Is Late-Night Eating Sabotaging You?
Late night eating can sabotage our goals and zap our energy.
And.
It can feel devilishly hard to stop.
But stop we can.
It’s exciting to see people in our Liberated Eating Community change this pattern after decades of struggling with it. We do a lot of celebrating over this change!
Because, WOW, this one change offers soooo many rewards:
Wake up feeling energetic
Wake up without regret
Wake up with clarity of mind - because brain fog lifts
Feel lighter and peppier in your body
Feel confident and capable about other changes too
Have more sustained energy throughout the day - instead of feeling tired
More available to people - rather than feeling side-tracked
I could go on…
This old habit is not carved in stone. It can be busted! I know hundreds of people, including myself, who’ve changed it.
So please, be encouraged!
I’ve put together a short list of some of the top game-changers for people who are working on this common obstacle. There are certainly other strategies, but this may be all you need to change things…
Understanding these points (and how they flow together) will help:
Late night eating is often a cycle that begins when we consciously or unconsciously try to “eat light” all day (old diet mindset). Not fueling well during the day catches up with us. So then we tend to overeat at dinner and can end up snacking into the night.
This often leads to another unhelpful pattern – NO BREAKFAST. When we eat late at night, we may not be hungry for breakfast…or we may not think we deserve it.
Then the vicious cycle perpetuates itself. Eating light during the day leads to overeating at night. Again.
Try a protein-rich breakfast for two weeks (even if you do eat the night before) and closely observe your energy and appetite levels.
Fuel during the day, when you need it. Eat a hearty breakfast and a substantial lunch.
In the evenings we don’t need a lot of fuel because we’re gearing down for bed.
We often want a reward at the end of a long day, which is completely understandable. Allow your dinner to be rewarding - make it slow, enjoyable, satisfying and memorable.
Remember, if we fly through dinner at the frenetic pace of the day, we’ll keep “wanting a little somethin’-somethin” all evening.
Make dinner a bit smaller in amount but ROBUST nutritionally and deliciously. Savory protein, nourishing fats and fresh plants. Fats and proteins are the most satisfying foods and your stomach will be happy with them all night.
Remember, simple carbohydrates are HIGH & QUICK energy fuel. They burn fast, giving you a burst of good energy, but they don’t satisfy for long. They belong in the high energy part of the day – from morning to afternoon.
Experiment with getting enough complex, high fiber carbs in the day for the energy you need, and begin to make dinner about more satisfying, slower burning fuel.
Change things up! When everything else stays the same, we tend to do the same things we’ve been doing.
If you’re sitting in the same place, wearing the same cozy PJs, with that same remote, in the same room where you always eat at night – chances are, you’ll eat – even if you aren’t hungry.
So, switch things up. Maybe take a stroll before you sit down for the night. Snuggle up in a different chair. Wear some new pajamas. Or enjoy a different room…
Change begets change.
Once you start shaking things up, change becomes FUN and REWARDING!
Find 3 new ways to treat yourself in the evening (besides food). Try them out this week.
Music, a warm bath, a peaceful stroll, a jigsaw puzzle while listening to a book on tape, a good game of poker…
Now of course, anything new feels like trouble at first, but keep giving it a chance. You’ll be happily surprised with how invigorating a change of pace can be!
Don’t miss how powerful this is.
I know this is gonna sound dramatic, but seriously - changing up just a few things in your evening can shift your health, energy, outlook on life, and even your weight, drastically.
Let me know what you discover!