So night time cravings are just one of those things... You're bored or watching TV and the only thing you really want is to tuck into a tube of pringles - right? BUT you know that as soon as you've finished those pringles you'll be angry that it's only Wednesday and you've already blown your new diet already (so you'll probably finish off with some ice cream to cheer yourself up because the damage is already done)! Sound familiar?
Yeah we've all had those nights...
Nowadays I'm pretty good at overcoming late night hunger though, so here are some ways that I combat it, and I hope you find these usefull too!
The thing is, eating late at night can set you back days in achieving your weight loss goals (if you are trying to lose weight) and is just generally a bad thing in a healthy lifestyle because your body has no time to use the energy from what you eat and is already slowing down ready to sleep, so most of what you consume will just get stored and unfortunately you can't 'just burn it off tomorrow'.
- Herbal tea
Herbal tea, preferably camomile, green roobios, fennel or a green tea with a little honey can often do the trick. I find that, especially with a teaspoon of honey, a nice herbal tea (which often actually speeds up your metabolism) is tasty enough to satisfy your taste buds, especially if you crave something sweet. Often as well, we think we're hungry when actually we just need water, so a mug of, essentially, infused water is perfect. Besides, herbal teas will help to calm you down and will perhaps stop this agitated desire to eat a bag of sweets!
2. Super light crunchy deliciousness
Cucumber and homemade hoisin sauce is a great one. Often, when tea or water just won't cut it, something crunchy will be able to satisfy your body's cravings. And this snack is delicious - even more so if it's a Chinese takeaway that you're craving at 11:30pm! The sauce is pretty low calorie, and the calories aren't really from fat or carbs, so there no risk of your body storing your snack! And cucumber has so few calories that they're not worth counting! (There's a recipe for hoisin sauce here and a delicious dish that goes with it).
3. Mini frozen smoothies
Mini frozen smoothie pops (homemade and not full of sugary junk of course) are great because they last a while and will make you feel more full after than e.g a cereal bar (which if you're like me disappears in seconds). Make sure to use water instead of orange juice in your smoothies and avoid the sugariest fruits.
4. Don't mope
Moping around and doing nothing with your evening will surely lead you walking to the fridge in search of 30 seconds of comfort from a chocolate bar! Be productive with your evenings; do some reading, watch a documentary, find some new hobbies like painting, etc! But whatever you do, don't mope!
5. Try to include protein and fiber in your dinner
It's shown that protein and fiber will help you to stay fuller for longer, so although veggies are great, include some protein and fiber otherwise you'll be hungry again within half an hour! Beans and healthy grains are a great way to bulk up your dinner and pack in lots of nutrients too!
6. Go to sleep earlier
Going to sleep earlier sounds silly, but if you're used to staying up until 2am then you're bound to get hungry if you had dinner at 5pm and have now gone 7 hours without any food! Humans are naturally grazers, and going 7 hours without food is unhealthy. So get to sleep earlier. Besides, there's nothing wrong with a snack at e.g 7pm, you just want to avoid anything past about 8pm, based on a bedtime between 10-12, anything later and you're just going too long without food.
7. Have a bath
I've titled this 'have a bath', but do anything relaxing and tranquil really. A lot of us want to eat junk food out of stress and agitation and our hunger can often be cured by just winding down in the bath, with a good book or going for a walk. But not watching TV or playing on your phone - no electricals! Which brings me on to my next point...
8. Put down the electricals
Spending all night on your iPad or phone is no good for your brain or your sleeping patters. The back-lit screens tell your brain that you should still be awake, so your body doesn't release (or releases less of) the hormones that are released at the end of the day to prepare you for sleep and making you feel tired - and certainly not feel hungry. So if you want to beat night time hunger, you can't watch Netflix until 1am.
9. Do a mini workout/yoga
Doing a mini workout - perhaps just 15-20 minutes of stretches and exercises, or a short yoga routine will release endorphins, help you to feel more relaxed and make you feel a little more tired and ready for bed. Besides, after doing a workout, we're a lot less inclined to eat a chocolate bar as we feel like we wasted our time doing a workout.
10. Structure your whole day
So what this all boils down to and the recurring theme here appears to be that late night hunger is a symptom of an imbalanced lifestyle. If you eat breakfast, a few healthy snacks, a good healthy lunch and dinner with plenty of protein and fiber and do some exercise before settling down to a good, productive and relaxing evening, the chances are you won't even feel this hunger and need to fight it! So think about reshaping your day! With more structure and earlier nights and there's sure to be a change!
Here's a challenge -
Set yourself the challenge to have NO night time binges for 21 days. Write out a list, and make it as pretty and fancy or as straight forward as you like, and write out
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3...
And tick off each day as you successfully do it! If you cave in, you have to start again from day 1. Once you've made it 21 days it should be habit (and providing you're eating enough during the day) you should no longer feel cravings for junk food late at night!
Here are some BAD suggestions that I came across on the internet, some 'quick fix solutions'...
1. Eat dinner later
Um, no?! That completely defeats the point of trying NOT to eat late at night. Really, our biggest meal should be breakfast as the first meal of the day, then lunch, then a very small meal for dinner as there's little time to burn it off. Eating dinner later is a BAD move. If you're trying to move your health in the right direction, make dinner EARLIER and have a smaller portion and compensate with a bigger lunch!
2. Chew gum
Chewing gum on an empty stomach is bad for you. Your body thinks you're eating and your stomach produces acid to break down the 'food', which results in excess acid in the stomach which isn't being used up breaking down food. So instead it damages the lining of your stomach and can result in stomach ulcers (very bad news indeed). Besides, chewing gum can make you feel bloated or more hungry than before anyway.
3. 'Drink LOADS of water!'
Let's be honest, the taste of water isn't going to curb your cravings for something sweet or savoury. In fact it'll probably just make you feel bloated and ill (and still wanting something sweet). What you should do instead is stay hydrated during the day and make sure to drink water with meals, especially dinner in this case, so that they fill you up more.
But lastly, don't beat yourself up about it guys! We all have those days where we think 'I've had a bad day and I just don't care - I WILL devour a pack of cookies tonight whilst I watch Bridget Jones'. And that's fine! As long as you're not eating giant carby pasta bakes or fat filled burgers at midnight every night... But once in a while, don't worry about it! :)
And here's another idea - don't keep junk food in the house then you can't eat it! Or at least perhaps just some dark chocolate. But this isn't possible for me, and probably many of you, who live with others who keep all of the tempting junk food in the house!
Thanks for reading guys! Please comment and let me know what you think/ what you do at night - I'd love to hear your feedback! And share this post to help others with their late night cravings!
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