How to STOP Nighttime Binge Eating

Have you noticed your cravings for sweets and snacks feel most intense at night? Maybe you’ve come to dread the evenings, because you feel the urge to binge is too powerful to stop. You try keeping cookies and chips and other “bad” foods out of your house, but the craving always comes back. If you want to recover from your eating disorder and learn how to stop nighttime binge eating, keep reading to understand what fuels your cravings and how to regain control of your eating once the sun goes down.

What causes nighttime binge eating

Nighttime binge eating isn’t just about having a “sweet tooth”. There are several underlying factors that are important to explore to understand why you feel compelled to binge at night. 

Physical hunger

The first and most important aspect of stopping nighttime binge eating is making sure you’re eating consistently and adequately throughout the day. If you tend to skip breakfast or “go light” on lunch or work through snacks, then find yourself ravenous after dinner, it’s because you’ve created something I’ve lovingly deemed the “hunger hole.”

The “hunger hole” is the energy deficit that is created when you skip meals or eat too little in the first half of the day, putting your body in a position to try to “backfill” the hole at night. Even if you eat a large dinner and feel full, your body might continue seeking energy to make sure you have eaten enough. Energy dense foods tend to be ones that are carb-y, sugar-y, and fatty– exactly the types of foods we tend to crave most at night!

Emotional hunger

It is common to rely on food as an emotional coping skill to deal with stress, overwhelm, loneliness, sadness, anger, and more. Food can provide comfort, connection, distraction, and joy. When food is the only emotional coping skill in your coping toolbox, we tend to rely on eating to feel better, even if food doesn’t fix our problem long term. Emotional hunger can sometimes be tricky to identify, especially if you have a tendency to avoid feeling or coping with your emotions.

Habitual hunger

Sometimes nighttime binge eating is more of a habit than anything else. Food can become an integral part of our evening routine, whether it’s snacking while watching TV in your favorite chair, or taking dessert with you to bed. Changing habits– especially those that we associate with comfort– can be difficult, but not impossible.

How to stop nighttime binge eating

If you want to learn how to stop nighttime binge eating, follow these next 7 steps:

1. Eat enough food consistently throughout the day

To avoid digging yourself into a “hunger hole,” it’s crucial that you eat regularly and eat enough throughout the day. You might find yourself noticing your day is “bottom heavy,” meaning you consume most of your energy at night and don’t have much of an appetite once morning comes. The only way to break this vicious cycle is to start incorporating meals and snacks spaced evenly throughout the day.

The goal of eating frequent meals and snacks is to never let yourself get overly hungry. Ravenous hunger makes it extremely difficult (if not impossible) to make thoughtful, mindful decisions about what and when to eat.

2. Eat balanced meals and snacks

At those meals and snacks that are spaced evenly throughout the day, it’s important to include all of the important food groups, namely protein, carbohydrates, and fats. When meals are balanced, they keep us full and energized for longer, preventing times during the day when we feel snack-y or ravenous. Balanced meals also keep blood sugar more level, preventing crashes that leave us tired and craving sweets.

Eating too little carb, protein, or fat earlier in the day can result in cravings for those things later at night. 

3. Plan a snack in the evening

Instead of working hard to avoid snacking in the evening, try planning to have a snack after dinner. When it’s part of the plan, you can keep items in your home that you look forward to eating, and can do so thoughtfully and mindfully. When you don’t plan a snack, you are more likely to wait until you are overly hungry to eat, which can lead to making less thoughtful choices about what and how much to eat.

4. Practice mindful eating

Mindful eating is a great tool to become more present and aware of your hunger and your emotions when you are eating. For dinner and evening snack, try plating your food and sitting down at the table without distractions from your TV, computer, or phone. Focus on how your food tastes, what you are enjoying most, and how fullness emerges as you eat. You might also find it helpful to keep a food and mood journal, documenting what you are feeling in the evenings to help you identify trends in your emotional eating behaviors.

5. Switch up your evening routine

Having an evening routine that provides comfort and relaxation can be something you really look forward to at the end of a hectic day. First identify what your evening routine looks like currently (or if you even have one), and what parts of that routine provide comfort, relaxation. It’s possible that some parts of your evening routine are stressful or unenjoyable, so it’s important to assess those too. If parts of your routine include food, try exploring what it would feel like to disrupt that routine. For example, if after dinner every night you like to sit down with a box of cookies on a couch and watch TV, try changing where you sit, eating a few cookies at the table first, or reading a book instead of watching TV.

6. Practice targeted self care

If you find that food is your only source of self care, it might be time to expand your self care toolbox. Many people think of self care as pampering– like getting a massage, or a manicure, or taking a bubble bath. But self care can be so much more. Self care can be broken down into 6 categories: Emotional, physical, mental, practical, social, and spiritual. It’s important to identify what your body and brain needs, then to choose the right kind of self care to address it. Download this free worksheet to read more about types of self care and see 100+ examples of things you can do to feel better.

7. Go to bed

Sleep can have a big impact on what drives our cravings for certain foods. When sleep deprived, you might notice your cravings for sweet, salty, or fatty foods increase. Why? Because your body perceives lack of sleep as lack of energy, thus ramping up cravings for energy dense foods. If you stay up late each night and find your cravings get more intense with each passing hour, try a new routine that has you going to bed earlier. I never recommend going to bed hungry, so if you haven’t eaten enough during the day, or it’s been longer than 4 hours since your last meal, try eating a snack, then heading to bed.

Summary

Nighttime binge eating isn’t just about having a “sweet tooth” or “poor self control.” Nighttime binge eating can be fueled by physical hunger, emotional hunger, or habitual hunger. Learning how to stop nighttime binge eating can be as simple as practicing 7 key behaviors. 

Eating enough and eating balanced meals can satisfy physical hunger and keep cravings at bay because you are never getting ravenously hungry during the day. Planning a snack in the evening can make the difference between an impulsive, mindless choice and a thoughtful, mindful choice. With mindful eating practices you can become more connected to your body and make food choices that are more congruent with your hunger, fullness, and satisfaction. 

Changing your routine could also be the key to stopping your nighttime binge eating. Try plating your food and eating at the table, away from distractions. Switch up your evening activities by sitting in a different spot, reading a book, calling a friend, or practicing some other type of targeted self care. Try not to mistake tiredness and fatigue for hunger. Make a bedtime routine that has you going to bed earlier so you can get a restful night of sleep.