The so-called “night diet,” the author of which is not a nutritionist, but a famous American psychiatrist, helps people not only wean themselves from gluttony at night, but also... increase their self-esteem! And this amazing diet works much more effectively than a barn lock that locks the refrigerator at night from attacks by weak-willed eaters.
Diet at night: what is the point?
The term “night diet” was coined by American psychiatrist Albert Stankard in the mid-20th century. He became the first scientist to study the phenomenon of night gluttony and tried to find ways to solve this problem.
According to Stankard, people who eat little during the day and consume most of their daily diet at night, all suffer from low self-esteem, metabolic disorders, and, as a result, excess weight, as well as a persistent dependence on flour and sweets.
Psychological problems in these people are closely intertwined with disturbances in sleep and wakefulness, which ultimately affects their diet and weight.
Stankard argued that nighttime gluttony is not caused by a lack of willpower in people, but primarily by a sharp hormonal imbalance. In night eaters, the level of the sleep hormone melatonin and the level of the hormone responsible for the feeling of fullness (leptin), which should increase at night, on the contrary, sharply decrease. This is why people cannot sleep at night and experience a feeling of insatiable hunger.
Professor Stankard proposed correcting hormonal imbalance and normalizing the diet using the “wedge by wedge” method, namely, with the help of a special diet for the night, which he independently developed.
Basic rules of the overnight diet
The main principle of the diet at night is proper nutrition during the day. The main method is fractional consumption of food (no more than 200 g at a time), with an interval of 2-3 hours. The exception is breakfast - it should be hearty and satisfying, even if in the morning “nothing fits into your mouth.” Breakfast food should be high in protein and fiber: cottage cheese, cheese, cheese or chicken, eggs, vegetable salads.
You can add bananas, nuts, and dried fruits to the cottage cheese. The closer to night, the lighter and lighter it becomes. Three hours before bedtime - no more than a glass of low-fat kefir. You should abstain from sweets and fatty foods.
It turns out that saturated with protein and fiber, it has a beneficial effect on restoring the production of hormones in accordance with natural biorhythms. In addition, most of the listed products contain high amounts of tryptophan, a substance that stimulates the pleasure hormone in the human body, as well. By night, the level of these hormones is normalized, and instead of sitting in a dressing gown by the refrigerator, absorbing everything in it indiscriminately, a person will want to go to bed and fall asleep.
Naturally, pangs of acute hunger, even after several days of practicing the diet at night, can still wake you up in the middle of the night. In this case, always keep a glass of still water, fruit drink or slightly sweetened tea on your night table. Liquid, filling the stomach, will help to deceive the craving for unauthorized gluttony and hold out until breakfast.
Diet at night: what to avoid
The overnight diet should become the main diet for at least six months to a year. And then - it will most likely remain so, except that the list of prohibited products will become shorter. But while you are only on the way to getting rid of nightly encroachments on the refrigerator, this list includes: cakes and pastries, pies, cookies, white flour products, any semi-finished meat products, junk food and fast food, alcohol (with the exception of dry red wine, which when dieting at night it is even considered useful), sweet carbonated drinks and fruits with a high sugar content (grapes, mango, melon, tangerines).
Since almost every night glutton suffers from excess weight, a diet at night can be called both healthy and for weight loss. As a rule, excess weight does not go away quickly, but reliably and without return. On average, the technique helps to get rid of 2-6 extra kg per month without any hunger strikes or severe food restrictions.
Do you know the main rule of any diet? It is very simple to understand, but can cause a lot of problems in execution. The rule sounds something like this: “Lead a healthy lifestyle and strictly adhere to your daily routine.” The human body is built in such a way that the desire to skip an evening meal often does not end in success. And only strong people can do this.
Staying in the kitchen in the evening often becomes a real challenge for many people losing weight. It's hard to walk past a refrigerator without looking at what goodies it stores behind the door. Today we will tell you how to learn not to eat in the evening to your detriment. Here are some tips.
Nutritionist opinion
You need to take dinner at least four hours before bedtime. Any nutritionist will confirm the correctness of this statement. The point is the physiological characteristics of the human body. In the evening, a person’s activity decreases, as does the metabolic rate, and all food that is not poisoned goes straight to fat. It is very easy to determine the time of your last meal; you need to subtract 4 hours from the approximate time you started sleeping. For most people, the value you are looking for is 18-19 hours. That is, when the clock hand goes beyond this value, it is not recommended to eat.
It should also be noted that this rule may not apply to everyone. To a greater extent, it applies only to “larks”, that is, those people who wake up and go to bed very early. In the case of night owls, if they deny themselves dinner, they will force the body to stay awake for a long time, without the necessary source of energy. As a result, serious problems with the digestive tract may appear. It is possible that instead of losing weight, on the contrary, it will begin to accumulate.
