It’s 9 pm. You’ve had a full dinner, yet all you can think about is more food. A few cookies, a spoonful of ice cream (or two…), then the box of cereal is calling your name. You are so careful about your diet during the day. Why does it fall apart at night? How many times have you vowed to stay out of the kitchen after 9 pm, yet all discipline falls by the wayside as the hours move on?

Causes of night snacking
I see this night snacking syndrome with many of my clients. There are several possible reasons for this problem, including:
- not having adequate protein, fat, carbs or fiber during the day
- skipping meals
- emotional eating due to stress, boredom, anxiety, etc.
- mentality that “I’ve had a tough day so I can reward myself” or “I’ll start my diet tomorrow”
- keeping too many tempting snacks around

Tips to curb night time snacking
Putting the brakes on your night time snacking might feel like a hopeless situation, but it isn’t! Some of the following tactics should be able to rein you in:

1. Don’t skip meals. You may wonder what this has to do with late night snacking. There definitely is a connection! When you skip meals earlier in the day, your brain sends out signals to eat later on. These cravings are usually for fat or carbs  (think ice cream or other fatty sweets)

2. Don’t let too many hours go between meals, especially between lunch and dinner. Plan a healthy afternoon snack. This will help to keep your blood sugar more level. You may not feel hungry later in the afternoon, but once you start eating dinner, it’s almost like you can’t stop. The floodgates have been opened and the food fest continues into the evening. The best kind of snacks are ones that contains some protein, fat and fiber. More on my favorite snacks at a later post.

3. Don’t take your total calorie or protein/fat level too low. This will cause a drop in blood sugar, same reason as in #2.

4. Don’t take your overall carb intake too low, especially if you exercise on a regular basis. Not eating adequate carbs will cause your energy stores (glycogen) to deplete. The consequence —–> those sugar cravings will hit you … often late at night!

5. Keep trigger foods out of your house. (For me, that would be chocolate!) These foods will only tempt you and call out your name. If you have family members who insist on having these kind of snacks around, try to buy snacks that you don’t love. Or at least keep these foods out of sight.

6. Buy portion controlled snacks such as 100 calorie packs of nuts, popcorn, pretzels, pudding, ice cream treats on a stick, etc. This is assuming you stick to one pack! And don’t buy too many different snack packs as variety tends to increase intake.

7. Find an alternate activity to keep you busy to take your mind off food. Take up knitting, start a blog or get involved in a project on the computer.  Try going to the gym at night. Call a friend. Plan an evening activity such as cleaning out closet or file drawers. This will help to take your mind off eating.

8. Keep a detailed food record. You are less likely to inhale the sleeve of cookies if you know you have to write it down. Work with a nutritionist (such as myself!). I would also suggest you keep a food/emotion journal. This can help to identify which emotions are triggering you to eat. Check out my previous post on why eating doesn’t make it better.

9. Save a moderate amount of calories for a light evening snack. I usually suggest approximately 150 calories or so. Let yourself have whatever you like, as long as you can control your portion. Check out my FREE Downloadable Snack Survival Guide.

10. Lastly, if you really feel out of control with your night time eating, I would suggest meeting with a therapist who specializes in eating issues.

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