5 Steps to Stop Night Eating

5 Steps to Stop Night Eating
5 Steps to Stop Night Eating

Here's one reason why insomnia and night eating go together like Brad and Angie: There's not much to do in the wee hours except eat. But night eating doesn't discriminate. Even though you may sleep like a baby, if you end your evening with a bedtime snack of ice cream straight from the carton or spoonfuls of peanut butter right out of the jar, it's still called night eating.

And it can lead to "night eating syndrome" -- which is increasingly being recognized as an eating disorder -- if you consume more than 25% of your daily calories in the evening. But assuming your night eating is more habit and hunger than anything, these five steps can help you stop it and avoid the weight creep:

1. Set an evening curfew. If you must have an after-dinner treat, have it before your no-snacking curfew. And factor the calories into your daily budget. Despite what you may have heard, calories in food eaten at night are no different from those you had at breakfast, and they still count.

2. Eat early and often. Start the day with a meal. Breakfast eaters are less likely to overeat later, researchers found. Plus, frequent small meals keep your blood sugar steady, so you won't feel weak and famished at night.

Learn why six small meals are more healthful than three big ones.

3. Don't snack while watching Dancing with the Stars. Eating while watching TV, talking on the phone to your BFF, or playing Words with Friends is the epitome of mindless eating. Being distracted by anything while there's food within reach means you won't be paying attention to how much you're eating. If you must do something with your hands when the TV is on, learn to knit.

Watch this for some new mindful-eating tips.

4. Take a bubble bath before bed. The idea is to relax. For many people, stress is behind night eating, say researchers, so if you find yourself going for another bowl of Cheerios in the middle of the night, meditate or do 15 minutes of slow, deep breathing instead.

Here are three breathing exercises to try.

5. Have healthful low-cal snacks on hand. Craving something sweet? How about a piece of whole-wheat toast with a smear of honey? Salty? Go for a single-serving bag of popcorn. And banish the bad stuff. You can't eat a pint of Cherry Garcia at 3 a.m. if you don't have it in the fridge.

Get more health tips from RealAge: