1. Identify the Cause
Some people eat most of their food late in the evening or during the night. To change this habit, you need to identify the cause of the problem. Nighttime eating may be the result of overly restricted daytime food intake, leading to ravenous hunger at night. It may also be caused by habit or boredom. However, nighttime eating has also been linked to some eating disorders, including binge eating disorder and night eating syndrome.
2. Identify Your Triggers
Monitoring your behavior patterns and identifying what triggers you to eat at night will help you break cycles of emotional eating. One effective way to identify the cause of your nighttime eating and the things that trigger it is to keep a “food and mood” diary. Tracking your eating and exercise habits alongside your feelings will help you identify patterns, enabling you to work on breaking any negative cycles of behavior.
3. Use a Routine
If you’re overeating because you aren’t eating enough during the day, then getting yourself into a routine can help. Structured eating and sleeping times will help you spread your food intake over the day so that you’re less hungry at night. Getting good sleep is very important when it comes to managing your food intake and weight.
4. Include Protein at Every Meal
Different foods can have different effects on your appetite. If you eat due to hunger, including protein at every meal may help curb your hunger. It could also help you feel more satisfied throughout the day, stop you from being preoccupied with food and help prevent snacking at night.
5. Don’t Keep Junk Food in the House
If you are prone to eating high-fat, high-sugar junk food at night, remove it from your house. If unhealthy snacks aren’t within easy reach, you are much less likely to eat them. Instead, fill your house with healthy food that you enjoy. Then when you have the urge to eat, you won’t snack on junk.
This post is a small sample of the information covered each week in the StayConnected™ Mini-CE Coaching Calls. All coaching calls are recorded and StayConnected™ members have access to the entire archive through their StayConnected™ dashboard. It’s just one of the many benefits of staying connected to HLS.