After Dinner Munchies

kblover

kblover

Cathlete
Just trying to get some ideas...

What do you do when you get the after dinner munchies??? It's not due to hunger either...just habit...which seems to turn into hunger...I need some combat training so I can fight them off...HELP! :)

Cheryl
 
No suggestions, I just want to commiserate! I am the WORST with this. I think I'm hungry but I know I'm really not, yet I graze the kitchen every night at 10:30. If you find a good trick be sure to post it for other night time munchers like me!
 
I am right there with you. I swear if I stopped eating after dinner, I would drop 10 lbs. very quickly. Brushing my teeth doesn't help. I will just go back and brush them again before I actually go to bed. Sorry I can offer no help just commiseration. Maybe Cathe can offer some help and ideas?!
 
A cup of green tea! Staves off the cravings and doesn't add calories, as long as you don't add sugar/honey and milk, etc. Of course, a nice big glass of water could do the trick, too, but I like tea for the flavor! Makes me feel like I had something substantial.
 
I either have hot tea or brush my teeth, depending on how soon I will be going to bed. If it will be awhile, I go with the tea. If I am heading to bed in the next half hour, I just brush my teeth.

I really like caramel teas. Bigelow makes a delicious vanilla caramel tea if you don't mind artificial flavors. Otherwise Stash teas has a Chocolate Hazlenut flavor that is really good and is all natural.

If tea doesn't work for you, you could make a low calorie hot chocolate. I use unsweetened chocolate almond milk, a tablespoon of cocoa powder (Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder is awesome), and a little natural sweetener like Stevia or PureVia. You can also add a sugar free flavored syrup like Torani or a tiny drop of mint extract.
 
you could eat a 'free food' something that has very few cal. i eat raw carrots.
you may also find something to keep your mind/hands busy helps. chat on this forum, read your fav book, knitting, cleaning, drawing, painting, an instrument, your fav music or podcast, npr often does interesting interviews at night. if you're not too tired, exercising is always good too. i do that often too. anything to stay away from kitchen.
 
mom418 said:
you could eat a 'free food' something that has very few cal. i eat raw carrots.
you may also find something to keep your mind/hands busy helps. chat on this forum, read your fav book, knitting, cleaning, drawing, painting, an instrument, your fav music or podcast, npr often does interesting interviews at night. if you're not too tired, exercising is always good too. i do that often too. anything to stay away from kitchen.
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What a great idea of exercising. Although I wouldn't want to do something too strenous right before bed. But doing a segment of Stretch Max or yoga after dinner would be a great way to distract yourself from putting food in your mouth! Plus it would be something to help relax you and get your body ready to go to sleep!
 
I like strawberries and/or blueberries. Sometimes when I splurge I'll have some PB & co. flavored peanut butter. Or just a handful of peanuts or cashews.
 
I also have this problem. What works best for me is to have some sort of distracting project to work on after dinner - walking the dogs, or paying bills, or sending out thank-you cards, or making little clove-orange pomanders, or ironing, or really anything that isn't difficult or onerous but that keeps my hands busy and my mind off the jar of White Chocolate Wonderful lurking in the cupboard.
 
I usually plan my eating to include a later-evening snack, because I also get the after-dinner munchies!

If I've worked out (I'm an evening exercsier), I'll have something rather substantial like a protein smoothie. But if I haven't exercised, I'll have some fruit or veggies w/ hummus, in general I just try to stay under 200 calories unless I have exercised. If I still have the munchies, hot tea or a glass of water with some lemon juice in it is usually what I reach for, if I'm being good. :)
 
Unless you are having real hunger pangs, its not actually hunger, its just your fat cells conning you into making more of them so they can throw a party on your hip.
 
Cutting up an apple and eating that helps me a lot, or pretty much any other fruit, but I'm trying to keep my carbs at night very limited, so lately I'll have some almonds, or a new recipe I found for a protein powder cake, it's not all that good, but I have been playing with the recipe to try and doctor up the taste and texture and it really fills me up.

In case you are interested:
mix 1 scoop protein powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
water - not much

mix above in a mug, it should be a little thinner than a batter, and microwave for 1 minute.
 
Try to find an herbal tea you like: no calories (unless you add sweetener) and you can go for either a sweet tasting one or a more bitter flavor.

Or even a glass of water.

I also agree about having a hobby that keeps your hands busy (which makes it impossible--at least difficult--to eat).
 
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mom418 said:
you could eat a 'free food' something that has very few cal. i eat raw carrots.
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Some foods, like celery and pickles, use more calories to digest than they contain, so they are good "free food" snacks (and neither of these is high glycemic). (Just in case you're thinking of it: you'd have to eat a 7734 of a lot of celery sticks and/or pickles to lose weight from their 'negative calorie" effect).
 
kathryn said:
(Just in case you're thinking of it: you'd have to eat a 7734 of a lot of celery sticks and/or pickles to lose weight from their 'negative calorie" effect).
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7734 pickles??? Wow, that's a LOT of sodium! :eek: I love pickles, but that would just leave me feeling bloated, which would undo that negative calorie effect, LOL.

If you are "truly" hungry, another vote for crunchy veggies (cukes, peppers, carrots, celery, raw zucchini squash). I like to eat them with a dab -- no more than a TBL -- of a dip (plain greek yogurt + Mrs Dash, hummus, TJ's FF balsamic vinaigrette, or PB if I have a few calories to spare).

Baked apple slices are good too (roasted sliced apples with cinnamon), but I eat this with caution, as the sweetness from the fruit sugars can lead me to want more sugar, which is exactly the problem you're trying to avoid.
 
I also crave snacks late at night I don't get home from work till midnight. I found Yogi tea "Healthy Fasting" quells my urges.
 
Oooo! Such great ideas! I have to admit, initially I looked at some of them and thought...no way, that isn't going to work! But then I realized, I'm not 'truly' hungry, I just need something in my hands. My late night activities have been a lot of family time, which involves a lot of sitting around, or reading...again sitting. unfortunately, this is where the hunger devil strikes. But I know I'm not really hungry. I think I'm going to start with some of these teas and see what happens before I move to food.

Keep the ideas coming! Thanks!!

Cheryl
 
Lately I'm too busy for a proper dinner, but when I can, I make a huge salad for dinner (it takes a long time to eat). By the time I'm done, I'm bored with eating usually. In any case, I often create workouts or rotations in the evening, or do some other activity that takes mental energy and keeps me from being bored. I have to go to bed quite early, so I don't really have a lot of time to really go to town when bored. Which isn't to say I've been eating well lately - no time!

Anyway, that's what I would say- keep yourself mentally active by doing interesting things that don't involve junk food. It could even be planning a week's menu, or figuring out the calorie count in your favourite recipes. As long as you aren't eating the junk, think about food all you want!
 
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