Can't stop nighttime food cravings? Use these tips to curb late-night snacking.
Imagine you have just finished a large meal for dinner. Almost automatically the cravings kick in. What you ate for dinner might be enough physically, but emotionally you are still hungry. Even after you try to go to sleep you experience cravings and feel like you can't stop eating.
If this nighttime food experience happens to you, you probably have night eating syndrome. While some people feel the need to hide the fact that they have night eating syndrome because it makes them feel ashamed that they have no control over food, it is a real disorder and you can get help.
Symptoms of a Nighttime Eater
Night eating syndrome is an emotionally charged eating behavior that typically runs in families. Obese people are more likely to turn to food for self-medication and development eating syndrome. If you treat dinner as your main meal of the day and eat more than 50% of your daily calories after dinner you are likely a nighttime eater. Other symptoms are not feeling hungry in the morning for breakfast and feeling stressed out or depressed.
Treatment for Night Eating Syndrome
Don't throw in the towel and give up on yourself. There are treatments available to help with night eating syndrome. Seek counseling to get a firm diagnosis of your eating problem first. Rid your kitchen of high calorie carbohydrates and sweets to minimize the damage of night eating when strong cravings occur. Therapy is yet another option that can reduce stress and raise melatonin to allow allow better sleep patterns and less eating.
Tips to Curb the Nighttime Snacking
There is hope for people who can't stop food cravings at night. The following is a list of tips that may help you curb the nighttime snacking of dinner leftovers:
Brush your teeth after dinner
Plan a healthy after dinner snack
Eat a serving of carbs with dinner
Freeze dinner leftovers so you don't snack on them later
Choose sugarless gum
Keep your kitchen free of junk food
Find other activities to keep your hands and mind preoccupied
Buy pre-portioned packages of snacks (like the many 100 calorie snacks available)
Don't skip meals. Spread your calories out evenly over the day to avoid feeling overly hungry
Eat breakfast even if you don't feel like it
The copyright of the article Night Eating Syndrome in Weight Loss is owned by Tracy Rose. Permission to republish Night Eating Syndrome in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
I am a night eater, have been for as long as I can remember. At 45 years
old I can rarely go even one night without night eating. I fall asleep
easily, but wake every 2 hours, or so, and the urge to eat is overpowering,
leaving me remorseful and depressed the next morning. I'm in drug and
alcohol recovery, 5 years, but the remorse I feel the next morning is worse
than any remorse I felt after using. I can't stop. I want more than
anything to stop. Juli
Sep 23, 2008 7:57 AM
Guest :
Juli, I feel your pain i too am in the exact same scenario with the night
eating. I fall asleep easily and i wake up just as easily , i eat and then
go back to sleep and i do that every 2 hours. I feel like a newborn baby!
I hate myself every morning. I am on zoloft but just started and so far
2nd week in no changes. Waiting to see a specialist who apparently is an
expert in our disorder. Let's hope i get some relief! I have tried
everything nothing works! sleeping pills, hiding food, having better
snacks available.. nothing works
Oct 8, 2008 7:43 AM
Guest :
I'm in the same predicament, I keep waking every hour to eat. I have gone
to extreme mesures to stop. I keep the bare minimum in my fridge and
cupboards, yet despite the fact that there are no goodies to be found I
still wake up craving to eat every hour! I found it interesting that
despite the fact that my brain knew there was NO snacks, I still keep woke
up searching.
Oct 20, 2008 10:13 AM
Guest :
There is a Great book called Overcoming Night Eating Syndrome: A
Step-by-Step Guide to Breaking the Cycle. these tip on this websites are
good but will only last so long, and disregards the biological reasons for
night eating. The good thing about the book is that these are professionals
that have studied the disorder for years, and really have good ideas to
help you overcome it.
Oct 20, 2008 2:54 PM
Guest :
I too am a nighttime eater. I'm 43 and have been since I can remember. I
remember before I was in kindergarden my mom placing a plate of oreo
cookies and a glass of milk in the fridg before bedtime, this way I
wouldn't have to wake her up. I'm trying so hard to loose weight, I'm
working out on a daily basis twice a week with a trainer and on my own. I'm
watching what I eat during the day, but it's the night time that pulling me
down. I take in so many calories during the night that I don't have many
left over for the rest of the 24hrs! I want this to stop! Thank goodness
none of my chldren have this problem. Please help! Helen
Oct 21, 2008 8:22 AM
Guest :
Thank you for the info on the book. I just ordered it.
Jan 24, 2009 3:41 PM
Guest :
believe it or not. im not 19 yrs old and for the past 5 or more weeks ive
been having the same issue. its soo frusturating. the first 3 weeks it was
a hunger issue 24 hrs straight for me, not only at night. now its only on
and off but still everynight i wake up about 2-3hrs starving. i tried
forcing water and activia yogert but that only works for so long. i dont
know what to do. im sleep deprived most of the time. i went to the doctors,
he said i might need to eat more veggies and such but ive tried that. only
works so much. but then he also said to get blood tested for
anemia/diabettes and 3 other reasons what it might be. so im still waiting
for those results.
Mar 2, 2009 9:41 PM
Guest :
i too have been suffering from this for abour 4 years-- it has gone through
many phases. I feel terrible in the morning when I wake up after getting in
to high carb snacks. the best thing that has worked for me so far is to get
rid of as many high carb things in my place as i can. but i still havent
found a good solution--has anyone seen any doctors/ had any therapy/ taken
any supplement/ drugs that help? im desperate!
