There is a condition called night eating syndrome or NES, which is actually a form of an eating disorder. These people actually wake up many times during the night and are unable to fall asleep unless they eat something, which is usually junk food, which then enables them to fallback to sleep. There is another documented night eating disorder, which is called sleep-related eating disorder or SRED. In this condition, people actually sleep walk to the kitchen for an eating binge. In both of these conditions, people eat mostly junk food, which can thwart attempts at staying on a balanced nutritious diet. These two types of night eating disorders also undermine good quality sleep. Both of these disorders actually require treatment by a physician.

However, there are milder variations of these disorders, which can keep many healthy people from continuing on a, weight loss program. Many people who are under stress may have some minor form of a night eating disorder, which causes them to eat lots of empty calories before bedtime or during the night. Others, however, often just develop a habit of night eating, which becomes very difficult to break. Most often the type of foods eaten are junk foods (cookies, doughnuts, cakes, etc.), which are high in calories, fat, and sugar. This immediate refined carbohydrate , which temporarily raises the blood sugar, causes these people to be able to fallasleep. However, oftentimes they awaken after the increase in insulin in their bloodstream occurs, which in turn causes a sudden drop in blood sugar, and causes them to wake up hungry again.

Aside from the two more serious eating disorders discussed above, the best remedy for most people who are night eaters and have either difficulty falling asleep or often wake up during the night and can’t go back to. sleep, is to have a small lean high-protein snack. For example, a shce of low- fat cheese, handful of nuts, glass of skim or soy milk, a cup of nonfat yogurt, or even a slice of turkey is all that is needed to satisfy the night eater’s habit. These lean high-protein snacks are appetite satisfying, take longer to digest than carbohydrates, and help to break the junk food binging that night eaters so often engage in. Eating late in the evening, as long as it is a high-protein, low-calorie snack, will not cause you to gain weight just because you ate this snack at bedtime. Calories are calories, no matter when you consume them, and remember it’s the total number of calories consumed in any 24-hour period that counts, not the time that you ate these calories. Binge eating, on the other hand, is the consumption of high-caiorie, high-fat, high refined-sugar snacks that will certainly ruin any diet program and may, in fact, cause you to gain weight rather than lose weight.

If night eating can’t be controlled by substituting lean high-protein snacks at night, then you certainly should consult with your physician to make sure that you do not have one of the more serious night eating disorders.

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