How to Stop Eating at Night

Identifying the Cause

Know the difference between emotional and physical hunger. Sometimes we eat at night because we are genuinely hungry, especially if we deprive ourselves of calories throughout the day. Other times, nighttime eating is due to emotional hunger. Identifying whether your nighttime eating is physical or emotional is an important step in dealing with the problem. Does your hunger come on suddenly or gradually? Emotional hunger is more likely to manifest itself in the form of a sudden craving. Physical hunger comes on gradually. What kinds of foods are you craving? When you're experiencing emotional hunger, you're more likely to crave sweet or salty comfort foods than something substantial. Do you eat enough calories during the day? If you're on a calorie restricted diet or if you're skipping meals, then you'll likely experience physical hunger at night. If you've had a full meal earlier, however, your hunger is probably emotional. If you eat when you're stressed or because it makes you feel better, try looking for other things that bring you joy and help you de-stress, like going for a walk or reading a good book.

Track your daily routine. In order to understand where and why you're overeating at night, keep track of your day and night routine. You can identify factors that encourage nighttime eating. Are you restricting your caloric intake or skipping meals? If this is the case, you end up thinking about food throughout the day. This encourages you to indulge in mindless snacking at night. Skipping breakfast is especially bad when it comes to encouraging nighttime eating. Do you do any pre-planning when it comes to dinner? Oftentimes, people hastily throw an unhealthy dinner together that leaves them feeling hungry later on. People also sometimes snack during dinner preparation, meaning they eat less of the substantial meal they cooked and fill up on empty calories. This results in hunger cravings later on. What is your post-dinner routine like? Oftentimes, people change into their PJ's and end up on the couch on their laptop or watching TV before bed. While nothing is wrong with a little rest and relaxation after a long day, mindless eating often happens during this time. People tend to snack while they watch TV or go online and do not pay much attention to what they're consuming.

Understand how to control the hormones behind hunger. Four main hormones are often times the culprit when it comes to nighttime eating. An abundance or a deficit in insulin, leptin, ghrelin, Peptide YY, or cortisol can lead to nighttime snacking. Know what behaviors can affect your hormone levels and how to help your body properly regulate the hunger causing hormones. Insulin helps the body process sugar. Insulin tends to increase greatly in response to empty calories in the form of processed sugars and refined wheats. The spike is temporary, and the crash that comes afterwards leaves you hungry later on. Avoid sugary foods and white breads and pastas, especially around dinner time, as this can help maintain insulin levels and ward off unwanted hunger. Leptin is a hormone that is basically responsible for letting our brains know when our bodies are full. However, an increase intake in sugar, flour, and processed foods interferes with Leptin's ability to make you feel full. Yet again, avoiding sugary, processed calories throughout the day allows leptin to adequately protect us from overeating. Ghrelin is the hunger hormone and helps regulate the appetite. It lets us know when we need to eat and, as is the case with the above hormones, can be thrown off by erratic eating habits and poor quality foods. Eat regularly and eat enough calories each day, in the form of whole wheats, fruits and veggies, and lean proteins. Peptide YY is a hormone found in the intestine that, much like leptin, contributes to letting the body know it has enough food. When our intestines are not being provided with quality calories, Peptide YY will signal we need more food even if we've consumed amount of calories. Fill up on substantial foods rather than empty carbs and sweets. Cortisol is the stress hormone. While less directly related to hunger than the above hormones, a rise in cortisol triggers a rise in insulin and blood sugar. This makes us hungry. In other words, stress can lead to overeating. Look into ways to reduce overall stress, such as exercise and meditation. This keeps cortisol in check and hunger at bay.

Changing Your Eating Habits

Eat breakfast. Breakfast is perhaps the most important step for combating nighttime food cravings. A healthy breakfast sets the tone for the rest of the day and can keep you full at night. Shifting your caloric intake towards the morning can help you feel full later in the day. If the bulk of your daily calories are consumed during breakfast and lunch, then you'll have less room during and after dinner to overindulge. Go for lean protein, whole wheats, and fruit for breakfast. Ideally, aim for about 350 calories. If you exercise a lot, however, or have a physically demanding job consider upping the amount. Eggs are a favorite breakfast food for a good reason. They're a great source of protein, which helps balance your blood sugar later in the day. However, make sure you prepare your eggs in a healthy fashion. Cook them in olive or canola oil over butter or margarine and do not add too much salt. If you're not an egg eater, other healthy breakfast proteins include granola, nuts, low-fat cheeses, and low-fat milk.

