How to Stop Eating at Night after Dinner
In this post, I will be talking about the methods that will help you to know how to stop eating at night even when you are full.
Many people (not necessarily the overweight ones) are addicted to this habit of eating food during night time, it is also known as the night eating syndrome.
Eating with any other purpose apart from to satisfy hunger is called emotional eating or binge eating which should be stopped in order to be healthy both physically as well as mentally.
Undoubtedly binge eating at night keeps on adding extra pounds to the body weight of a person but what is less known is that it intensifies various emotional problems.
Eating to feel better or to escape from various kinds of mind states is a habit developed by a person unconsciously so, it becomes very essential to know the emotional causes behind such addictions and act on it.
What I am going to discuss with you below is some ways using which you can put an end to binge eating at night, however, if you find that the reason behind it is some serious emotional issue then I will strongly advise you to take necessary steps to treat it because in that case even after getting rid of this habit your mind will find a new addiction.
#1 Eat Properly During Daytime
It is very usual for the busy crowd of today’s world to skip meals and eat very less during daytime due to the stringent work schedules.
This results as an unconscious need for the freedom to eat a lot of food so, these people keep on stuffing themselves even when they are full.
If you can keep it a priority to eat properly during breakfast and lunch then you can avoid overeating during night.
#2 Stop Yourself
It is okay to give up when the urge to eat dominates you but if you can stop yourself from acting immediately when the false hunger strikes and think for a while about the reason that might be causing this hunger, then you can find your own good way to deal with it.
Sometimes your refraining from acting immediately can naturally make the yearning disappear.
#3 Go to Sleep Earlier
Eating at night is often a byproduct of sleeping late. People who keep themselves awake for hours during night can be found eating incessantly while their mind is busy in doing something else to which they are addicted like T.V, books, work etc.
The situation can also be the opposite, one might find it difficult to sleep due to this continues yearning for food during night.
In both the cases, what is necessary is to make a deliberate effort to sleep early by keeping yourself away from the distractions.
Doing whatever it takes to get a good night sleep not only helps you to overcome the habit of eating during night but it also works on the cause of this problem.
#4 Mindful Eating
Be more present when you eat and focus on the sensations every time you eat. Be mindful of the taste, smell and body’s reaction to the food.
We usually eat without enjoying the food and when a person is not eating to satisfy their hunger they are more unconscious that’s why he feel less satisfied.
By being more attentive when you eat, you get a chance to discern that eating cannot satisfy your emotional need and this way you can gain a great control over your improper eating habits.
Mindfulness eating is one of the best ways to improve your relationship with food.
#5 Improving Emotional States
As we have discussed throughout this post, the compulsive need to eat is often related to a person’s emotional problems.
It could be stress, anxiety, depression, frustration from which one might be unconsciously trying to escape by seeking relief in food items.
Especially, when a person is not able to sleep properly due to their mental state the only aid they find is food.
I have talked earlier that you can use your food cravings to identify and act upon any such emotional trouble. But, when the affliction is serious, it becomes impossible to overcome the addiction arising out of it.
So, if you find yourself very helpless in overcoming your night eating habits then it might be a sign that you must do something about your mind state or seek professional help for it.
You can also try some simple meditation for this purpose.
#6 Other Emotional Needs
Remember the excitement of weekends in the school days? It was difficult for anyone to stop us from playing and enjoying the holiday.
What made those weekends so special were the weekdays that we hated and that pattern keeps on repeating itself in another form when we have exhausting workload.
Night time is like those weekends for people having busy days, they make their own way of rejuvenation by watching movies, reading books, etc. and food plays a very important role in this.
In this case, you can either find new ways to make yourself feeling relived from such schedules or you can take a bold action to change your lifestyle.
#7 Avoid the Triggers
As we have already discussed, in most cases some action is always associated with binge eating like watching TV, working in your laptop, reading books, etc.
These actions become a trigger for your food cravings and every time you do them you find yourself in the kitchen searching for something to eat.
By avoiding all these things and replacing those with something more fulfilling you can easily control yourself from eating at night.
I hope you enjoyed this post. You may also like to read about some ways to deal with false hunger.
Looking for an advanced solution for unhealthy eating habits and food cravings? I would suggest you to read the ebook by Kristin named End Binge Eating Now which has helped many people to overcome this problem.
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