Night bingeing

[New Start]

I have definitely stuggled with night binging - I totally sympathize with all of you! I know what my triggers are: a particularly stressful day at work or being too tired at the end of the day to do anything other than sit on the couch and eat or feeling sad/upset. My cravings are totally emotionally-based. And, keeping carbs out of the kitchen doesn't help me. I eat perfectly all day and have a kitchen full of healthy food.... but then, as the night goes on.... when I can't stand the urge anymore, I will whip out to the convenience store and buy my treats. I find it SO HARD to stop this. I have been given lots of ideas to help, but none seems to work... I feel like I will never be able to overcome this! I feel so disgusting everytime I do it, that afterwards I tell myself "never again". But... by the time the next night rolls around, it seems like I can't even remember what that felt like... and I do it all over again.

[cs_carver]

Been there.

Discovering that what I thought was 100% emotional, food-issue, addictive compulsive, all the character-defects you can name-driven eating, is now becoming more and more a matter of food sensitivities and blood sugar surges. And this is someone who once knew the inventory and hours of every convenience store in a 5 mile radius.

Every little bit helps. It's VERY likely that at least some of the foods you are eating are, in turn, triggering the need to eat more. It's also possible that some of the theoretically "legal" LC foods are triggering the urge to eat more. I just two nights ago discovered that green peppers will set off a binge. I was able to contain it to LC foods so I was back before too long, but it looks like peppers are now off my list for the duration. And once I was in the binge, it started feeling like it WAS the bad day at work that was causing it.

For me, I'm safe on real meat, eggs, lettuce, celery, and cucumbers. Real cheese is a trigger. Now green peppers are a trigger. I'm testing others gently and may buy the blood test to see what the full range is. You might want to look over at the CAD list and look for the allergy/addiction post. I have NO interest in the CAD diet, but reading that list for a few days opened my eyes to the idea of there being more triggers than I was thinking about.

Truth is, it still amazes me at how much of my "stress based eating" has completely disappeared now that I'm pretty much LC. And then this binge the other day brought it all back, and the way my brain changes once the cravings start. Nasty. But if you can get clear and stay clear for a few days, that in turn will help you stay LC.

Good luck.

[Doitnow]

I have done a lot of eating as emotionally based stress eating but I have come to believe that a lot of that kind of eating is more complicated than just being 'emotionally based'. What I eat triggers a lot of desires, cravings. Once I have begun to carbo load, my body quickly craves more and more. Maybe the first couple bites were emotionally based but I believe addictions take over.

If I stick to my low carb diet, keeping my carbs very low, I don't have cravings. The better I get at low carb WOE, the less un planned, stressed based eating I do.

[fncll]

I have a real problem with night-time eating, but it seems to be greatly lessened when I eat low-carb. It's different because I can TELL that my craving is wholly psychological-- I don't even crave the food, I crave feeling full and, most importantly, the dreamy drowsy state that comes after. It's a way of getting away from things/all things/something (for me)...

[skeeweeaka]

I do crave at night but I save 5 or more carbs just for that....I buy those low carb chocolate bars that contain 3.5 carbs in the whole bar and I might eat 1/4 of that... I might have tea with that or skins with the tea... Go through the recipes and find a treat that is low carb and easy to make and save it for those times... I am with the others...if you keep your diet primarily low carb the big cravings should leave.... Sometimes I also have ham or turkey roll ups which are good... one or 2 slices of meat, slicked no sugar pickle, with cream cheese spread on it and rolled up.... My daughter likes them as snacks also... Or sometimes I make no sugar pudding recipes that I've tried from different sites.... Or a low carb hot chocolate also helps me...

Stop going out......... you've got to satisfy those urges with low carb alternatives... because you truly are sedating yourself - I remember that feeling well....sometimes it's hard to feel the pain..... I even have a half a glass of wine and an ounce of cheese....occasionally.

[Tsve]

I do not think you can attribute nightime eating to just emotional really. It can be an eventual habit, but it is possible that you can be truely hungry at night. I know I am. I ignore it, and drink water, and go to sleep. But if I am just starved and have already had dinner, I sometimes drink a Diet Rite with ice and a tablespoon of heavy creme. Does that sound like not very much? Well, sometimes it does take just a bit of work convincing yourself that you have eaten already, and soon you will be sleeping. (if you haven't eaten though, it is better to eat)
Also, I drink sodium free chicken brother, eat a cup of raw cabbage or have some decaf coffee with sugar free flavouring. It wouldn't hurt you to eat a cheesestick or two, or a handful of nts. Try to keep it under 200 calories and low in carbs.
Eventually your body will accept the compromise, from big midnight blowout to light snack. If you do something that takes both of your hands to use right before bed, like writing, drawing, typing, playing a computer game, looking through a magazine, ...something....then your mind will be pre-occupied and it might help.

[amtuamor22]

I too am addicted to this :cry: Its really messing me up too. I do so good all day avoiding temptations at work, cookies, chips, etc. I work out regularly, take supplements. Then in the middle of the night when I get up to make trip to the restroom, suddenly i'm in the middle of a binge, and I know it cant be cause i'm really hungry. So I dont know what to do to stop these cravings late at night. I tried drinking a diet soda, but that dont help cause then i awake again in the night to go pee, and here come my sugar cravings again. :tears:

If I could get past this one obstacle, I would be doing so great on this WOE.

[Bumpy]

I have problems with night time eating as I suffer from insomnia. I always get hungry around 4/5am so I have started saving some carbs during the day so I can eat at night.