Support Center: Snacking after dinner
- Eat regular meals. Eat a complete breakfast, lunch, and dinner to prevent binging at night. This helps spread your calories throughout the day and prevents trying to compensate for the day's calories at night. Remember- you should be aiming for 5-6 smaller meals per day.
- Change your routine. Get away from the television, go shopping, go for a walk, or engage in a hobby. Break the routine so you don't end up snacking just because that's what you do in the evening.
- Plan a healthy evening snack. If the habit of snacking on chips or ice cream at night is difficult to break, start by changing the snack. Choose from these more healthful options:
- Whole wheat crackers with 1 tbsp of peanut butter
- Frozen 100% fruit-juice bar
- Fresh fruit, such as pears, apples, kiwi, or cantaloupe topped with 2 tbsp of light whipped cream
- 2 slices of turkey wrapped around celery sticks
- Don't buy junk food. If it's not there, you won't eat it!
- Make the effort to break the cycle! Remember, habits can be broken and replaced with new habits…in order to create a healthy habit, you just need to stick to it and repeat it until it becomes "routine".
- Don't sit in front of the TV - find a productive project to do instead or make yourself go to bed.
- Grab a book. It isn't easy to read and snack at the same time. With both hands holding a book, it's harder to snack. But it is essential that you do try and read it also.
- Write a blog entry. If you're hands are busy typing, it much harder to eat.
- When you feel the urge to eat late at night, try drinking a cup of water or herbal tea. Hot liquids have a soothing effect on emotions and appetite.
- Suck on hard candy. Most hard candy has only a few calories and they give you the satisfaction of snacking.
- Some people have great success by simply brushing their teeth late at night. This method has been known to curb late night eating for many people.