Tips to Avoid Late Night Snacking
Perhaps there are days where you ate well the whole day but at night you get hit with cravings and end up eating whatever you want. Unfortunately, late night snacking can cause several problems such as sleep disruption and elevated blood sugar. Studies have also shown that eating a majority of your calories late at night can prevent you from losing weight.
Here are some tips from VerywellFit to help avoid overeating before bedtime.
Eat Regular Meals
One of the best ways to prevent late night eating is to avoid skipping meals. Meal skipping can put you at risk of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) as well as increase the urge to overeat later on. Aim to eat three balanced meals and an afternoon snack daily. Add snacks in between meals if needed. This will help you to feel less hungry at night. Once you are eating less at night, you likely will feel more hungry throughout the day.
It is often hard to eat breakfast when your last meal or snack took place hours before rising. By reducing intake at night, you can wake up feeling hungry and ready to eat breakfast. Studies have shown that people who eat larger breakfast meals can reduce their weight and HgbA1c levels. Make it a goal to eat breakfast daily.
Remove Your Trigger Foods
Out of sight, out of mind, right? If there are certain foods you gravitate toward in the evening, don't buy them. Try to limit your intake of what you already have in the house and then once you've finished it be sure to avoid purchasing again. If it's not there, you can't eat it. Restock your kitchen with healthy foods. If you need to have a small snack, you want to have nutritious and satisfying options to choose from.
Create New Habits
If every night when you sit down to watch television you find yourself in the kitchen rummaging through the cabinets to find a snack—stop watching television at night until you break your habit or try watching it in a different room. Picking a new location may help to prevent your desire and craving to eat. Aim to choose places as far from the kitchen as possible. You might even choose to brush your teeth and then watch tv to help curb cravings.
A great way to prevent late night eating is to do some light exercise after dinner—go for a walk or a bike ride while listening to music. You may also want to try some relaxing techniques—take a bath or do some yoga. Trying new activities, such as reading a magazine, journaling or calling a friend may help to reduce cravings.
Other Strategies
If you need (or want) to eat something right before bed, you can reduce the impact on your weight and wellbeing by choosing a healthy snack and limiting portion sizes.
Make Your Snack Count
Perhaps you've tried all these things and you still want a snack or dessert. Make dessert worth your while and consider it to be a treat. If you are eating dessert nightly, the odds are you are not enjoying it as much as you would if you had it on occasion.
Make an event of it—go out for a small ice cream once per week. If you find that you'd rather have a small treat before bed, here are some ideas:
- 1 container of low-fat Greek yogurt with under 5 grams of sugar (you can freeze it so it's ice cream consistency)
- 1 low-fat pudding cup
- 1 1/2 cup frozen strawberries (frozen fruit takes a long time to eat and is refreshing)
- 3 cups air popped popcorn
- 1/2 cup of ice cream
- 1 slice of whole-grain bread with a teaspoon of nut butter (almond, peanut, cashew)
- 1 piece of fresh fruit (size of tennis ball), 1 cup of berries, or 1 cup melon