Get rid of the junk food in your cupboard. If you happen to have your favorite snacks on hand, you'll keep focusing on them. Even if you're not hungry, you will likely crave the taste. Removing the junk means removing the temptation. Identify which foods you go for during nighttime snacking. Oftentimes, especially if our eating is emotional, we go for the sweet or salty. It might be best to toss the bag of oreos or microwave popcorn if you find yourself snacking on junk food at night. If you really feel you deserve a bedtime snack, consider altering your junk food supply rather than completely eliminating it. Purchase 100 calorie bags of chips or sleeves of cookies. You can also mix healthy foods with less healthy ones for a low calorie nighttime treat. Dip fruit in chocolate spreads, like Nutella, for example, or mix a small amount of brown sugar into a bowl of oatmeal. If you want junk food like chips and dips on hand for social gatherings, you can keep certain foods in your cupboards but restrict your personal access. Put the junk food on high shelves that take awhile to reach. Freeze sweets and cookies so they have to thaw before consumption. When you want to indulge a craving, you'll have added time to consider what you're doing and re-think the unhealthy snack.

Choose foods with a low glycemic index. The glycemic index is a ranking of carbohydrates measuring how much a certain food raises blood-glucose levels in the body. Low glycemic foods leave one feeling fuller longer, which reduces the likelihood of nighttime eating. A sudden rise in blood sugar, often a result of processed foods and refined sugars, leads to a burst of insulin, which in turn reduces the blood sugar levels back to normal. This zig-zagging rise and fall means you end up hungrier faster. If you're consuming foods with a high glycemic index throughout the day, you'll be hungrier longer. This can lead to nighttime eating. Essentially, a low glycemic diet means getting the bulk of our daily carbohydrates from whole wheat grains, vegetables and fruits, and healthy proteins. Products with added sugar or made from white wheat are not recommended. Foods with a low glycemic index score 55 or below on the GI scale. Low glycemic foods include barley, beans, bran cereal, carrots, celery, lentils, whole wheat pasta, brown rice, low-fat yogurt, and a variety of fruits and veggies. High glycemic foods have a score of 70 and over. They include sugary cereals, white breads and rices, potatoes, pretzels, and most sweets. Eating healthy, balanced meals is a good way to prevent sugar cravings.

Eat and drink throughout the day. Depriving yourself of calories throughout the day leads to nighttime overeating. Making sure you're well-nourished in the hours leading up to the evening can stop nighttime eating. Do not drink your calories. Oftentimes, we fill up on sugary sodas, juices, and sports drinks. The added sugar mess with our blood sugar levels, leading to late night hunger. Drink water if you're thirsty or low/no calorie beverages like coffees and teas. Snack healthy. If you get hungry between meals, do not simply ignore those cravings. If they come gradually, you're likely experiencing physical hunger and your body needs more fuel. Try eating a handful of nuts or a small bowl of fruit or veggies. Filling up your body with healthy snacks throughout the day curbs the desire to eat at night. Eat balanced meals. Balanced meals are comprised of plenty of fruits and veggies, whole wheats and grains, lean proteins like fish and poultry, and heart healthy fats such as those found in olive and canola oil.

Prepare healthy nighttime snacks. If overeating at night is a habit, you're not likely to give it up overnight. You can help ease the transition by switching from unhealthy nightly snacks to healthier options. Cut up fruits and vegetables and keep them in Tupperware containers in your fridge. That way, they'll be easy to grab when the desire to eat after dinner surfaces. You can buy pre-sliced fruit and veggies from the supermarket. This might be a good option if you tend to be disorganized and may not remember to prepare nighttime snacks yourself. Vegetable spears dipped in guacamole, hummus, pesto, or raw almond butter is a great healthy snack. If you're a chip eater, you might be tempted to swap out the regular potato chips for supposedly healthier options like kettle chips, baked chips, and chips made from healthy sounding ingredients like sweet potato and quinoa. Be wary of such options. Oftentimes, the nutritional profile of such "healthy" options is similar to that of any potato chip. They're still, essentially, empty carbs. You're better off ditching the chips altogether in terms of a nightly snack.

