Dinner is done, the dishes are clean, and the kitchen is dark. What to do when the refrigerator calls? Start by asking yourself the following questions to learn if you are snacking out of hunger or habit?
- Do you eat dinner early (5:30-6pm) and feel hungry by 9:30 or 10pm? If yes, then you are probably experiencing true hunger. Have a healthy snack, such as low-fat yogurt, a cup of tea or a handful of nuts.
- Are you craving a snack about and hour or so after dinner or while watching TV? This may not be physical hunger, but wanting a snack out of habit. If snacking at night is a habit, then help interrupt the cycle with a new routine such as:
Clean up the dishes and kitchen right after your meal. Brush and floss your teeth to signal eating is done for the day. Sit at the kitchen table when eating a snack, instead of in front of the TV, computer or while reading.
"When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge." Tuli Kupferberg