Are you a late night binger? Maybe you eat really well all day, but when evening comes 💥 BAM 💥 you’re suddenly feeling wild and out of control around food? 

Read on to find out the ONE thing you need to stop doing to avoid these night-time binges.

I used to be a late night binger. One of those people who’d eat well all day, and then crave snacks after dinner. I’d often end up heading straight for the “naughty” food.

The thing is, the more I binged at night, the more I would try to be good the next day. Then the more I was good (which actually meant trying to eat as little as possible), the more I would binge in the evening.

I was in an endless restrict-and-then-binge cycle, not realising that restriction was making things worse.

It’s easy to see why so many people get stuck inside a similar cycle. That’s because so many diets and healthy eating plans recommend cutting back on the amount of food eaten, or cutting out whole food groups. Restriction becomes part of your day-to-day and we get used to trying to under-eat when we’re trying to be “good”.

So — if you want to stop your late night binges, you need to stop feeling overly hungry and restricting food.

And this is true both during the day and in the evening.

Don’t starve yourself during the day

If we overly restrict during the day, we feel hungry, tired and irritable. When you are overly hungry it’s much harder to control yourself around food.

In fact, it’s no surprise that we feel wild, we feel deprived and our body is craving energy and sustenance!

Indeed research supports this: when you are restricting you’re more likely to reach for high fat and sugary foods.

On the other hand, when you eat regularly during the day you’re less likely to binge at night, because you’re not getting to the evening and feeling totally starved.

If you want to tame the night time binges, then it’s important to eat regularly throughout the day. When you don’t feel deprived, food has less power over you

Don’t starve yourself at night

You might have heard, or perhaps you adhere to, the idea that you mustn’t eat after a certain time. Some people say 6, or 7 or 8pm.

My rule used to be “no food after 8pm”. I believed that anything I ate after this point in time would immediately turn to fat. But that’s simply not true. If you’re hungry, have a snack in the evening to avoid the binges later on.

And if you do have a snack do so without guilt. It might mean that you need to plan a little – have some healthful snacks that are quick, easy and filling. I recommend including protein and fibre in the snacks because this can help you feel that sense of fullness.

To summarise: the ONE thing you must stop to avoid late night binges is overly restricting food, whether that is during the day, or into the evening.

But what happens if you do eat regularly and you’re STILL bingeing? Well, here are four questions to ask yourself to help.

Question #1 are your meals satisfying?

Do you feel satisfied by your meals?  When you eat, do you have that feeling of contentedness afterwards?

It’s worth remembering that different foods can feel more or less satisfying at different times of year, different lifestyles, perhaps across a week etc.

For example, in summer, I find salads really satisfying especially when it’s very hot, but I find them much less satisfying during the winter months. On the other hand, soups & stews are satisfying in winter but less so in the summer.

So what do you find satisfying? Is it a certain taste, a specific texture, a temperature …?

It’s worth considering that one reason you are bingeing at night is because you’re not feeling satisfied by what you are eating. The desire to binge is triggered by you looking for some satisfaction.

Question #2 are there specific triggers?

There might be other triggers that cause the late night binges. It could be emotional triggers where intense feelings trigger eating. Eating when you are sad, or lonely, or frustrated might feel like a fix in the short term, but it’s not solving the problem.

If you’re regularly drowning your emotions in food - ask yourself: what is this behaviour trying to tell me?

So check in here: is it intense emotions that are a trigger for you?

It could also be a situational stressors – sometimes that’s short-term or something that’s disrupted your normal routine.

Maybe a change in work routine has led you to spending more time at home alone? Or perhaps it’s the opposite and you’re working away from home more than you used to? Feelings of isolation and/or boredom can trigger binges.  

Ask yourself whether there are situational stressors triggering your binges?

Question #3 do you have any unmet needs?

Sometimes you binge to fill an unmet need.  You might devour a family sized bar of chocolate at the end of the work day because you feel tired, exhausted and frustrated. 

Are there other ways you can support yourself?  Time to chill, an early night, a relaxing bath, or starting a new hobby?

Perhaps you need more rest because you are tired, and going for a nap is the most nurturing thing you could do. 

Perhaps you could read a book, listen to some music, do a puzzle, listen to an audio book, take some deep breaths or meditate.

Maybe your body needs something a bit more active. You could take a walk around the block, go outside into nature, swim, dance to some music, do some stretches or just hang out with a friend.

And finally….

Question #4 is it habit / association?

You may have got yourself into a habit. Perhaps you’ve associated always having a snack whilst you are watching TV?

These habitual actions can be broken once noticed. You might consider cutting down screen activity, or doing something else in front of the telly – stretches, write notes, using a fidget toy - or perhaps consider eating your snack in the kitchen, more mindfully?

The idea is to try and break the pattern of association you might have inadvertently created.

I hope you find these tips and questions helpful. If you prefer watching online, take a look at this video here.