Women often tell me that they can manage to eat well all day but come the evening, they find themselves snacking or binging. In this article I will cover the most common reasons and strategies to stop.

Not Enough Sleep

When you don’t get enough sleep or you have a bad night’s sleep, you are tired come the morning. Your body has not rested enough throughout the night and so is in desperate need of energy the next day. As such, you crave sugary foods so you can gain quick bursts of energy. As the day goes on, you get more tired and so crave more sugar. The later you go to bed the stronger the cravings get so you find yourself snacking or binging on whatever you can get your hands on.

Solution – Get more sleep, and improve the quality of your sleep. Set a bedtime alarm eight hours before you are required to wake up to give yourself enough time for sleep. Create a bedtime routine to wind down every evening to reduce the chance of waking throughout the night.

Stressed

When your body is stressed, it enters the fight or flight mode. That means it thinks it is being chased by a lion. Therefore, it secretes cortisol and adrenaline, hormones to boost your energy, as well as craving sugar so that you can access a quick burst of energy.

Stress can be triggered by day-to-day things such as work, bad news, social pressures, or silent stressors such as nutrient deficiencies, not eating enough throughout the day, skipping meals or not having enough water.

Stress tends to increase throughout the day if not resolved, so come the evening ‘stress eating’ kicks in.

Solution – Ensure you are eating enough calories throughout the day and drinking enough water. Stay on top of nutrient deficiencies and do things to help you manage your day-to-day stressors. This might include:

• Communicating with your boss if you are overworked
• Talking about your problems with someone such as a partner, friend, coach or counselor
• Meditation
• Deep breathing exercises
• Writing a gratitude list each night
• Spending time in the sunshine
• Going for a walk

Not Eating Enough Calories

If you are not eating enough calories throughout the day, either because you are skipping meals or just eating small portions, you may be putting your body into a severe deficit. That means that the body is basically running on an empty fuel tank.

Solution –

• Eat 3-5 meals throughout the day, ensuring you are getting enough calories in for each meal. Avoid snacking as this triggers the ghrelin hormone more, which is the hormone that tells you that you’re hungry and can then lead to overeating.
• Avoid skipping meals as this contributes to insufficient overall calories, slows the metabolism and can lead to thyroid dysfunction, all of which contribute to sugar cravings.

Consuming Too Much Sugar and/or Processed Food

Sugar and processed food trigger the ghrelin hormone which notifies the brain that you are hungry. This leads to overeating as there is no ‘off’ switch to your appetite. When you consume nutrient dense food, good fats and fibre, these trigger the leptin hormone which is the hormone that tells your body you are full. The ‘off’ switch is triggered.

Solution – Eat plenty of good quality protein, fresh fruit and vegetables and good fats in our daily diet as these will trigger your leptin hormone and switch off your appetite and late-night cravings.

Bad Habits

Sometimes you are not craving or hungry, you are simply exercising bad habits. For example, most people associate going to the movies with eating popcorn. It is rare then that people go to the movies without ordering popcorn. The same goes for the evening. If you have gotten yourself into the habit of snacking in front of the TV after a hectic day, you will continue to do so, and just get worse as time goes on.

Solution – Determine if it has simply become a bad habit and find other good habits to adopt in front of the TV instead. You might sip on a glass of water, drink a cup of herbal tea or watch TV in bed instead of the couch, especially if you are not one to eat in bed because of crumbs.

If you are struggling and need help with your nutrition and adopting good habits, I am currently taking on online personal coaching clients. Shoot me an email and see if that’s something that might work for you.

• Coach Terri