How do I stop over-snacking at night?
A snack in the evenings every once in a while is FINE, but are you over-doing it? You probably don’t need a snack at all if you are doing the following:
Do you find yourself eating healthy most of the day until you start snacking at night? If so, you’re certainly not alone. Excessive snacking at night can result from a number of factors, including:
Not eating enough during the day
Eating due to boredom, stress, anger, or sadness
A hormonal imbalance that causes severe increases in appetite
Eating a lot of food in a short amount of time, regardless of how hungry you are, can have negative effects on your physical and mental health. Over time, binge snacking will absolutely cause you to gain weight. And that gain puts you at an increased risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic health conditions...(you know this).
Whatever the root cause of your evening snacking is, here are some tips to keep things under control, so you eat healthier all day – and all night:
📌Prioritize Healthy Habits
You may be overeating at night because your body is compensating for something it needs. Perhaps you aren’t eating enough during the day, which leads to insatiable hunger in the evening.
Or maybe you aren’t getting adequate sleep, which leaves your body feeling tired and craving carbohydrate-rich foods. Do you need to hit the sack earlier?
Are you trying to silence the stress of the day by eating your feelings at night?
Prioritizing healthy habits throughout the day helps you combat evening munchies.
📌Ways to Manage Your Emotions
Do you often grab cookies, chips, or “fill in the blank” when you feel stressed, sad, angry, or bored? Find other ways to manage those emotions that don’t have to do with food.
Some people find that talking to a friend, going for a walk, listening to music, doing some kind of chill activity (like reading or coloring) helps them deal with how they feel rather than going to town in the pantry.
***I'm laughing as I'm writing this because I just remembered that my cousin and I used to warm up a glass of milk and talk about our day to calm down at the end of the night when we lived together. Such dorks -- but it worked!
📌Pre-Portion Your Snack Foods
It’s okay to have a snack at night – or at other times of the day. But sometimes you don’t realize how much you’re eating when you’re distracted.
Instead of depending on your willpower or power of observation to not overeat, pre-portion snacks, so you don’t overdo it. Buy single-serving bags at the store. Or buy bigger bags and portion out servings when you get home, so they’re ready to grab. DO NOT take the big bag to the couch...or stand at your counter inhaling it.
If you haven’t planned that much ahead, put a single serving into a bowl or on a plate and then put the rest of the bag away before you start eating. There are plenty of snack foods already portioned out for you – like frozen fruit pops, string cheese, or whole fruits like an apple or a pear! (BTW peaches are so good right now!).
📌Eat Enough Protein
I'll say this until I'm blue in the face. Data shows that eating high-protein meals during the day will cut the desire to binge snack at night in half. We give our clients lots of filling meal ideas!
📌Drink a Glass of Water
Very often, people turn to food when they are actually just thirsty, not hungry. When you feel the urge to eat, drink some water FIRST.
Not only may taking a few sips to satisfy your thirst and take away the urge to eat, but even if it doesn’t, it makes you more aware of your actions, so you don’t just mindlessly turn to food.
It's so easy for me to throw out these tips...I know many of you have heard them before. And rightfully so, they work. BUT are you actually putting these tips into practice?
Or do you keep repeating the same patterns over and over?
Wherever you are struggling, it might be time to get some accountability support to HELP YOU get out of your rut.
Do you wake up everyday wanting to do BETTER, but then...you don't?
Let us help.
With our personalized coaching you'll gain:
💥energy
💥control
💥food freedom
💥confidence
💥joy