Deciding on the time after which you can’t eat food is very little in achieving your goal. To lose weight, you must constantly adhere to this prohibition. At first it can be very difficult, but gradually the body gets used to the new diet. It is especially problematic when the people you live with constantly tempt you with sausage sandwiches and sweets at prohibited times.
Primitive but effective methods of refusing dinner
15 minute rule
This rule is clearly stated in textbooks on dietetics. Its meaning is as follows: you cannot suddenly postpone the time of the last meal. Start dinner a little earlier and gradually move towards achieving the required number. If you deviate from the schedule even once, start over.
Magnets
Go to any souvenir store and buy special motivating magnets with a temporary reminder. Hang them on the refrigerator, and every time you open the doors, you will be informed to look at the clock.
Inscription and picture
Print out a picture of a big, fat woman from the Internet and hang it on the same refrigerator door or any other visible place. For an additional effect, you can attach an inscription next to it like “Do you want to be like this? Let’s eat after six!” This possible prospect makes many lose their appetite.
"Skinny"
Colored clock
Nowadays you can find various interesting things on sale, including those that promote weight loss. For example, a watch with a colored dial: the area up to six o’clock is highlighted in green, after six – in red. They say that such a simple thing will make it easier to decide whether you can eat at the moment or not.
Lock
If none of the above methods helped you, and your legs themselves carry you to the refrigerator at prohibited times, you will have to go to extremes. Buy a special refrigerator with a lock, or ask specialists to build a mechanism into your old “food source”. After six in the evening, close the refrigerator and give the key to your husband. Let him stand guard over your regime.
What to do if you can’t stand it?
- doing what you love distracts a person from any obsessive thoughts, such as cravings for food. Therefore, if you have a hobby, do it only in the evening;
- Drink a lot of liquid, it fills a certain volume of the stomach and creates a feeling of fullness for a while. A few drops of lemon juice in water will speed up your metabolism. Hot chamomile tea normalizes the functioning of the digestive system and dulls the receptors in the stomach that are responsible for the feeling of hunger;
- Before going to bed, you can run a bath with sea salt and essential oils. It will help relax the body before rest;
- During sleep, metabolic processes in the body do not stop, they even go faster. You need to go to bed before 12 o'clock at night.
How not to eat in the evening? Expert advice
Ways to deceive hunger
- pumpkin seeds perfectly satisfy the feeling of hunger, you can eat them in any quantity without fear of gaining weight;
- use herbs and spices as little as possible when preparing dishes, they only whet your appetite;
- Extraordinary teeth cleaning will help play on a person’s conditioned reflex: “if your teeth are brushed, then you can’t eat”;
- physical activity will help put thoughts about food into the background, or even third.
If the weather outside is good, don’t be lazy to go for a walk. A dose of fresh air at night will help you fall asleep quickly. Often people start eating out of excitement when they have nothing to do. In this case, you can read a book, watch a movie, play on the computer, etc.
The most important thing in trying to lose weight is the right psychological attitude. You need to set yourself an ultimatum: what is more important to you: endless eating of goodies or a slim figure? Promise yourself to abstain from eating after six. Think about the consequences: if you break your promise, tomorrow your weight will increase again and you will become even bigger. It's actually very stimulating.
The secret to losing weight or how to stop eating in the evening!?
Conclusion:
Over time, not having dinner in your daily routine will become a habit. When this happens, the process of losing weight will become much easier. If you suddenly have the urge to treat yourself “just this one time,” resist this temptation in every possible way. Once you give yourself some slack, you risk ruining all your efforts. Also remember that you are not vetoing tasty things, but simply rescheduling their consumption for breakfast or lunch the next day. And finally, love yourself, believe in yourself and you will definitely succeed.
But sometimes at night you find yourself near the refrigerator with a sausage sandwich in your hand? Nutritionists urge you to remain calm - you are not alone.
Very often, restrictive eating systems lead to episodes of compulsive overeating, which occur about twice as often at night as during the day. And aside from the fact that this behavior prevents you from losing extra pounds, it can have serious health consequences.
A study from the American Heart Association, published in the journal Circulation, shows that working adults are more likely to skip nutritious meals. At the same time, 20-30% of them refuse breakfast, the energy potential of which is difficult to overestimate. Instead, they snack on the run, eat dry food and absorb food almost around the clock, forgetting about such a concept as diet.
There is good news: the bad habit of eating at night can be overcome. Below are strategies that really work (you just have to gather your willpower and start acting).
1. Eat regularly
The habit of eating at night arises from a lack of food during the day, and this is something you should think about first. Prepare ahead of time not only for office meals, but also homemade healthy snacks that will help you fight chip and cookie cravings (like fresh diced fruit and carrot slices). Train yourself to follow a schedule: the norm is 4-5 meals during the day. As soon as you stop eating once a day, increasing the number of meals to at least three, the results will not be long in coming.
