Can Eating Late Ruin a Diet?
One of the biggest culprits for the failure of many people’s diet regimens is nighttime eating. To be honest, I think if we all stopped eating after 7pm, we’d see a significant weight loss across the board. But why is it so bad?
We Tend to Eat Junk Food Later in the Night
Well, if it were broccoli, egg whites and fruits we were eating, we wouldn’t have any issues with a nighttime feeding. But let’s be honest, what do most of us eat late at night? For one, most American dinners are heavy on carbohydrates and contain too many calories in general. As if that weren’t bad enough, most of us snack while we sit on the couch, with feet up, watching television.
You can easily eat an additional 500 calories snacking at night. And that’s a conservative estimate. Most snacks or desserts are ultra high in calories, sugar and sodium. And at night, when activity and energy demands are low, you have virtually no chance of using those excess calories as fuel. Instead a more likely scenario is guess what? You gain fat! And no one wants that.
Giver Yourself a Time Limit
A simple way to avoid this scenario is to just stop eating past a certain time. Yes I know it’s hard, at least psychologically, to stop eating at night - but you and I both know that you’re not hungry. Eating in our society has become as social and habitual as it is necessary, and you need to learn to make the distinction between them. To be honest, I recently tried this principle, and I have to say the first few days are rough, especially if you’re a regular snacker. But once I was past the initial difficulty stage, I was just fine. And now I don’t miss snacking at night, plus I’ve lost some bodyfat!
Make Healthier Choices
Now I realize not all of you will give up snacking at night, but you can and should make better choices. Steamed vegetables, a chopped apple with peanut butter, even a small protein meal are better than bagged chips, fattening ice cream and sugary cookies. Try munching on foods that are high in fiber and require a lot of chewing. Raw veggies with a lite dip or dressing are great to satisfy your “crunch counter”. Sometimes if I just feel the need to eat I make a huge salad with fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions and I actually top it with stewed tomatoes! It’s really satisfying and tastes great.
I know so many people who throughout the day eat very well, but when they get home toss the health and diet foods aside. Coincidentally, these are also the same people that can’t understand why they never lose weight, or worse, why they gain it! But like anything else, with some will power and a plan, you can achieve anything. Try setting a short-term goal of no eating after 7 pm for one week and see how you do. I know you can do it, and once you see you can too, you’ll stick with it. And if you’ve been trying to lose weight, I bet the weight will start to come off.
Good luck and remember – You only get one body. Treat it with respect and give it quality nutritious fuel to run optimally.