LATE NIGHT CRAVINGS, How many times in the last few months have you finished eating your dinner only to find you opening the fridge or looking through your pantry for something else to snack on only a couple hours later. Here are some realistic strategies to help you with those late-night cravings.
Eat enough dinner.
Now, this doesn’t mean you should jump to eat a lot more than you usually do, just eat until you are comfortably full. Sometimes a lot of people would do, skip out on dinner thinking gosh I already eat too much today only to find that they are back to their packets of chips not so long after. As you would probably know that nutrients content is higher and calorie content is lower in your dinner, you have a suitable dinner that night, really fills you up compared to if you don’t eat enough ending up on bingeing on a very high calorie and low nutrients a snack food.
Plan for the cravings.
Some people eat dinner really early like 7 pm and then they don’t sleep until midnight and then they give themselves a really hard time for having food craving at some point between that time. That’s a 5 hours gap it is absolutely realistic and reasonable that you get hungry between that time. Now if your time gap is shorter like you eat late and you sleep earlier but still craving something than just plan for it and snack smart. If you can anticipate that you gonna wanting something you can plan for it by making sure that you shop for ingredients and have snack foods on hand that you know you want that will be nourishing for your mind your body and your soul. Try to eat fruits and more nutrients rich snacks to leave the guilt behind for eating unhealthy.
Get enough sleep.
We eat food because it tastes delicious obviously, we also eat food to get energy. If you doesn’t sleep enough you might find your evening food cravings are particularly intense, especially for sweets, starchy foods and different kind of carbs like that. The reason for it is your brain is trying to keep you stimulated for awake and brains preferred and primary energy source is carbohydrates. It’s totally normal to eat starch. So the question is are you getting enough sleep? You should count some more sleeping times either by making a schedule for sleeping a little bit earlier or a little bit later it works for you.
Drink enough fluids.
We very often confuse thirst for hunger. If you find that you’re hungry than think what was the last time you had something to drink. If it was quite a while ago than have one or two glass of water or juice then wait for at least 10 minutes to see if you are still hungry. If you don’t feel or like drinking plain water than you can have something more filling and nourishing like a bowl of soup or a smoothie. But even after hydrating if you find you still hungry than in that case go for it and have something.
Be mindful.
Truly listening to our bodies is the best thing you can do. Ask your self when you are hungry. Am I eating to nourish my body, mind, and soul? Or am I doing it because it is satisfying me? Whether I’m eating completely mindlessly or because of some emotional stress. Now if you are eating because you are truly hungry and you want to nourish your self then go for it. Most important point is to enjoy it. This can best be done if all of our attention is put on to that particular food you’re going to enjoy. Take your time and savor every bit.
Aakriti Raj
Patna, Bihar
Aakriti, who is a sophophil, owns an ebullient essence in her and is a fancier of putting her views in black and white. She also has a flair for making artful conceptions.
