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3 Tips for Preventing Nighttime Snacking & Giving You Your Control Around Food Back

Writer's picture: Jillian FoleyJillian Foley

By Jillian Foley, RDN Nutritionista


Let's face-it. Food is an all day event. And trying to eat well with all the temptations can be challenging. You can have a balance breakfast, lunch and dinner but if you find yourslef binging in front of the tv at night, you write the day off as another failure. Swearing in the morning you won't do it again; only to find yourself trapped in the same, exact, cycle.


The reason most people end the night with no control around food is for 2 reasons:

One, our mental energy is like a cell phone battery flashing on 10% by the end of the night. We are tired from the day and don't have much left in us as far as ambition and smart choices are concerned.

Two, we tend to be bored. When we are busy and running around with work and family, we are preoccupied. But at the end of the day we finally get the chance to sit and this leads to boredom eating.


Practice these 3 tips and I promise you will develope more control at night.


  1. Don't let yourself get too hungry during the day. I know what you are thinking. What does that have to do with my night cravings? I see it all the time, people think that because they overate the night prior, they should restrict what they are eating the following day. Sure, you could choose to eat less, but straving yourself and constantly going more that 4 hours without eating increases your hunger hormone Ghrelin. Good luck fighting off hunger hormones!! My rule-of-thumb is don't go more than 3-4 hours without eating during the day. It doesn't have to be much if you aren't that hungry. Try easy foods like granola bar, yogurt, string cheese, 1/4 cup nuts, ricecakes, etc.

  2. Plan your nighttime snack ahead of time. I can't stress this one enough. You can't continue finding yourself night after night looking in the cabinet hoping you will make a smarter choice. You need to plan hours in advance. This way the cravings aren't strong and you are more logical about it. Ask yourself; what kind of snack am I going to want? What will be satisfying enough but isn't the kind of food that makes me binge? Are there "trigger foods" like cookies or chips that I know I'm going to want and I can put in a different cabinet? Learn from previous mistakes and talk yourself through how you can make it look different.

  3. Make the whole night look different. Instead of making just the food look different, you can make the whole night look different. Shaking up the habit of the way every night ends will give you more awareness around your actions. Rather than sitting in your favorite spot, in front of your favorite show, hoping you don't want your favorite food; try for instance, sitting in a different spot with a cup of hot tea, or maybe even read or put yourself to bed instead of watching tv. This will help with the craving of wanting to snack the way you do all the other nights.


Practice these tips with intention, awareness and patience, and YOU WILL regain your control around nighttime eating!



Jillian Foley, RDN Nutrititionista is a Registered Dietitian that specializes in Food Therapy. She believes that weight-loss & disease prevention/management is 20% food education & 80% psychological. She owns her own practice for 1-on-1 sessions as well as courses. You can find more info @www.Nutritionista267.com Follower her on IG @Nutritionista_1



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