DO YOU ALWAYS CRAVE FOR LATE NIGHT FOOD?

Trust me when i say that having your dinner late at Night is not Good, i should know cause i have been fighting the same problem, but like your know food always have a way of saying yes to us even when we have sworn that we won't eat after 6pm. Find below amazing ways of not craving for midnight food.

Copied from: https://authoritynutrition.com

1. Identify the Cause

Some people eat most of their food late in the evening or during the night.To change this habit, you need to identify the cause of the problem.Nighttime eating may be the result of overly restricted daytime food intake, leading to ravenous hunger at night. It may also be caused by habit or boredom.

However, nighttime eating has also been linked to some eating disorders, including binge eating disorder and night eating syndrome 

These two disorders are characterized by different eating patterns and behaviors, but can have the same negative effects on your health 

In both, people use food to curb emotions such as sadness, anger or frustration, and they often eat even when they are not hungry.

Binge eaters also tend to eat very large amounts of food in one sitting and feel out of control while they are eating 

On the other hand, people with nighttime eating syndrome tend to graze throughout the evening and wake up during the night to eat, consuming more than 25% of their daily calories at night 

2. Identify Your Triggers

As well as identifying the overall cause of your overeating, you may find it useful to look for a specific pattern of events that usually sets off your eating behavior.

People reach for food for many reasons. If you’re not hungry but nonetheless find yourself eating at night, think about what led up to it. Often you will find you are using food to meet a need that isn’t hunger.

With nighttime eating syndrome, your entire eating pattern may be delayed due to your lack of daytime hunger 

One effective way to identify the cause of your nighttime eating and the things that trigger it is to keep a “food and mood” diary.

Tracking your eating and exercise habits alongside your feelings will help you identify patterns, enabling you to work on breaking any negative cycles of behavior.

Bottom Line: Monitoring your behavior patterns and identifying what triggers you to eat at night will help you break cycles of emotional eating.

3. Seek Emotional Support

If you think you may have nighttime eating syndrome or binge eating disorder, then you may want to seek professional help.

A professional can help you identify your triggers and implement a treatment plan.

These plans often use cognitive behavioral therapy(CBT), which has been shown to help with many eating disorders 

Creating an emotional support network will also help you find ways to manage negative emotions, which otherwise might lead you to the fridge 

Bottom Line: For some people with eating disorders, seeking professional help and support can be key to overcoming problematic eating at night.