Night Eating: Hunger, Habit or Something More?

[Music] There is so much nutrition information out there. Welcome to Diet Notes. The weekly podcast brought to you by a dietitian designed to make your diet a whole lot easier. [Music] Hi everyone, welcome to this Monday episode of Diet Notes. And a topic I had written down as something to talk about and certainly something that comes up with a lot of my clients is night eating. So there's a few titles we could give this. We could call it binge eating. We could call it overeating and snacking through the evening. Or it could be called the most common reason nutrition and calorie intake gets derailed. And that happens when we typically have a really good day of eating where we're ticking our macros, we're getting our nutrients and we get to about seven or eight at night and we sit down in front of the TV. Maybe you're watching off campus. Or in front of the computer, I have a lot of clients who sort of log back on at eight or nine and spend a couple more hours working. And for a number of reasons, we start to snack or reward ourselves with food or even have a full-blown binge. And it's a complicated state of affairs. There's not a one size or one art start to managing it. But the key is to manage it. Because what happens over time is that as we lose our metabolic efficiency, particularly when we're 40, 50, what we used to get away within our 20s and 30s when we polished off a few biscuits or half a block of chocolate or whatever, doesn't hold so well in the 40s and beyond because metabolically we tend to lose muscle mass. We're not burning as many calories as we once did. Metaporsal hormone shift means that we lose the protective effect of estrogen and we're more likely to be storing fat and all of a sudden you can start to get that real belly in the front of your body that you never had before. You'll notice that you had sort of a really thinning of the hip area, you really went in at the waist. Whereas now it's sort of more that distinct sort of apple look where your stomach starts to protrude. And in the old days, we would call it like a beer belly and a wine gut with women. But it's complicated in terms of the way glucose, metabolism works and just more likely to deposit there. Whereas when you were in your 20s and 30s, you may have noticed that you sort of put weight on, you know, round your bar and your hips, but that waist was protected. Whereas now it's sort of getting thicker and thicker and sort of protruding out the front. So it is worth being on top of it and understanding if a treat at night is actually becoming a fairly bad food habit of distinct overconsumption. So the first thing to consider with night eating and eating after dinner is whether it's hunger based or habit. Now chances are, unless you've eaten dinner at five o'clock and it was a piece of chicken breast and greens and it gets to eight o'clock, it's probably not hunger. Because I would argue that a lot of the women I see aren't even really that hungry for dinner. I have had clients recently who have sort of had their good lunch and afternoon tea and they say, well, I'm actually not hungry for dinner. Do I need to eat it? And we're all scared of missing a meal. And I'll say, well, actually it's okay. If you're genuinely not hungry, it's okay. Occasionally not to eat. But for various reasons, we enjoy sitting down with a meal. It's the end of the day, you sit with your family, your partner, and often we're eating four, five, six hundred calories when we would actually be fine with something quite light or even not having much at all. Because basically the body is telling us that we've consumed the calories that we need. And indeed, if you're not doing a decent amount of exercise and next episode I'm going to talk about exercise. But if you're only sort of doing basic number of steps in occasional paladies of the gym, you're probably not really burning that many calories. So if you're only needing 12, even 1,400, you've probably have had that by five o'clock at night. And as such, you don't probably need the extra 4,500. And that's possibly why you're gaining weight over time. Not that we're encouraging people not to eat, but it's just looking at actually what's going on with these patterns. And of course, then if you're on weekends and eating big 2,000 calorie days, you can see how we're just constantly in excess. So a few lighter is not the end of the world. In the case, some people may be hungry. If I've got clients who are very compliant with their program and they're eating a small, like dinner quite early, they are having the fish and the veggies and they're eating quite lightly all day and they're sort of eating at 6 or 7. By 9, they might have a rumble in the tummy. And I'm happy for them to eat. If you're eating, the key is to not feed with sweet food that you can't control yourself around. So rather than have a biscuit where you're late for, you better have some yogurt and some, like, fruit, like kiwi fruit, which will probably support sleep or a couple of crackers with a slice of cheese. If you're genuinely hungry, by all means, eat something. It's not the goal to send you to bed hungry. But for most of us, when we're having a treat with a tea after dinner or a little dessert, it's more we want some sort of food reward, food stimulus. Now, I don't have an issue with that. If you are doing it in a way that suits you, ultimately food and eating is one of life's simple pleasures. There's nothing wrong with sitting down and having a cup of tea and a biscuit or a hot chocolate and something