“Eat your breakfast alone, eat your lunch with your friend, give your dinner to your enemy." Even though this is an old Russian proverb, these words have come to mean more and more to me through the years. My grandmother used to say something very similar to me growing up. As usual, the wisdom of older generations usually turn out to be right. Read further to see why.
The kids are in bed. The day is over. You can finally relax. What is the first thing you do? TV and munchies. Popcorn after dinner, an evening or bedtime snack, we have all been there. Some may make the “snack” larger than their dinner meal. Tempting as it may be, the best thing to do after dinner is take a walk. (Link to move after meals post). We should also focus on eating more fat at dinner time and eating until we are full, not stuffed. Don’t eat out of boredom while watching TV. Create new habits for your evening that do not include mindless eating.
Due to the higher insulin secretion in the evening which promotes fat storage our evening meal has a larger impact on our waist line as compared to that same meal being eaten earlier in the day. This higher insulin secretion as well as the usual poor choice of foods eaten late at night (think chips, cereal, snacks, nothing good or necessary for you!) is double trouble.
So what is that late night bowl of cereal doing to you? That bowl of cereal gives us 5 minutes of joy (ie addiction), since it hits our happy center. Since you’re not moving with TV, work or sleep at night, your body will store whatever you just ate as fat and we already learned about the higher insulin response in the evening, which means more of the nighttime cereal ends up sticking with you than eating it earlier in the day. Most of the fat doesn’t go to your hips. Instead it goes to your belly increasing your waistline causing metabolic syndrome. It also makes you feel bad-sluggish, depressed, and even guilty. Long term, it’s just not worth it.
Many people with weight issues also have heartburn. You can experience symptoms of reflux and worsen this problem with night time eating. When you lay down, the food in your stomach increases the stomach acids, worsening your heartburn symptoms. The acid actually burns causing your discomfort. Ouch.
Mindfulness about our bodies and nutrition is key to losing and maintaining weight. Mindless night time eating increases excess calories from unhealthy snacks (ie cereal). Why do you eat at night? Are you bored, stressed, depressed? Figure out the why, and try to address the emotions that cause you to eat at night.
Late night eating also becomes a habit, and as we all know, habits are hard to break. Since you are trying to lose weight, you are trying to eat more healthy, balanced meals through the day. Developing the habit of late night eating will sabotage your weight loss goals. If you feel guilty with regular binge eating at night, you could have night time eating syndrome (NES). If you feel you may have a problem with binge eating or just worried about your eating habits in general, please reach out for help. The physicians at pillarMD are here to help if needed.
Thinking about cereal before bedtime? It may sound delicious, BUT STOP! It is not worth it!
eating before bed:
Is a bad habit
Makes you feel bad
Prevents weight loss
Causes heartburn
Can be a sign of emotional eating
7 day starter guide to reduce nighttime eating:
Starting by trying to stop eating 1 hour before bed
Eat enough food and especially protein and fat at dinner to feel fully satisfied so you are not hungry later
Practice stopping before you eat something late at night and think, “why am I reaching for a snack” am I bored, stressed, depressed, angry, or am I truly hungry?
If you must eat something before bed, only eat these foods (link to approved nighttime snack list)
Brush and floss after dinner to help yourself not keep eating
Use a fasting app and press “start” when you’re done with dinner. See if you can make it at least 12 hours before you eat again (see intermittent fasting)
Last one for the week--Still having a hard time not eating late at night? We are here to help. See an obesity-medicine trained physician associated with pillarMD today.
Bonus! Try drinking a tall glass of water or having herbal tea if you have the desire to eat