It’s 8 pm and your pantry is calling out to you….
Often times our night time eating habit is just that, a habit.
You can unwind this. 😉
Night time eating often occurs because there are “cues” triggering you to open that snack cabinet or fridge.
Is this you?
You want a snack to help wind down and sometimes accompany your TV watching, reading, computer, work.
You’ve had a day, and want to disconnect from everything, or feel like you will feed a deeper level of concentration for whatever you are going to do so you go to food.
This pattern gets nicely wired into your brain.
Intervene by:
Turning off screens earlier, establishing habits that signal sleep (i.e. bath, reading in dimmer light and drinking herbal tea or journaling before bed)
Also helpful is limiting light in the evening and increasing exposure to bright light in the morning. (Get a walk or outdoor workout in at sunrise or shortly after)
You want to aim for a circadian rhythm re-set.
Circadian rhythms are physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a daily cycle. They respond primarily to light and darkness in an organism’s environment. Sleeping at night and being awake during the day is an example of a light-related circadian rhythm. Eating only when light out is a good way to think about it. In fact, ancestrally, that is how we did it.
Is this you?
Many of my clients that don’t eat a good breakfast, or a breakfast too high in carbs like muffins, toast, cereals end up eating poorly the rest of the day and sometimes snacking or bingeing throughout the night.
Or, they get so hungry that they eat too big of a dinner, have crappy sleep, eat a poor breakfast OR skip breakfast the next day because they’re not hungry. Do you see this as a familiar pattern?
Bad sleep = Insulin resistance and blood sugar DE-stabilization.
Meaning, you KEEP wanting to eat more of the wrong things and feeling MORE like crap.
Chronic insulin resistance plays a roll in inflammation and aging (“inflamm-aging”) and chronic dis-ease (you don’t feel balanced)
It also increases your risk of actual diseases like diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer’s.
Intervene by:
Start eating a better breakfast. Aim for at least 20-25 g protein from eggs, meat, fish or protein powder, along with some healthy fiber from greens, chia, flax, or hemp seeds, and clean burning fats like avocado, nuts, seeds, coconut (the ones I listed above have good fat too!)
Make sure you are absorbing that protein too!
If you are over 35, you’re probably making less enzymes and hydrochloric acid (HCL) needed to properly break down those good proteins into amino acids.
If you have an ulcer or aren’t sure if you do or not, please do not take HCL, instead
take a good enzyme like this one that I personally use and recommend for my clients.
If you have a question about your eating and digestive wellness, reply to this message and I’ll answer you!