sweet. If you can control yourself. So what is the definition of controlling yourself? Basically, you don't overeat. So rather than eating on AutoCue, I'm allowed to have, think, what do I feel like? Do I feel like some cheese? Do I feel like some ice cream? Do I feel like some dark chocolate? What will actually really satisfy me? And can you consume it in a way that's controlled? So can you have a hot chocolate and a single biscuit? And if you can, go for it. But I would be having and really focusing on what you enjoy. And I would say at least 60% of my women can have a controlled amount of what they are feeling like after dinner. And they enjoy that sweet treat or a glass of wine or two small glasses of wine, whatever it is, they are happy to have that. And that is a personal choice, how you choose. I've got clients who prefer to have the pasta or the potato with dinner. And then they're not sweet people. They don't need something or have it programmed to have something sweet. The next thing is when it actually is a bad habit. So what's a bad habit? A bad habit is where you sit down at 8 o'clock in front of the TV and you pull out a block of chocolate and eat it. Now, it's not that you're weak for doing that. It's the fact you have the chocolate in the house in the first place because this is one of the most tricky areas with clients is that the biggest predictor of discretionary or extra or junk food intake is availability. So if you're someone who can have a packet of Tim Terms in the fridge and not eat the whole packet, great. But I would say that's the minority. Many people find, for various reasons, including early programming around food, they can't have treat food in the house without overeating it. And as such, having it in the house is completely contraindicated if your goal is to get this habit under control. But I can't tell you how difficult a concept that is with clients to say, will you ate the ice creams or you ate the block of chocolate? Why was it in the house? And there's always excuses. Oh, it was Easter. Oh, someone brought it over. Oh, someone made a cake at work. Oh, someone made me a cake for my birthday. Well, give it away. Put it in the freezer. Like, it's such a basic thing, but we really struggle with it as a group. It's difficult to not have those foods. Oh, but the kids like it. Oh, but I need it for my teenage son. And I think that breaking that habit is ultimately the key if your goal is to completely stop it. If it's annoying you to that extent, you can't have it in the house. And people are different. But if that is you, you can't have it. And yeah, as I said, getting it out of the house, I can't tell you how many times I'll look at food dies. And that we like, I had three forever reshairs. And I'll be like, well, why are there forever reshairs in the house? Oh, well, though, we're there because, but, but, always excuses. Or when I give feedback to clients, I'll get an excuse back straight away or a justification. Now, I don't, it's not a judgment for me because I'm not working in that way. It's just more interesting to understand the psychology. So if I question a client why they're doing something and they're justifying it all the time, that's underlying the issue, is that you're allowing yourself to continue with the behavior. There's something about the behavior that you like so much that you keep doing it, even though you know it's not good for you. So that's the first thing. If you program your brain to look for a huge number of two, three, four hundred calories after dinner, and you start by having a chocolate bar at seven o'clock each night and do it two nights, three nights in a row. By the fourth night your brain will look for it. That's how powerful programming is. So the first decision to make, if this is a problem-bollering year, you've got to get the stuff out of the house. Now, people will say, "Oh, but I can go and buy it." Well, yeah, you could. You could get in the car and go and buy it. Now, some people will do that, but most won't. You know, nine out of 10 people, if there's nothing there, they will accept that they can't have it. Whereas occasionally you'll get someone who will hop in the car and go and get it, sure. But most will not. So the first thing to do, you've got to make it difficult for yourself to eat it. Even to the point where if there's other to sweet things at home or family are buying it, get them to pack it away. If you know it's there and you have a history of finding it and over-eating it, you've got to get rid of it. And I think that's one of the reasons I do like online shopping. Because when you go to supermarkets these days and they have the half-price sales at the front, and you're doing the shopping and you sort of see that Tim Tam's a half-price or chocolate's half-price, it's so easy just to pick it up because you think you're getting a good deal and it's so expensive the rest of the time. Or there's a new chocolate bar or, you know. So I do think online shopping eliminates the stimulus, not seeing it makes it easier not to have it. And when it's not there you don't eat it. I promise you that if you pack things away, so when you open the fridge or cupboard and you don't see it, you're less likely to eat it. Whereas if you open the fridge and see a Tim Tam, significantly more. more likely to have it. So even just packing it away in things with like the kids food or teenagers food packing it in a separate section or getting them to keep it separate or even you know if you're keeping things for when visitors come over not seeing it does