Sunday, August 27, 2006

Syndromes for everything?

I can’t believe what I am reading …

Nighttime Eating Syndrome? This might be a new eating disorder that you have if you do most of your eating at night. Or you might wake up in the middle of the night hungry.

Let’s face it most of us eat at night. Only a few very disciplined people do not sit in front of the TV with a bag of chips. I do know a few and yes they do not have a weight issue but they eat 3 meals plus snacks a day.

I eat at night. I even wake up at night and eat. Last night I was up at 3am starved. I ate a banana, drank some water and went back to bed and fell fast asleep.

In college I wanted to lose weight so I ate my last meal at 3:00 in the afternoon. That worked great until I started swimming at night. I would swim fifty laps of the pool in the evening and study before going to bed. I would wake up starved. So starved that I began eating more junk in my room. I still lost weight but I wanted to eat healthier. I realized that I needed something before going to sleep. So I had a cup hot chocolate and a piece of fruit. It worked. I began sleeping like a baby. I went back to eating dinner at a normal time and I still lost weight. I know I was in college so losing weight was easier, but there is a principle in all this.

It is called having a calorie deficit. I was burning more than I was taking in, no matter when I was eating. Some of us have other deficits … in our check books; we spend more money then we are taking in. So we have to borrow from some other money source to pay the bills.

Light bulb!



Losing weight is the same. Food is our energy source. If we take in more then we burn, we store it as fat for another day. And I might add it is harder to use that stored energy. Kinda like when you were a kid and you asked mom to hold on to your money. She didn’t want to give it to you to spend on worthless stuff, so she regulated your spending. Your body holds onto fat tightly. Especially the older you get. (I think it says you will need this when you are really old, so you can’t use it!)

So the key to all this is eat less then you burn. If you are going to eat more because of a special occasion then add extra cardio to your workout schedule. If you aren’t exercising you won’t lose weight unless you cut back on what you are eating daily. Sure you need food for energy just to survive. But the more active you are the more energy you need. Everyone is different in the amount of calories our bodies need because our activity levels.

If you are going to eat at night first of all make it healthy, like fruit or veggies. Or find a good protein bar. Yogurt with ground flax seed is a great choice. It fills you up, has calcium, tastes great, aids in digestion and the flax seed is great for you heart. If you find eating healthy something that you must ease into, try chips and salsa. I know it can be hard to stop eating at night but the best thing to do is after having a snack is to drink a big glass of water then wait 15 minutes. This trick usually helps to curb the hunger panges.

Here are some things to remember as you strive to achieve more disciplined eating habits.

* Never skip breakfast. Even a light breakfast of a protein bar and fruit will help you not overeat at night.

* Have an afternoon snack that includes carbohydrate and protein. Something like a handful of almonds with raisins or a slice of cheese and some pretzels will provide staying power.

AND FINALLY:

* If you must have an after-dinner snack, keep it to 200 calories or less. Choose something with lots of fiber like an apple with the skin, so that you will feel full and eat less.

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