3 Ways To Stop Late Night Snacking by:Stephen Smith
Do you still feel hungry after dinner some evenings
? Do you ever feel the urge to snack at night? Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night with uncontrollable food cravings?
If so, you're not alone. Having cravings in the evening or during the night are quite common and can be easily overcome. Here are three ways to stop your late night snacking fast!
1. Eat more during the day
The first step is to eat more during the day. One of the reasons why you may be feeling hungry at night is simply because your body needs more food. If so, feed it!
However, you are far better off feeding your body during the day when you have an opportunity to burn off the calories rather than at night as your metabolism slows down preparing your body for sleep. In order to lose weight you need to create a calorie or energy deficit. This means you burn up more energy each day than you take in from food. However, if the deficit is too severe, extreme hunger results.
Sometimes you may find that if you sleep in on a Sunday morning and have your breakfast late (i.e. when you would normally have your mid-morning meal), by the evening you may still be hungry even though you have had a substantial dinner. This an example of not consuming enough calories during the day compared to what your body requires.
If you find that this is happening to you, an easy way to overcome it is to simply eat half a punnet of strawberries after dinner. This can help to curb your appetite without eating excess calories because strawberries are a low-density carbohydrate.
2. Consciously change your evening habits
Humans are easily conditioned creatures. If we repeatedly perform an action in the same way, our brain remembers this and encourages us to repeat the action again in the future.
For example, remember back to when you were at school. Each day after school when you arrived home and walked through the front door, where was the first place you went? If you said the fridge or the pantry you are like most people!
Now, think about this: did you go there because you were hungry or simply because you had done that same action many times before? It is highly likely that you were conditioned to go to the fridge or the pantry because your brain had linked the two activities together.
In the same way, if you repeatedly sit on the couch after dinner to watch TV and eat snacks, you will likely create a 'conditioned response'. Then, in the future, whenever you sit on the couch in the evening to watch TV you will start to crave snacks!
You must be consciously aware of this and then change the habit. Perhaps choose to drink a glass of water instead or grab the half punnet of juicy strawberries and munch on those instead. Better still, get off the couch and go and do something! Perhaps take the dog for a walk; I'm sure they would appreciate it! If you notice that your reason for late night snacking is because it is a conditioned response, then you can take the steps to easily overcome it.
3. Take glucose disposal agents in the evening
If your largest meal of the day is your dinner then it is quite common to find that you feel hungry before bed. The reason for this is because a large meal causes a greater insulin response in the body.
Since insulin's primary function is to store nutrients in the body, a few hours after eating the meal your blood glucose is likely to drop significantly resulting in cravings for food or sugar.
By taking glucose disposal agents with or after dinner your body doesn't need to secrete as much insulin because glucose disposal agents assist in disposing of glucose from the blood stream as well as assisting insulin in its function. This means it is easier for your blood glucose to stay stable and for you to avoid cravings.
These three strategies are guaranteed to stop your late night snacking immediately. Try them yourself and prepare to be amazed at how effective they are.
Copyright (c) 2009 Stephen Smith
About the author
Stephen Smith is the part-owner of Body Concepts, an Australian supplement company, and Focus On, a health and lifestyle magazine. Stephen has been involved in the health and fitness industry for over 18 years and has a science degree from UWA. His website is:
http://www.quick-weight-loss-principles.com
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