Mar 6, 2009 10:14 AM
Guest :
I am 45 years old sufferung from NES,I too over excersise,have tried all
diets (hate it) watch what i eat all day, still I get up 1-3 times a night
to eat. I have been on prozac, wellbruition, 3month theapry nothing seems
to help. I have been reading about the medication zolfolt. I feel since i
am on medication anyway why not try one that have been in trials any other
information would be helpful keep pushing forward lets not except a life
being overweight, unhappy, unhealthy because of a control we cannot stop.
thank you all for your comments
Apr 27, 2009 3:57 PM
Guest :
I too suffer from this disorder. I exercise almost every day and hardly eat
anything during the day, and then I have a good dinner. But at night I wake
up and crave food. I decided I am going to end it all. I am going to fight
this if it is the last thing I do. I want to wake up feeling no guilt and
I'm going to succeed. I think we need to start a web site so we can all
meet and discuss our progress. Good Luck!
Jun 20, 2009 8:24 AM
Guest :
I'm 48 years old and I've had this problem since my teenage years. I could
still manage my weight when I was younger, but now I'm finding it harder to
do. Last year, I found myself 40 pounds overweight and went on a strict
diet and lost 20 pounds. But, now no matter what I can't lose the rest
because I can't stop the night eating. The cravings start after dinner. I
munch all night, go to bed and then like clock-work, wake up and eat about
2 hours later to eat. I've tried all the 'tricks' but nothing helps. Last
night I ate bread and butter because I barely have any food in the house.
The 'tips' listed above might work for a couple of nights, but they're not
going to help people long-term who have this disorder.
Jul 19, 2009 7:40 PM
Guest :
I had this disease when I was in college a few years ago. After being
shuttled back and forth between nutritionists, psychiatrists and sleep
specialists (nobody seems to know whether it's a sleep disorder or a
psychological one), I finally saw a sleep specialist who changed my whole
life. He put me on Topamax, which is an anti-convulsant also used for
people with binge eating disorder, depression, and a bunch of other medical
problems. I can't remember the exact dosage but I worked up to taking 4
pills a night for maybe 2 or 3 months and that stopped the nighttime eating
completely. Then I weaned off of the pills entirely and I was fine. It's
been about 4 years and I am NES free and never eat at night. This pill is
seriously a miracle and saved my life. The best part is, it's not like
Ambien or some other super addictive drug that you become dependent on. I
had no problem weaning myself off. Good luck everyone!
Aug 6, 2009 12:44 PM
Guest :
I have been a night eater for at least 4 years, if not longer. I dont eat
all day simply because I am not hungry. Than I have nice normal healthy
dinner and than I go to bed. However, I can not fall asleap unless I am
full. So I get up and eat untill I am completely stuffed and than I can
finally fall asleep. If I dont do that I might stay up until 4-5AM or in
most cases dont sleep at all. I have gone thru 48 - 72 hours with no sleep
at all. I dont take drugs, never have, drink one cup of coffee in the
morning, no energy drinks. I changed my night eating with stocking up on
fruit and veggies, however 6 peaches, 3 oranges and 2 bananas is still a
lot of sugar and carbs for just a night snack before bed. At this point I
am desperate for help and I am considering talking to a doctor about it.
Sep 7, 2009 5:28 PM
Guest :
MY mom too is a nighttime eater and we Just tonight found out that she has
NES and she cant go to sleep till around 3 in the morning, how can we get
it to stop please give advice -NREM
Sep 17, 2009 7:47 PM
Guest :
I just put a name to what has been going on for me...NES. I never knew this
was a real disorder. Are there any OTC anti-depressants for this? I was
told that organic OTC drugs might be effective. My only concern about
taking anti-depressants is the possible sexual side effects. I stuggle with
losing that 10 lbs...and I exercise. I suffer from a high stress job and
recently encountered additional stress. Advice on this is helpful...
Oct 3, 2009 5:07 PM
Guest :
In the same place with most of the others. i work out hard 5 times a week;
than blow it at night waking up 234 times nightly. sometimes not even
remembering how much i ate... I absolutely am done with this, I made an
appointment with an eating disorder specialist. I have tried all the
different ideas nothing works for me... a 45 year old female am meticulous
about what goes in my body 7am to 8pm after that 12, 1. 230 .all the hard
work and exercise just got ate up with all that junk. this needs to stop.
will get back with you after appointment.
Oct 10, 2009 5:06 PM
Guest :
wow, I feel so relieved knowing that I am not the only night-eater in the
world! I am 17 years old, and have been waking up to eat during the night
for 4 years. I have tried everything i can possibly think of to stop;
hiding food ( i found the stash), making my parents lock the kitchen(I
would bring food to my room before they locked it) and i even went to a
weight loss camp this summer, where I didn't even have access to food at
night, and yet i still found myself stealing double snacks, or stealing my
friends snacks! Iv been to 4 therapists so far and none of them have been
able to help. I also used to go to a nutritionist, but she didn't help me
either. I already own the Night Eating Syndrome Book and have read it many
times. I have no idea what happened to me over these last 4 years because
I used to be anorexic and had amazing control over my diet. This habit has
made me so depressed, i hate how i look, i am now the fattest of all my
friends. I feel so hopeless. Please someone help me!!!!!
