How To Overcome Night Overeating?

The syndrome of night overeating is known to most culinary gourmets, and not only to them. The rhythm of life of a modern person often does not allow to follow the rules of healthy eating, and therefore after a hard day's work it is customary to overeat.

The syndrome of night overeating is known to most culinary gourmets, and not only to them. The rhythm of life of a modern person often does not allow to follow the rules of healthy eating, and therefore after a hard day's work it is customary to overeat.

Doctors claim that consuming more than 70% of the daily calorie intake in the evening is harmful to health. The problem is that in the dark, the body is not able to digest food as successfully as in the morning or afternoon. Even if you do not sleep at night, natural biorhythms will still slightly limit the activity of metabolic processes. If you prefer to eat before going to bed, the situation is complicated by the fact that during sleep all processes in the body slow down, the eaten products burden the gastrointestinal tract, and calories are stored instead of being spent during daytime activity.

Undoubtedly, it is not always possible to follow the given diet, because one way or another, but sometimes we are late at work, sometimes we attend late feasts, and sometimes we cannot deny ourselves evening treats. The danger is those cases when a person with excess weight or with a disturbed metabolism allows it, as well as when such a practice is firmly rooted and has become regular for a healthy person.

Nocturnal gluttony is facilitated by the unstable psychological state of a person. Scientists have established a connection between the presence of stress, guilt, anxiety and similar states in life and the occurrence of an overwhelming feeling of hunger at night. Moreover, depression and nervous disorders are often "eaten" by far from the most useful and even less light food, the hand is more likely to reach for a cake, ice cream and a package with chips than for fruit or a glass of low-fat kefir. Hence the rapid weight gain, and various disorders in the work of the gastrointestinal tract, and the violation of metabolic processes, and most importantly, the psychological dependence on the nightly dose of calories.

If you feel the effects of nighttime overeating and are ready to make changes in your life, follow some rules for a few weeks and you will find new habits instead of the one when you illuminated the kitchen with the light of the open refrigerator.

Form your diet . Make it a rule to eat 5-6 times a day, but in small portions, find time for light snacks, be it an apple or a glass of yogurt. Eat well at 6-7 in the evening, that is, 3-4 hours before bedtime (if you go to bed later, you can afford a later dinner). It is strongly not recommended to combine eating with reading or watching TV. When eating food, you should focus on it, carefully chew each piece, giving yourself an account of what you are doing. In this case, saturation will be conscious.

It can be a useful practice to keep a "food diary", write down how many calories you consume per day (if you are losing weight, their number should not exceed 1500 calories, and if you want to follow the regime and maintain the existing weight, then 2000 calories will be enough). Think over the menu for the following days, take care of a full breakfast and a hearty lunch, so as not to save the tastiest and most nutritious for the evening.

If closer to the night you wake up with a desire to check the contents of the refrigerator, we will resort to the following measures :

• the maximum you can afford, a glass of warm milk or kefir, you should not go to bed with a feeling of hunger, so dinner should be quite filling, but not high in calories;
• after dinner, go brush your teeth so that the slight aftertaste of toothpaste stops you from night treats;
• take a relaxing bath before going to bed, drink a cup of herbal tea - it soothes, induces sleep;
• occupy yourself with something, the best thing is to do some physical activity - do a physical warm-up, clean the apartment.

Boredom and idleness in the evening contribute to appetite, avoid this :

• if you don't think of your evening without TV, give preference to developing, informative programs, maybe news, but avoid watching TV commercials (which, with the help of colorful pictures and various marketing tricks, will push you, if not to buy the advertised chips, then to eat what is already is now in your fridge);
• introduce evening walks in the fresh air into your daily routine - this is a great way to relax and recharge, but not exhaust your body;
• find a hobby for yourself for every day - while watching TV, you can do some kind of needlework (it is better to occupy your hands with knitting needles than with a fork and plate), and even better - find an activity outside the home (sign up for any developing courses that are interesting to you ).