go a really long way. But that's the first thing. Availability is the biggest predictor of consumption and if it's in your house you'll eat it. It doesn't matter what it is, biscuits, chips, ice cream, whatever, even stuff you think you won't eat, you're weird with it's there. So then the key is to try and set yourself up for success. So how do you do that? You've got to have things that are enjoyable but you won't over eat them. So that might be basic stuff like yogurt and some fruit. It might be individual portions of calorie controlled ice cream. It might be individual, Freda Frogs, whatever. If you can enjoy something individually and keep your portions controlled that's the key. It's having something that you enjoy. So you actually have something to look forward to but just trying to limit the portions which is where individual portions of things are really great. That's why with clients when they ask about baking I'm very reluctant to say yes because when you bake you don't bake one muffin, you bake 12. Someone's eating them and most people can't stop after one. You know they're eating the batter then the icing and then you've had four brownies and all my daughter baked like it just follows through. So in the case of doing that kind of stuff you've got to almost package it and freeze it straight away or put it in the lunchboxer straight away because before you're not you've eaten three muffins and under the guys of on being healthy and baking. So that's where baking is dangerous if you struggle around tempting type food. So setting yourself up for success is not having large portions of food you can overeat around and then on top of that it is having options if you do feel like something and some people have to go cold turkey and get everyone's different. But if you can sort of have one thing that you look forward to and control yourself in that way that's sort of the next step. The third if you're really struggling is you've got to break the habit because the brain is very good at associating different things. Have a cup of tea, I have a biscuit. I sit down in front of Netflix, I get some chocolate. So if you routinely do that your brain's always going to be looking for it and that's why if you go overseas on a holiday or away for the night all of a sudden you think I didn't have dessert tonight or I didn't even notice I didn't have my tea and biscuits because you're completely out of routine so you're not looking for it. So it's a reprogramming really needs to take place and it will only take a few days of breaking the habit but you've got to be seriously committed. It's like sleep training with kids or getting them off breastfeeding or bottled milk. You've got to ride out the first couple of days because every cell in the body is screaming for what's familiar to it for that sweet hit or that hit in the brain. So you've got to look for other ways of doing things in that period where you're most invulnerable. So that might be calling a friend, it might be going to the gym, that might be going for a walk with your partner. It might be cleaning out of cupboard upstairs, getting out of the house but serious behavioural change will probably require a distinct change in habit and routine. Otherwise you'll find yourself in the same environment, in the same situation and as I said every cell in your body will be crying out to do what is familiar to it. And as such that's another really hard step. The hard step for people is breaking the buying of the tempting food and not having in the house and the second is changing routine particularly in that evening period because it's such a time when we're tired. You might have only Monday to Thursday at home where you're sort of sitting, you might be bored, lonely, emotional, your partner's gone to sleep, you finally got the kids to bed, you might be on your own, you just need that little something. So how can you get that little something doing something differently? I don't want to say start online shopping but you can see it's that same dopamine hit people are looking for it's the same with having class of wine. They're looking for an outlet. So what is another outlet that you can give? One I find quite helpful is having a shower. It sort of seems to reset. You know you sort of taking a moment, it might be having a bath, it might be having a book, some a new show you're looking forward to watching it in a different room, you know setting yourself up so that you're breaking this habit and you're doing things that are differently so the brain's not looking for that same sort of stimulus and that same treat. Another trick can be to develop some rules. Now rules work because it means we don't have to play cognitive mind games around what we will and won't do. So an example of cognitive mind games are if I'm good today I can have a role of chocolate. Oh it's been a good day, I'll have two. I'll just have one more piece. It's all those mind games whereas if the rule is I'll have one role of chocolate that's it. I'll have one limp ball that's it. I'll stop eating about eight o'clock. I'll have chewing gum after that. Brush my teeth so I won't eat in front of the television. I won't eat when Netflix is on. I won't eat at the computer. So a few of those rules can make it a lot easier to make changes as well. And again everyone's rules are different but there's some ideas of rules that I find work in general. Having an eating cut off time where the kitchen's closed, definitely having chewing gum or mint so you change that taste in your mouth. You know the rules make it a little bit