5 Dietitian-Approved Tips to Stop Eating After Dinner
You’ve been through this many times before: You eat dinner and tell yourself, “this time this will be enough”, but you’re just not satisfied. Before you know it, you find yourself deep down the snacking rabbit hole and feel shame for ending up here, again.
Feeling hungry and eating after dinner can be really frustrating! You think you’ve had enough for a meal, but you’re just not satisfied. You’re not sure why you keep eating after dinner, and you can’t seem to stop. Sometimes, eating after dinner even leads you to overeat or binge! You’re wondering why you don’t have the “will-power or self-control” that others seem to have, and you begin to question why you can’t seem to do food “right”.
First things first - There is absolutely nothing wrong with eating after dinner.
Eating after dinner is not only normal and okay, but it’s expected. Humans require 3 meals and 2-3 snacks a day. You’ve been conditioned to think that late-night cravings are the reason for weight gain and health issues. Diet-culture has demonized after-dinner snacking, causing you to feel ashamed or embarrassed if you do snack after dinner.
You’ve also probably heard that you should’t eat after a certain arbitrary time at night, which diet and wellness culture usually dictates. You’re told that if you stop eating at a certain time at night, you’re more likely to “lose weight, have improved health, and therefore, live a better life”. From a nutritional standpoint, it doesn’t matter when you eat at night as long as your body is getting its food and energy needs met. Time doesn’t create a difference in metabolism, and your metabolism is much more complex than these simple (and silly) rules of not eating past a certain time at night.
Snacking after dinner isn’t wrong, and it isn’t something to be ashamed of. The truth is that your snacking urges and behaviors can tell you a lot about your eating habits throughout the day and generally leaning into your snack cravings and urges can help you understand what you’re missing with food and how you can fix it.
5 dietitian-approved tips to help you stop eating after dinner:
1. Ensure you’re eating enough food throughout the day.
Are you eating “enough” according to diet and wellness culture’s standards, or are you eating “enough” according to your own cravings and hunger? If you aren’t eating enough food throughout the day, it’s normal and expected to continue being hungry after dinner, especially if you’re skipping meals and snacks or trying to eat less during the day (this can also lead to binging and purging). If you’ve struggled with dieting, disordered eating, or weight loss, it’s likely that you have a skewed perception of how much food is enough food. Diets, “wellness programs”, and influencers often tell you how much food you should or shouldn’t eat, but they don’t tell you that food isn’t one-size-fits-all! Every person requires a different amount of food, and even this will vary from day-to-day, and what someone else eats in a day won’t be what you need to eat in a day. If you feel like you struggle to know how much food is enough, reach out to an anti-diet dietitian to help you understand how much food is enough for your unique needs!
2. Ensure you are eating a variety of foods throughout the day.
Are you eating foods that you’re wanting and craving or are you filling up on fruits and veggies because you’ve been told that’s what you “should” be eating? Your appetite (what you crave) is different from your physical hunger (psychological needs). It’s not enough to only fill up on foods in terms of the amount of food. If you don’t eat foods that you have an appetite for and genuinely crave, you’re bound to feel unsatisfied, and therefore, still desiring food. The urge to continue eating is especially normal if you’re constantly eating replacement foods. For example, opting for the zucchini noodles instead of the regular pasta, or eating the sugar-free Reese's cup instead of the regular candy, or drinking a meal replacement shake instead of that delicious sandwich you wanted! Try to tap into your cravings and listen to your appetite. Before you eat dinner, ask yourself, “Is this what I really want to eat, or is this just what I think I should eat?”
3. Assess the source of your hunger.
Try to ask yourself, “Am I actually physically hungry, or is there something else I’m wanting?” Sometimes, you can resort to snacking in a search for something completely different from food. Snacking after dinner can be a search for emotional comfort, stress relief, or simply a cure for boredom. It’s also ok to eat for these reasons! What you’re aiming for is an understanding and that you can begin to know the difference. Food is comfort, and food is intertwined with emotion. It’s okay for food to be more than simply a means to survive! There’s a reason why we call some foods “comfort food”, and it’s completely normal to eat foods or snacks because they are comforting. Getting curious about whether you’re wanting food to soothe, comfort, disconnect or numb out will be helpful.
4. Take a closer look at what’s on your dinner plate.
Pay attention to what foods are and aren’t on your plate. Did you have a lot of fruits and vegetables or other voluminous foods? Was there a source of protein? Did you skip carbs in the name of “health”? If your plate had too many voluminous foods and not enough energy-dense foods, it’s expected that you’re still hungry after dinner! Fruits and veggies do hold nutritional value and provide us with vitamins, minerals, and other important nutrients. However, a diet that lacks energy-dense foods (carbs,protein and fats) is bound to make you feel unsatisfied and low on energy. You (and all humans) need carbs to live, and carbs are your body’s preferred energy source! While it’s true that fruit and veggies do contain some carbs, a meal of only fruits and veggies isn’t going to be able to sustain you throughout the day and doesn’t meet your body’s needs for carbs. Focus on creating a plate that’s balanced and has a little bit of everything! You can still enjoy those fruits and veggies while also getting enough fuel in your meal.
5. Ask yourself if you're restricting in thought.
Even if you aren’t physically restricting food i.e. not bringing certain foods into your house or not eating them, you may be restricting food in thought.
This means thinking things like:
“I shouldn’t have this.”
“This isn’t good for me.”
“I can’t have any more.”
“I’m being bad by eating this.”
Even if you’re only restricting food in terms of thought and not in action, your brain will still feel threatened and on the defensive. Restriction, both in action and thought, causes your brain and body to crave those foods even more! Your body goes into a “last supper mentality” and thinks that it will never be able to have those foods again. You experience intense cravings and urges to eat a lot of that food, even if you aren’t physically hungry.
Eating after dinner is normal if you’re restricting, have a history of dieting, aren't getting your energy needs met, are restricting food during the day, and/or aren't eating enough satisfying foods, but it doesn’t have to be this way! Giving yourself unconditional permission, both physically and mentally, to eat whatever foods you crave after dinner is not an easy feat! And, it’s possible with some guidance and support. Over time with the help of an anti-diet and intuitive eating dietitian, you can decrease eating after dinner via food freedom instead of trying to white knuckle eating after dinner.
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Are you tired of feeling out of control with food after dinner? Do you want to stop having food cravings at night?
Challenging food rules and mending your relationship with food can be challenging, especially when it’s all you’ve known. It’s a difficult yet rewarding journey, and you don’t have to do it alone! Our Seattle-based practice Bravespace Nutrition is here to help you unlearn the rules of diet culture and tap into intuitive eating. Our caring dietitians are here to support you in your food healing journey. To get started on your journey today, schedule a free 15-minute phone call with us!