Altering Your Routine

Find a new hobby. Nighttime eating is often mindless, a result of boredom while engaging in other activities like watching television. If you keep busy with other hobbies, you're less likely to end up overeating. Choose activities that occupy your hands. Take up knitting or sewing. Try starting a 1,000 piece puzzle. Teach yourself cat's cradle. Buy a sketchbook and learn to draw. Anything to keep your hands focused on something other than eating is ideal. Use your mind as well. Nighttime eating can sometimes be the result of emotional stress, so if you keep your mental energies focused elsewhere you're less likely to over indulge at night. Buy a book of crossword puzzles or sudoku. Many trivia games are available online, where you can compete with other players. If you live with a significant other or roommate, consider having a game of cards or a board game be a nightly ritual.

Have fun throughout the day. Oftentimes, people unwinding at the end of the day with a snack is the highlight of their day. If this is the case for you, try to incorporate pleasant activities throughout the day. That way, you'll put less focus on nightly snacks as your primary form of emotional release. Try to make room for small pleasures. What are things you enjoy? What are your interests? If you drive to work or use public transportation, try listening to podcasts on subjects that interest you and your morning commute. If you enjoy reading, read a book while waiting for a bus or train. Make time during your lunch hour for a leisurely walk. Make a quick stop by a store you like after work a few nights a week, even if it's just to browse. Join a club. Meeting new people, and getting involved in your community, can increase your overall level of happiness. This means less focus will be placed on nighttime eating as a form of unwinding and relaxing. Websites like Meetup help you find gatherings relevant to your interests or you could visit a local community center and see what classes and clubs are available. Incorporate a nighttime treat unrelated to eating into your day-to-day routine. Do you enjoy walking? Go for a half an hour walk in the hours leading to bed time. Are you a gamer? Find a video game you enjoy and allow yourself an hour of play before bedtime.

Brush your teeth after dinner. Brushing your teeth can be a great way to curb the desire to eat at night for a variety of reasons. Many people enjoy the clean mouth feel and do not want to sully it with eating. If you brush your teeth shortly after dinner rather than right before bed, you may be less likely to eat at night. Toothpaste and mouth wash changes the flavor of foods. Go-to late night snacks, like salty and sweet options, do not seem appetizing after you've cleaned your teeth with minty products. Buy breath strips or sugar free mint-flavored gum from a supermarket. If you start to feel cravings after the clean-mouth feel wears off, you can reignite the sensation by using a breath strip or chewing gum.

Get enough sleep. Oftentimes, an erratic sleep schedule can fuel an erratic eating schedule. Changing your sleep schedule can help curb nighttime food cravings. A poor sleep schedule can easily result in missing meals, breakfast especially. For example, say you have to be at work at 9AM each day but stay up until 2AM each night. You're probably less likely to get up early enough to make breakfast, and as stated missing breakfast is a surefire way to encourage nighttime eating. Staying up late also results in boredom. Less people are around and less establishments are open. Many people end up snacking because they have little else to do. Get on a solid sleep schedule. This means going to bed and waking up at roughly the same time each day, and aiming for 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night. Your body and mind will adjust to the routine and you begin to experience sleepiness around the same time each day.

Seek support. If it has become a habit to eat at night, every night, don't assume that it will be an easy habit to break. It will be a challenge in the beginning and asking friends and family members for support can help you cope with the issue. If you live with other people, ask your roommates, significant others, or family to not keep junk food around that they know will tempt you. Also, you could ask them to join you in breaking the night-eating habit. If you live alone, try to find friends you can text or talk to on the phone. Social interaction can combat boredom and stress, key triggers for nighttime eating. Online communities often offer support, advice, and tips. Look for forums and message boards to talk about your struggles with nighttime eating and seek out guidance from those in a similar situation.