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Squelch Those Nighttime Nibbles
By
Woman's Day
Does
this sound familiar?
You make a healthy, low-calorie dinner, and it tastes great. But
then you need "a little something," so you treat yourself to a cup
of reduced-fat ice cream. Ten minutes later, you're back in the
freezer for another cup, and before you know it, the entire pint is
gone.
There is a way to break
the cycle of night time overeating. The first step is to try to find
out why you're setting yourself up for failure. Once you identify
the cause, you can begin to take action and be in control of your
eating in the evening hours.
For many women, the
problem stems from not eating enough all day. Here's how daylight
deprivation sets up your body to overindulge after dusk: By the time
you finally eat dinner, your blood sugar has gone way down. Even
though your stomach may be full right after you finish dinner, the
meal hasn't been digested and absorbed yet, so your blood sugar
remains low. That's why you still feel hungry.
Indulging in simple
carbohydrates (such as bread, cookies and crackers) can be
especially problematic, because they cause peaks and valleys in your
blood-sugar levels. These fluctuations make it harder for you to
stop overeating.
Here are some tips to help you tackle the evening munchies:
Eat evenly throughout the day. If you squirrel away calories all day
so you can have some treats at night (your difficult time), you'll
inevitably end up eating more than you wanted to.
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