Mindless munching
UNDERSTAND WHY YOU SNACK AT NIGHT AND HOW TO STOP IT ADDING KILOS
You know the feeling, you have finished dinner and technically you are not hungry but, you still find yourself looking for something sweet, or crunchy or salty to satisfy your cravings and ease your boredom before bed.
Snacking after dinner is extremely common. Whether we seek comfort, reward or distraction, mindless munching after dinner can quickly become an insidious habit that results in the consumption of hundreds of extra calories.
WHY DO WE WANT TO EAT AFTER DINNER?
The desire to eat within an hour or two of finishing what is often the largest meal of the day, is rarely hunger based.
Rather, snacking after dinner tends to be a habit that develops over time. Specifically, when we treat ourselves with sweet and salty snacks at a similar time each night, over time the brain becomes used to getting this stimulus and on cue still seeks it out, irrespective of hunger.
WHY IS IT A PROBLEM?
Snacking late at night when there is no physiological need for more calories has a number of consequences.
To start with, the greater the amount of high sugar and high fat food you eat, the more you will want, and the more you will need to feel satisfied. This is the reason n that people are able to demolish h entire tubs of ice-cream and nd blocks of chocolate in one sitting.
Eating throughout the evening means that the numbers of hours we fast overnight are reduced. Ideally, we need at least 10012 hours overnight without t food to support calorie balance and prevent weight gain over time.
Consuming large volumes of food after dinner, when we tend to be sitting down for many hours, can significantly impact digestive comfort which can in turn disrupt sleep with reflux, bloating and indigestion all common. common The other less frequently mentioned men issue is that overeating ov late at night means that we are less likely to wake up hungry, and will then delay breakfast b as a result. This fu fuels a daily pattern of eating ea lightly through the first fir half of the day, before overeating ov throughout the afternoon and evening, ultimately repeating the cycle.
WHAT IF YOU ARE HUNGRY?
If you feel genuinely hungry an hour or two after your evening meal, there are snack options that are much better than others. Large portions of high fat food like jumbo packs of potato chips, tubs of ice-cream, packets of biscuits and blocks of chocolate are by far the worst options as they are so easy to over-consume.
Choosing foods easy to portion control is a good place to start, as is choosing snacks that are filling.
Wholegrain crackers with pre sliced cheese, popcorn, individual nut or protein bars or plain yoghurt with fruit are all nutritious and caloriecontrolled options. Or, if you want sweet, seek out individual portions of dark chocolate, hot chocolate, frozen yoghurt or ice-cream that contain 100-150 calories a serve.
Another strategy for those who mindlessly munch is to deliberately keep dinner light. Soup, vegetablebased meals such as cauliflower rice risotto or vegetable stir fry, or grills with chicken breast or white fish enjoyed with loads of vegetables mean that you are still able to enjoy dessert or an after-dinner snack while keeping your calorie intake under control.