easier the same as I encourage clients to have no sweet food in the day because once you break the seal you tend to keep wanting it. So I can have one thing after dinner maybe two on a really bad day but that's it. All those little tricks can make it a little bit easy to adhere to things. So creating some rules. The next is giving you some space and time to change. So the two scenarios that generally pop up with clients are clients who go cold turkey and this is similar to people who stop drinking or smoking and don't ever do it again. So you've decided I'm not doing it anymore. I'm not eating after dinner that's the rule and I certainly have clients who do that. And they'll say once a week I'll have dessert or a chocolate or wine, wine's actually common but cold turkey, I'm just going to stop. Or I'll have other people who prefer a more moderate approach. So that is I'll have one thing maybe two on a bad day but I won't, I'll have one thing after dinner and that's the rule kind of thing and cognitively it's a limit, a clear limit so it's easier to adhere to. So you've got to give yourself space and time to work on it and it might be like okay well when I put into my fitness power what I've been eating after dinner and it's 400 calories which is an extra meal that's probably why I'm not losing weight and gaining weight. I'm going to cut it to 200 or I'm going to cut it to 100. So you play a little mind game with how to manage it of your own accord because then you're asserting agency over it and that's important when you're making behavioral change that there's an agency over it to develop something that suits you rather than being told. If it's me telling a client what to do it really is successful because ultimately people have to decide what suits them within parameters. So as I said whether you have one small thing each day or you might have one big thing a week you can decide yourself what suits you and then you're feeling control and you're more likely to achieve the result. So then the question is when you've tried all of these things and you're still what I would call binging so the difference between overeating at night and binging is overeating at night is having the half a block of chocolate or the packet of biscuits which really if you think about it can be managed by limiting availability if it's not there you can't eat it and that's the first step if you really want to change you've got to stop the volume in the house. The difference is if you have people who are planning and binging. So that is people who are not just having something sweet they're having three slices of toast, a bowl of cereal, a tub of ice cream, they're driving to 7.11 and buying a big packet of chips. That is binge eating. And generally speaking binge eating probably requires some psychological and emotional support because there will be underlying factors driving that behaviour quite often back to childhood and trauma and these are things that are complicated they require time, space and a qualified psychologist to be managing it. This isn't in the behavioural management zone. Over eating and programming to eat in a better way so you're not feeling uncomfortable, you want to lose weight, behavioural issues, no deep-seated psychology absolutely, we can work on that. But if it's more complicated psychological trauma, food trauma, you're carrying 20, 30, 40 kilos, you've been hiding, binge eating behaviour for years. That quite possibly requires more psychological support because there's something underlying it, a trauma, something driving it, deep-set emotional stuff that requires a professional to manage it. So I don't want to be here saying that we can manage all of this. I want to be clear on the differences. And if it's binge eating behaviour that you are unable to change yourself despite your best efforts over a number of years, it would probably be a recommendation to seek psychological support. So to speak to the GP and ask for a referral to see a psychologist where you can have a number of sessions and specifically work on that programme. You want to be very clear. I'm a binge eater and I want to take it under control, I want to change it and I want to programme because I think there is sometimes psychologically as you can go to sessions for months and years and not see change versus being very clear on wanting to work on that. So that would be the difference. The key difference between overeating at night and preventing you achieving your health and weight goals versus actual binge, clinical binge eating disorder which requires psychological support. So very different spaces there and I guarantee you that if overeating at night's bothering you, the two things that you won't be doing are limiting availability and you'll be using excuses and justifications as to why that's the first one. And second, you've got to be quite strict with yourself as changing the routine and the habit even for a period of time to get and establish new neural pathways. So when it gets to seven or eight o'clock at night, your brain doesn't automatically seek out chocolate biscuits cake and what you've been doing for years, five years, ten years and that you, if you think back the habit might have developed after children or when you got divorced or when you were broke out of break up and then it's just been continued from that. So yes that's a little summary on night eating behaviour and taking control. I hope that it resonates. And I look forward to seeing you next Monday for the regular weekly drop of diet notes with Susie Ball. Have a good week!