Preventing Late Night Snacking

Hallelujah for healthy food!

Though I thoroughly enjoyed more than one ten yummy indulgences this past weekend, my  body is happy to be back to being fueled by nutritious food rather than the inordinate amounts of cheese  found on a slice of deep dish pizza.(Seriously, how good is deep dish pizza? Love that stuff.)

Today’s lunch included a mixed veggie salad comprised of:

• Sliced grape tomatoes
• 3/4 c. Seapoint Farms shelled edamame
• 1/2 c. sweet corn
• 3/4 slice green pepper
• 3 tbsp. roasted red pepper hummus

On the side I enjoyed a large plum and a stick of Sargento Colby-Jack cheese.

Oh vitamins and healthy food, how I’ve missed you! 😀

Now on to some not-so-healthy food discussion…

Preventing the Late Night Snack Attack

We’ve all done it. We’ve all felt sleepy and knew it was time for bed, but instead meandered into the kitchen only to indulge in a late night snack attack.

My late night snacking was at an all-time high this past weekend. When we arrived home after a night of partying it up bachelorette party-style, my friends and I all found ourselves knee-deep in tortilla chips, salsa, Baked Lays and French onion dip.

The next morning, we all asked ourselves the same question: Why?

Why did we feel the need to gorge on copious amounts of chips and dip like we’d never get a chance to eat them again?

I’m going to go ahead and chalk the chips and dip feast from this weekend up to the post-drinking munchies that many of us remember from college (Hello, Taco Bell at 2 a.m.!), but in our day-to-day lives, many of us still struggle with late night snacking.

I used to be a huge late-night snacker. I would almost always eat a pretty hefty snack before bed. Eventually I realized I was doing this out of boredom and habit, not out of hunger.

I began to implement several different tactics to help combat my evening snack attacks which really helped me steer clear of the kitchen right before bed:

• Drink a Hot Beverage: This one really helped me a lot! I often wanted to eat something while watching TV or hanging out with Ryan after dinner and found that sipping a cup of light hot chocolate or hot tea really helped keep my hands busy and took a while to consume, allowing for my snacky feelings to subside.

• Plan to Snack: When I realized a lot of my late-night snacks were sweet, I began to plan to consume a sweet healthy late-night snack, like a cup of honey Greek yogurt, low-fat pudding, a square of dark chocolate, or a Dove Ice Cream Miniature to satisfy my sweet tooth in a less-indulgent way.

• Evaluate Your Hunger: Have healthy snacks on hand just in case you are actually hungry before bed. Here are some ideas for healthy bed-time snacks:

1. Apple with peanut butter
2. Whole wheat crackers with cheese
3. Cup of chocolate milk
4. Greek yogurt with a sprinkling of nuts
5. Small bowl of oatmeal
6. Handful of healthy trail mix (peanuts, chocolate chips, raisins, whole grain cereal)

• Entertain Yourself: Once I realized that I wasn’t actually hungry 95 percent of the time I was reaching for a late-night snack, I came up with a game plan to keep myself entertained and out of the kitchen. I created a list of activities that I literally posted on my fridge of things to do when I wanted to snack, but wasn’t really hungry:

1. Read a book or magazine
2. Paint my nails
3. Play with or pet my dog
4. Cuddle up with Ryan
5. Go for a walk with Ryan and Sadie
6. Do a 10-minute “quick clean” of the apartment
7. Update my iPod

Question of the Afternoon

• Do you snack late at night?
• What are your tricks for staying out of the kitchen after dinner?
• What are your favorite healthy late night snacks?