Ever found yourself mindlessly munching on snacks late at night and wondering how to curb this habit?
Today, we zero in on this shared struggle and offer three strategic tips to beat the habit, whether it's rooted in routine, absent-mindedness, or emotional distress.
We'll share tips to ensure you're nourishing yourself adequately and wisely throughout the day, eliminating late-night hunger.
Plus, we'll tackle the emotional reasons behind nighttime snacking and show you how to stop using food as an escape.
Join us as we explore a healthy and sustainable relationship with food, and equip you with the knowledge to manage your eating habits without falling prey to restrictive diet patterns that keep you stuck in the never-ending diet loop.
Ready to ditch the constant battle with food and the scale?
Book a free consult to learn more about my non-diet approach and start creating food freedom today!
Ever found yourself mindlessly munching on snacks late at night and wondering how to curb this habit?
Today, we zero in on this shared struggle and offer three strategic tips to beat the habit, whether it's rooted in routine, absent-mindedness, or emotional distress.
We'll share tips to ensure you're nourishing yourself adequately and wisely throughout the day, eliminating late-night hunger.
Plus, we'll tackle the emotional reasons behind nighttime snacking and show you how to stop using food as an escape.
Join us as we explore a healthy and sustainable relationship with food, and equip you with the knowledge to manage your eating habits without falling prey to restrictive diet patterns that keep you stuck in the never-ending diet loop.
Ready to ditch the constant battle with food and the scale?
Book a free consult to learn more about my non-diet approach and start creating food freedom today!
Hey friend, welcome back to the Strong her way to eat, move and live. Here we talk all things food, freedom, fitness and life transformation, helping you heal your relationship to food, exercise your body and yourself. It is great to be back here with you again on this Monday morning. If you are listening to this in real time, it is a little bit rainy here today. I've been kind of happy, though, that we've had some mix of sunny days with the rainy days, because I cannot do months upon months upon months of straight rain. I don't know about you. I do know sometimes it is nice to have kind of those rainy days. Those are those cozy days where I just want to be snuggled up with probably a hot cup of coffee and a good book, but I can't do that every day, unfortunately. Okay, this week we are coming to you with three tips to help with unwanted nighttime snacking. Now for me.
Speaker 1:I used to be kind of a repeat offender when it came to this. I would find myself just kind of collapsing at the end of the day on my couch. This was back when we had cable and I would watch Bravo. I would snuggle up with a huge bowl of cereal or a big bowl of the Boomchicka Kettle Popcorn and I would just find myself kind of unwinding with food and TV and just kind of zoning out for a few hours. It was like I had felt like so much of my day I was being tugged in all these different directions. I was a full-time student at the time. I had a three-year-old, a six-year-old. There was a year during that time that my husband deployed, and not to mention I was putting so much pressure on myself to do everything perfectly to get the perfect grades to. I think actually at this point in time I was in the middle of figure competition prep, so there was a lot of pressure I was putting on myself to have a specific physique and body for these shows that I was doing, and there were definitely other areas of my life that were struggling, and so for me, this nighttime ritual, if you'll call it that, really was kind of the first time all day long that I felt like I was able to unwind and to just take a break.
Speaker 1:Not surprisingly, I end up working with a lot of clients that are kind of in that same boat where they are burning the candle at both ends. They have so many different things going on in their lives and they really do want to be a good wife, a good mom, they want to be great and successful in their careers and what they're doing, but they end up kind of running themselves ragged, right. It's like they're kind of putting their self-care or taking care of themselves on the back burner, or maybe it's just not even on the list at all. And so one of the first things to kind of consider is am I giving myself any opportunity for breaks kind of throughout the day, or is it just go, go, go, go, go go from the moment I wake up until the very last minute that I end up putting my head on the pillow, kind of falling into bed? So some things to keep in mind about nighttime snacking is that it could be habitual, it could be mindless and it could be because you're actually hungry or maybe there's an emotional reason. Right, we kind of talked about that emotional reason. In fact, I would say it's probably usually is a combination of all of those, but for me it was that emotional reason. I needed to kind of just have a moment where I could just sigh and just relax. I felt super stressed, super exhausted, and so my brain. I was just looking for something that would kind of give me that rest and allow me to check out.
Speaker 1:But for you, if you find that you are struggling with nighttime eating and really you could apply this framework to any other habit that you have going on that you're wanting to explore a little bit more and look at changing, you want to identify which one of you, which one of those is it for you the most? Is it something that you're doing just out of habit? Right, I think that that does happen if we kind of can continually do it, we don't even think about it and we just sort of fall into that routine or we fall into that habit. Chances are, if you're sitting down, especially in front of the tv, or if you are using food as a way to escape, then there is going to be that mindless component to it as well. Right, we're using it to escape, we're using it to kind of check out. Usually, we're probably scrolling on our phones, we're watching something, or maybe now we're scrolling on our phones while we have the tv going on in the background. Are you hungry? So this is one that can kind of throw you off guard. But if you're somebody that is go, go, go, go, go, go back to back to back to back.
Speaker 1:Are you actually fueling your body with enough food throughout the day, or is there an emotional component to this? Is this you trying to satisfy an emotional need? Maybe you're wanting to feel better, you're wanting to feel good, or maybe you're trying to avoid some negative feelings that you don't really want to look at. So here are three tips to help with nighttime snacking. Number one you want to make sure that you are eating enough throughout the day. Now, again, I know this sounds silly and for a lot of people they would be like oh my gosh, yes I, I probably am eating too much. Now, this could also be an area where we want to look at okay, you might be eating enough, but what are you eating? Are you eating stuff that is going to adequately sustain your energy, stabilize your blood sugar and help kind of get you through the day without feeling like you're constantly on that energetic roller coaster, so to speak, where maybe you're hopped up on sugar or caffeine or those yummy snacks that we oftentimes find ourselves surrounded by the pastries and the bagels, but you're not maybe getting enough protein, you're not getting enough fiber. So you want to look at one are you eating enough throughout the day? And then, two, you want to take a look at what are you actually eating throughout the day to make sure that you're giving your body what it needs so that you can have that sustained energy. This is going to help, especially if you find that you are kind of overcompensating for not eating enough throughout the day and so you kind of make up for eating a bunch at night.
Speaker 1:Number two have ways throughout the day to release some of the pressure that is building up. So this could be as simple as stepping outside of your office for five minutes, right, taking just a short little walk, getting outside, getting in nature. Now again, if you are listening to this and it's the fall or the winter and the weather is not super favorable, even just stepping outside for a minute to get some fresh air can be that release, you know, releasing a little bit of that pressure. Or do you have five minutes where you can maybe listen to some soothing music or a little bit of a guided meditation? Do you have blank space in your calendar? I know for myself the days that I am booked back to back to back to back and I don't have a lot of space in my calendar. Those are the days where typically, I feel more mentally exhausted, I feel a little bit more emotionally drained, and I know that those are days where my brain is definitely kind of seeking out those quick hitting carbs. So it's looking for chips, it's looking for crackers, it's looking for anything that's going to give me kind of that quick boost of energy and that quick hit of dopamine. That's going to feel really good. So you want to find ways to kind of release the pressure throughout the day.
Speaker 1:Number three emotional regulation. Now, this sounds like it's super fancy that it is something that is going to take you a ton of time, but really it is just recognizing the emotions that you're feeling and allowing yourself to process through those. Now they say that an emotion physically really only lasts on our body for about 90 seconds, but when we're experiencing it longer than 90 seconds, that's just because we kind of our brain kind of keeps spinning on the thoughts that are producing that emotion. Right, or we're trying to resist the emotion, we're trying not to feel it, we're trying to numb it by eating or drinking or tuning out on our phones, whereas if we really just kind of sat with the emotion processed it, kind of figured out what's going on, that emotion is going to pass through our body so much quicker, and then we're not necessarily going to be making our decisions around food from that emotional place.