2. Decide on the final line
In fact, the habit of “not eating after 18.00” can be useful. Of course, only if you set real boundaries. In particular, you should stop eating 1.5-2 hours before bedtime, so if you know for sure that today you will go to bed no earlier than 2.00, there will be nothing wrong with a light dinner at 00.00. Why exactly two hours? Nutrition experts note that this is exactly the time our intestines need to fully digest foods (assuming, of course, that you didn't dine on a burger with two patties and fries). And this, in turn, guarantees that yours will be strong and calm.
3. Give yourself time
If you always want to eat at night, and we are not talking about an impulsive “raid on the refrigerator,” then always give yourself 10-15 minutes before starting a late dinner. Ask yourself if you're really hungry or if you're feeling stressed and using food as a way to cope with stress.
If the second option seems right, take a hot bubble bath and turn on your favorite music - this should help. By the way, thirst is often disguised as hunger, so be sure to drink a glass of water before eating. Didn't help? Obviously, you are really hungry. However, the same 15 minutes will help you make an informed decision. So now your plate will end up with fish and vegetables, not fried potatoes.
4. Plan an evening snack
If you tend to wake up early and, as a result, have dinner early, it's not surprising that you want to snack in the middle of the night. The solution here is this: plan a healthy late dinner in advance: for example, an omelet with vegetables or oatmeal with fresh fruit. A good option if it's cool outside is a bowl of chicken broth with a slice of bread. The main thing is that it should be a product that gives you pleasure, but is also easy to digest.
5. Follow the rules
Eating something from a bag or box while sitting in front of the TV is a classic situation. Meanwhile, the same scene illustrates the ideal conditions for mindless overeating. To cope with a bad habit, set your own rules of eating behavior. So, when you are thinking about what to take with you to the TV as part of a “movie night”, put only a small portion of the snack on your plate and don’t even touch the rest. Well, and, of course, gradually wean yourself from having breakfast, lunch and dinner in front of the TV or in the company of gadgets. This will help you get real pleasure from food, and at the same time provide a prolonged feeling of fullness, which will reduce the number of nightly “attacks” on the refrigerator to a minimum.
Surely, you have noticed that in the evening you want to eat many times more than during the day. How to deal with “night hunger”? Take our tips, they really work!
“Eat breakfast yourself, share lunch with a friend, give dinner to your enemy.” Proverb
It's funny that the proverb doesn't say anything about what to do with a late-night snack?
Causes of nighttime breakdowns
Why do we find ourselves drawn to the refrigerator when night falls? Midnight eating is a way to eliminate the brain signals that are begging for satiety. In fact, to solve a problem, you need to eliminate the cause. Overeating at night can have several causes:
1. Incorrect diet and illiterate distribution of portions per day - lovers of snacks at night often refuse breakfast, have little lunch at work, “swallowing” mashed potatoes and instant noodles on the go. People allow themselves to relax in the evening. That’s when the stomach has a “holiday”. They use fried potatoes, pickles, chops...
2. Nervous situations and prolonged depression - stress is one of the motivators of the desire to eat at night in order to drown out mental pain. Instead of looking for a source of positivity, many choose the easiest source of pleasure - food at night.
3. Improper functioning of the body - eating before bed can be tempting for those who suffer from diabetes or gastritis. When there is an excessive level of sugar or acidity in the stomach, “breakdowns” occur, and the person runs to the refrigerator.
The question “how to stop eating at night” is asked not only by snack lovers, but also by everyone who watches their figure.
Eating at night is harmful!
Most people cannot eat at all in the morning, and easily skip breakfast. But it’s probably impossible to find people who don’t like to dine. Many people like to eat before bed, and attempts to “not eat after six” usually lead to breakdowns and irritability.
From a medical point of view, overeating at night is harmful, as this leads to active production of insulin, a hormone that promotes fat accumulation. So it turns out that on the one hand, eating at night is bad, but not eating is also not good.
Therefore, it is very important to find a middle ground, that is, not to overeat in the evenings. The following techniques will help you solve this problem, which can be divided into three groups - behavioral, dietary and psychological.
What does late-night eating do to us?
American scientists conducted an experiment. They divided several mice into two groups and fed them a very fatty diet. There was only one difference: the first group was fed in the morning, and the second group in the evening. Both groups recovered.
But those who were fed in the morning recovered by 20%. And those who were fed in the evening recovered by 50%. This is what evening overeating is!
Dietary ways not to eat at night:
1. You can eat... but only low-fat foods
Usually this rule helps everyone, because the formation of fat in the body is influenced by the fat we eat. And if we eat less fat, it means there will be less of it in the body. Feel free to eat low-fat cottage cheese and meat, cereals with water - they are filling and do not affect excess weight.
