick on and read some of the 144 reviews to see what others have to say about it.
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\nSwanson also carries an excellent L-Theanine product at a very good price which should help produce a restful sleep:
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\nhttps://www.swansonvitamins.com/SWU110/ItemDetail
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\nAlso click on and read some of the 33 Reviews to see what it has done for others in that regard.
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\nNow here are the four informative articles about the use of coconut oil and its health and weight reduction benefits:
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\nhttps://www.naturalnews.com/026808_oil_coconut.html
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\nhttps://products.mercola.com/coconut-oil
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\nhttps://www.foodrenegade.com/how-to-l...th-coconut-oil
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\nhttps://coconut-info.com/weight-loss.htm\r\n

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\r\n \r\n I think the yogurt has too many carbs for a snack! especially if this is a low carb diet... carbs should not exceed between 30 and 50 a day depending on your size and activity level. All carbs should come from fresh veggies if possible.
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\nFor eating in the night I would leave a large green salad. (no carrots or beets) mostly greens, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, and with a grapseed oil or olive oil dressing.
\nYou can eat quite a bit of that without gaining weight.
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\nTell your son that a low carb diet works best if he will work out with weights and eat high protien. you want to build muscle mass and most people who are overweight, contrary to popular opinion, have a diminished muscle mass. Muscle mass burns calories and carbs... it is essential for success. ... he\'ll be a new man! a simple hand weights system worked 3 times a week is sufficient or there is the gym.
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\nalso, when he is working nights he should have blackout shades for the bedroom. It should be as dark as you can get it.\r\n

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\r\n \r\n Beach man and Arrowwind09 are right on. Coconut oil is so yummy and easy to enjoy. And a low carb diet does not mean deprivation AT ALL. Who doesn\'t enjoy scrambled eggs and steak? Or baked veggies of all kinds with garlic powder and coconut oil? The funny thing about eating coconut oil is that it keeps you full for a very long time. For fast and easy food get some nitrate free natural jerky (beef or turkey)or pemmican from www.uswellnessmeats.com.
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\nProtein can convert to carbs but carbs can never convert to protein. That\'s why we don\'t really need carbs in our diet. Article below explains it in more detail:
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\nhttps://www.carbsmart.com/howmuchprotein.html\r\n

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\r\n \r\n When I did the low carb diet I would spend a day cooking up all kinds of steaks then store them in the fridge. If I got hungry they were finger food. Generally I ate 3 meals and two snacks a day...\r\n

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\r\n \r\n I work night shifts as well and was very terrified of gaining weight because of my work schedule. So what I did was instead of eating a full meal during my shift I ate low fat oatmeal cookies which will make you feel full. I also keep myself hydrated I drink a low calorie fruit juice with L-carnitine in it I swear I lost 14 lbs in a month. You said your son likes cereals so try to find a brand that has fiber in it plus buy him skim or non fat milk. If he gets hungry he can munch on an apple or banana.\r\n

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\r\n \r\n The one snack I get when ever I\'m hungry in between meals is almonds. They are low in carbs, high in fiber and offer many other benefits.\r\n

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