Speaker 1:So, for me, one of the things that I like to do when I am processing an emotion in fact this morning I woke up and I was feeling a little bit of anxiety kind of welling up is I like to just stop and kind of notice, first and foremost, the physical sensation in my body and then I like to name the emotion. Can I identify what the emotion is? Where am I feeling it? What does it feel like inside my body? What's you know, what's kind of maybe going on that's triggering this emotion for me, and then I just like to kind of sit with it.
Speaker 1:Now, sometimes journaling helps, sometimes kind of talking to myself, as crazy as that sounds helps. Sometimes it's just as simple as just noticing it, giving the emotion a name and maybe putting my hand on the part of my body where I'm feeling it. Now, this could look different for you and it's definitely something that is likely going to take some practice, especially if you're really used to kind of stuffing your emotions and just not dealing with it. The thing to keep in mind is that the more we resist them, the more that we stuff them, usually the more intense they become until we have to deal with them. So for me, I've noticed that if I can kind of just start to pay attention and just acknowledge it and work through the emotion in the moment it starts to dissipate, so much faster. So, again, make sure you're eating enough throughout the day, have small ways throughout the day to release the pressure that's building up, and practice processing emotion, so that emotional regulation.
Speaker 1:A lot of times, though, we can be so busy throughout the day that we don't eat right, and so even kind of just tracking your food. So this goes back to that. First one is that sometimes just kind of keeping a loose food journal can be something that is really helpful to help you see if there are several hours that you go without eating right, and if your schedule doesn't allow you for you to eat on a regular basis or it's a little bit wonky, like some of the teachers that I work with, then you've got to just kind of work with the schedule that you have for other people that I know Sometimes they just forget to eat or for others still, they really don't like to eat, they don't see the point in eating, and so setting a reminder to at least check in with yourself to see how hungry you are can be super helpful. So again, those are three super simple strategies Make sure you're eating enough throughout the day, have ways to release that built up pressure. And then working on processing the emotion.
Speaker 1:But again, this is going to go back to you noticing the habit, noticing the pattern and the trend in the first place, and then identifying. Is this you trying to check out, trying to get a break? Are you overeating or are you eating a ton at night because you're just hungry, or is it some sort of an emotional need that you are trying to to fill or trying to process through or to avoid? Again, all change is going to begin with awareness, and then I like to move into. Let's kind of understand what's going on outside of this habit a little bit.
Speaker 1:Let's look at what's happened throughout the day, what's happening maybe in general in your life, and then we can work to rewire the brain, rewire the habit, so that you can create that lasting change, rather than just trying to implement willpower to stop, because that is not going to work. Willpower really does just have a 24 hour shelf life and so if you find that you're trying to change any sort of behavior in your life by just trying not to do it or just trying harder, you're going to find that you kind of wear yourself out and you might actually end up adding to the problem rather than really solving it. So this was just a super short episode suite right to the point. Those are three tips that I would have for you if you find yourself kind of struggling with nighttime eating. But again, you could use this framework and really apply it to any other area or any other habit that you are noticing is maybe not really in favor of you, in favor of your goals and what you're trying to accomplish and achieve in your life.
Speaker 1:I hope that this was a value to you, I hope that it blessed you a majorly today and thank you again for spending your time with me.
Speaker 1:I hope that you have a great rest of your day and amazing week and if you are getting value from the podcast, please consider sharing this or your favorite episode with somebody. That definitely just kind of helps spread the word about what we're doing here and if you have been listening for a while and or maybe you just started listening for today but you feel like what I'm saying really makes sense, it resonates with you and you want to learn a little bit more about the non-diet approach that I use with my own clients, then I want to invite you to hop on a completely free, no strings attached consult call. You can schedule your time by filling out the contact form at alishacarlsoncom slash contact, or you can message me directly on Instagram at alishacarlson underscore, or you can just drop me an email, alisha at alishacarlsoncom. We'll have all of that in the show notes below. Again, I hope that you have a great rest of your day, a blessed week, and I will talk to you again soon. Bye.