• Can I eat carbs at night?

  Can I still eat carbohydrates after 18:00?  The simple answer is: Yes, you can – just make sure you don’t overeat.  It’s over-consumption of food late in the day which is the likely cause of weight gain related to night-time eating.

  It’s hard to find any conclusive metabolic evidence that carbohydrates or any food eaten at night is more likely to be stored as body fat than food consumed earlier in the day.  The rate of digestion in your intestine is the same at night as it is in the morning hours and you have no control over the muscles in your digestive tract to either speed up or slow down this natural process.

  Your total metabolic rate drops when you are sleeping because you are resting.  Your only option to keep your metabolism up at night is to stay awake and keep moving.  This is not a feasible lifestyle choice and there’s no evidence that it will affect your rate of digestion.

  So, its 24 hour energy balance (energy in versus energy out) that really matters in weight gain or loss.  If you want to lose weight it doesn’t seem to matter in metabolic terms whether you eat three square meals or eat more often as long as your total energy intake remains the same.

  If you want to reduce body fat you need to think about the reasons why you eat too much at night and then implement strategies to cut back on what you eat late in the day.

  Lack of planning – if you don’t eat enough during the day you risk getting hungry at night.  If you skip breakfast, are too busy for lunch or forget to snack, you leave yourself open to overeating in the evening.  By planning your food for the day and taking time out to eat regularly you can satisfy your needs and avoid overeating late in the day.

  Eating habits – habits are powerful behavioral patterns that allow us to perform many of our daily tasks without conscious effort.  Showering, dressing and teeth cleaning are good habits that for must of us happen on autopilot.  Unfortunately overeating at night also occurs on autopilot and this habit needs to be broken.  Try serving the evening meal on a smaller plate or taking leftovers off the stove and placing them in the fridge immediately.  These new habits will reduce the amount you eat at dinner.

  Social pressure – your diet may stay on track until you come home to sit down at the table with other people.  You may feel obliged to eat everything that is served by your partner, mother of friend.  You can also simply overeat during long social meals.  To manage this feeding pressure, make your diet plans known to those at home.  Recruiting their support to serve less or change what you eat at dinner will work in your favor.  And as for the belief that you should finish everything that’s on your plate, learn a new mantra: “It’s better to go in the waste than around my waist!”

  Emotional escape – after a stressful day, food can soothe and relax.  Chocolate, ice cream, cake and chips work well at delivering instant relief.  Eating is also an effective short term strategy to beat night time boredom.  Ask yourself the question:  “What can I do in the evening that would reduce my need to eat?”  For example; call a friend, work on a hobby or take a walk.

  To eat less at night, focus on planning, breaking negative eating habits, social support and emotional alternatives to food.  Here are two guidelines to keep in mind for your evening meal:

  1. Catch up on your nutrition – the evening meal is an opportunity to achieve a balanced diet for that day.  For example, if you have gone short on five serves of fruit and vegetables during the day, aim to include more of these foods in your evening meal.
  2. Eat enough to get to bed – Unless you are an athlete or exercising strenuously in bed, you won’t need to carbo load at night.  Serve a smaller portion, take the edge off hunger and then get an early night.  If you are asleep, you won’t feel hungry until morning.  Then you can start another day of nutritious eating with a healthy breakfast fit for a king. 

   

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