7 tips to stop overeating at night

You had dinner a few hours ago and you’re ready to go to sleep, but suddenly you’re hungry. So, you open the refrigerator and destroy the first thing you find: a piece of cake, chocolate or any leftover food stored. Does this situation often happen to you?

Eating something else before going to sleep despite having had dinner has consequencesfrom a swollen belly to weight gain or cardiovascular risks, plus an explanation.

Possible causes of night feeding

Snacking and bingeing after dinner has a reason for being. Identifying it will help you not only eliminate this habit, but also find a solution. Below, we show you the most frequent causes:

1. Not eating well during the day

Your body is likely to crave more food at night if you don’t eat well during the day. . This is because the body needs resources to carry out the nocturnal tasks of rest and regeneration, since the brain will begin to demand more nutrients during the night. Hence you have the need to eat any food that is in your path, because you will perceive the situation as a physical emergency.

2. The circadian rhythm

Researchers at Harvard University conducted a study which explains how biology influences nocturnal eating habits. In this investigation, they found that endogenous circadian rhythm causes increased appetite at night .

The authors speculate that Overeating late at night may have helped our ancestors store energy to survive longer, especially when food was scarce. However, in the current era, this biological trend has promoted unhealthy eating habits.

Furthermore, the researchers suggest that endogenous circadian regulation of our appetite leaves us with “a natural tendency to skip breakfast in favor of larger meals in the evening” which has become an increasingly common eating routine today.

Having said that, skipping breakfast and overeating at night represents a vicious habit which can easily turn into an eating disorder like night eating syndrome.

3. Insomnia

Frequent insomnia is also closely related to the habit of eating more at night. YesIf you can’t sleep, you probably feel like cooking and devouring the first thing your insatiable stomach finds..

Additionally, if you start encouraging this habit, you will probably find it more difficult to fall asleep at night, thus fueling a vicious cycle of insomnia and nighttime hunger.

4. Emotional discomfort

Stress, anxiety, boredom sadness or anger are some of the emotions and situations that prompt a person to eat compulsively, such as a attempt to eliminate, calm or modify the emotional discomfort experienced .

In these cases, nocturnal food intake may be a consequence of mood and an attempt at emotional regulation.

How to stop overeating at night

Now, if you want to stop overeating at night, you can put the following tips into practice:

1. Include more protein in your meals

One technique that has been effective in combating nighttime binge eating is including more protein in your daily nutrition. About this, The United States Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics advises consuming between 20 to 25 grams of protein during the day .

To achieve this goal, specialists recommend reduce portions of animal meat and increase vegetable intake. Some of the products with vegetable proteins that they recommend are peanut butter (without added sugar), pinto beans or oatmeal.

2. Dinner later

If hunger occurs late at night, a good option to alleviate it is to postpone dinner time. You can even add an earlier breakfast to this habit. Thus, the time gap between meals is reduced and the desire to eat can be more controllable.

It is important that you keep in mind that dinner time should not be too late otherwise you will have problems wanting to have breakfast in the morning. Ideally, you should customize your meal schedule according to your individual needs.

3. Eat healthy during the day

Another aspect to consider is the satisfaction that food causes during the day, because Overeating at night may also be the result of excessively restricted daytime food intake..

If you are too cautious with the type and amount of food you consume during the day you may feel like you are giving up the satisfaction of food altogether.

In the long run, it will end up affecting your eating habits in a negative way, since When we eat unsatisfactorily during the day, the idea of ​​overeating after dinner becomes more attractive .

4. Ask yourself why you want to snack

As we already said, emotions play an important role in food intake. AND It’s likely that nighttime hunger is not due to a nutrient deficiency, but rather to an emotional state that you don’t know how to manage. .

According to the above, before opening the refrigerator at night, ask yourself: “Am I really hungry? Am I thirsty? Am I tired? Bored? Sad? Stressed?” Answering these questions may help you rethink nighttime snacking.

5. Change your after-dinner habits

It is likely that the craving after dinner has become a habit and that your mind relates a certain habitual activity with the action of eating something specific. For example, if you usually eat a snack while watching a series before going to sleep, it will surely be difficult for you to do this activity if you do not consume some food.

If this is your case, replace these habits with healthier or relaxing ones, such as take a walk, read, listen to music or practice yoga . If your desire to eat still persists, it is best to opt for a small portion of healthy foods.

The American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics suggests the following: Greek yogurt, fruit, nuts, vegetables with hummus, or unbuttered popcorn.

6. Avoid skipping breakfast

A study found that late-night overeating is associated with fewer calories consumed at breakfast or skipping breakfast. Additionally, they observed that a cycle developed that included skipping breakfast, overeating at dinner, and late-night snacking, creating a stubborn trend in individuals’ eating schedules.

7. Eat consciously

We spend a lot of time on digital screens, letting life pass by without realizing it and without attending to what is necessary; We even eat our meals unconsciously while we answer our phones or watch television. In these cases, it is very common to carry out abusive consumption.

When we eat in front of a screen or have other stimuli in front of us the body ignores the signals that inform it of its intake causing us to overeat during or between meals.

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