2. Low-fat nighttime snack
If you eat a slice of lean meat with vegetables an hour or two before bed, nothing bad will happen. Before going to bed, you can prepare a delicious snack from 50 g of cottage cheese, boiled buckwheat, fermented baked milk and a couple of spoons of muesli. Its calorie content is only 130 kcal, and its fat content is 3-4 g.
3. Proper dinner
Surprisingly, the more abundant and fatty the dinner was, the more you will want to eat within a couple of hours. This means that it is unlikely that you will be able to eat enough at one time, so it is worth changing your tactics and eating small portions several times during the evening.
Before leaving work, eat yogurt or granola. When you get home, you can have a light snack. And in about half an hour - a full dinner. Thanks to this technique, it will be easier for you to control yourself at dinner and choose low-fat foods.
4. Varied food
The more components in your dishes, the more varied their flavor combinations, and the slower you eat. That is, you eat less food. Overeating is usually associated with taste monotony. We quickly get used to food and forget about it, which means we don’t notice the amount of food we eat. To diversify the dish, combine several types of vegetables, etc.
5. Pre-meal
There is a small dietary trick - if 20 minutes before a meal you eat a small piece of fish, lean meat or cottage cheese with bread plus a glass of kefir, then at dinner you will be full much faster and will be able to control yourself. This happens because animal protein in combination with starch always gives maximum satiety with a minimum of calories.
If you don’t want to “eat” extra calories, drink a glass of milk or mineral water 15-20 minutes before dinner in small sips.
6. Allow yourself treats in reasonable quantities.
Sometimes our overeating is associated with our desire to indulge. But treats are not designed to saturate our body; they are created to give us pleasure and lift our spirits. It is always fatty or sweet foods that affect the formation of extra pounds.
To avoid overeating treats, savor each bite slowly to savor the flavor.
7. Instead of food - herbal tea
Brew yourself some mint tea - its incomparable aroma and refreshing taste will curb your cravings for uncontrolled night food!
8. Last meal without spices!
Do not add spices and herbs to the dish during the last meal - they exacerbate the feeling of hunger and increase appetite.
9. Mini dessert
After dinner, treat yourself to a light dessert - a small piece of dark chocolate, low-fat yogurt, fruit. This food will lift your spirits and help you fight your nighttime appetite.
Behavioral techniques of not eating at night
The main task is to organize food and make it less fatty and plentiful.
10. Walk before bed
Often evening overeating is caused by the desire to calm down, and not to be satisfied. After all, as you know, food calms you down. But not only food can calm you down; for example, a walk in the fresh air works just as well.
11. Make your body happy, not your stomach.
Body treatments, such as a bath with aromatic oils, massage and shower, also help to calm down and reduce the need for food. They cause pleasant sensations, which means they reduce the need for “edible” pleasure.
12. Walk more
Physical activity perfectly improves mood, invigorates and reduces appetite. But the loads should be moderate, for example, healthy walking, which will reduce the need for food and start the processes of fat breakdown.
13. Go to bed early
The secret is simple - the earlier you go to bed, the less you eat. And adequate sleep makes it easier to control weight.
14. Inhale the aroma!
Aromatherapy or incense sticks will also save you from evening overeating. Use soothing scents - lavender, mint, chamomile.
Psychological techniques of not eating at night
A lot here depends on our thoughts and attitude towards food.
15. “I can do anything”
If a person knows that it is possible to eat at night, he will not overeat, but if he is sure that it is impossible, he will constantly break down.
16. No time to eat
The modern pace of life often simply does not leave time for food, so why not use it with good intentions. Go to the movies, theaters and exhibitions more often - this will cheer you up and save you from unnecessary calories.
17. Out of sight
One of the easiest ways to fix your diet and start life with a clean face is to throw out all the junk food that is hiding in the kitchen cabinets, refrigerator and freezer. It’s better to put vegetables and fruits in a visible place, they will make snacking less scary.
18. I am the slimmest!
Imagine yourself slim and beautiful, attractive and charming. Would such a girl really eat enough at night?
19. Fridge stickers
Place stickers in a visible place that will indicate bad habits. Look at it always when you want to break your decision, let such a written reminder deter you.
20. Photo on the refrigerator
Glue the photo to the refrigerator. The options can be very different: a very plump woman, the kind you never want to become, or, on the contrary, a girl with ideal parameters, the figure you strive for.
21. Go to bed!
No matter how funny it may be, the sooner you go to bed, the better for you! Lack of sleep produces ghrelin, a hormone that causes hunger. Studies have shown that people who sleep less than 7 hours consume 300 more calories.
22. Drink plenty of water.
Place a glass of water in each room, which perfectly saturates the stomach between meals.
Do you personally have any working tips? Share with us!
