How do you unwind at night without food?

[Anon_92]

I'm finding that after I put the kids to sleep at night time I go downstairs and start to get these huge cravings for anything sweet. I fully know that it's stress related as I eat enough during the day and always have a balanced evening meal. I'm struggling to break the cycle and wondering what other people do in the evening to relax without using food? TIA

Started with 2 apples, went down to 1 apple now cup of tea.

I brush my teeth and get myself cleaned up, i.e., 'ready for bed' right after dinner/kids/chores before I sit down to watch telly and relax. Can't bear to go to bed with a sugary/salty etc feeling in my mouth or bits of food on my clothes.

I try not to restrict myself either, instead I tell myself 'I'll go grab x food later in 30 minutes" but being the procrastinator that I am, I don't end up getting anything and before I know it it's midnight. Getting myself really comfortable on the sofa and in bed helps me too.

Don't start a wine habit to stop another bad habit!
I used to be a night time snacker but honestly don't think about it now.
Straight after dinner I literally close the kitchen (metaphorically) and brush my teeth.
It's easy once you practice it.
I'm happy now with just watching a bit of TV or scrolling on my phone and that feels like a treat. Occasionally I'll have a nice alcohol free beer.

When you cut sugar and carbs you need fat
Cheese
Olives
Ham
Or all 3

The only thing that will stop those cravings is fatty food/snacks

Or failing that vodka and slimline

One night I'm out at yoga, another night I go to a sound bath. The other nights I have a bath and brush my teeth then if I fancy something I have a cup of tea. Read my book. Do my skincare. Listen to audio book or podcast. Then I'm so exhausted by 10pm I'm usually winding down to sleep!

I know someone who swears by knitting in front of the telly, she says it gives her something to do with her hands.

If you CBA a bit of gentle yoga might help you feel cared for so you don’t have to reach for the chocolate.

Shaktimat - that'll take your mind off everything!

salted caramel tea
twinings.co.uk/products/salted-caramel-indulgence-green-tea-20-envelopes

protein youghurt with muesli

I knit or crochet, can't eat if my hands are busy.

I found cleaning my teeth early really helped end evening cravings. So when I got the dcs ready for bed, I cleaned my teeth when they did theirs. Started just because dc1 was old enough to clean his own teeth and I was modelling good behaviour around how long you clean for and he copied what I was doing etc, and found I didn’t want anything to eat after doing that.

then we had building work done that took the front room out of action for a while and so once the dcs were in bed we were watching tv in our room, so going all the way down stairs to get snacks seemed too much faff! I think disrupting your routine tricks your brain out of the feeling that this is the point you add sugar to your body.

There are some really good ideas here! I also love a bit of crochet. Or a bath and book/magazine (maybe followed by doing my nails, face mask, epilate legs…). I exercise a couple of evenings too. If I eat, I’ll go with tea and couple of squares of dark chocolate, yoghurt with nuts and a drizzle of honey, or maybe tuna and crackers. I haven’t managed to cut out sugar, but I have cut down…it’s hard.

Could you try something like an ovaltine or options hot chocolate? It is sweet and a treat but without too many calories. It is also nice to have before bed.

Knitting, crochet and/or tv series. I've never got into the habit of eating after dinner, fortunately. It's not willpower or moral superiority - it just kind of doesn't occur to me to snack in the evenings. 3-4pm is my snack witching hour!

Whiskey

Set a cut off time for food. Have a couple of good quality chocolate after your evening meal.

Cup of decaf tea and a puzzle.

god that sounds ancient! I don’t care actually, I like both very much.

Hot drinks, if I want something sweet, a low cal hot chocolate or hot ribena, herbal tea

Go to bed with a book?

Buy really dark (80%) chocolate, you only want a square or two as it’s so rich.

Keep your hands busy, so knitting, embroidery, drawing, puzzles etc.

Plus do not have the sort sugary food in the house, you know you’re going to eat it so just don’t buy it.

Tv, cup of herbal tv, games on my phone

Sorry, I meant "Have a couple of small pieces of good quality chocolate as the end of your evening meal*

Don't buy things like biscuits and cake, where you think 'I'll just have one'.

I have a store of treats but not on the countertop. I forget it is there until I get stressy about something and need a sugar fix. It's probably full of out of date sweets and biscuits.

I want to know how you all have your lives so organised that you can relax after the kids are in bed. 😣 I put the kids to bed and then start cleaning up the house, when that's done I attempt some of the family admin. DH doesn't get home until 7 so we don't eat until 8.30 most nights which means I snack terribly beforehand.

Vaping, yes I know it’s not healthy especially as I’ve never been a smoker but the nicotine massively curbs your appetite and the sweet flavours give you that feeling of having something sweet. I’ve lost a stone in a month or so!

I used to have this. You need to stabilise your glucose levels. Every time you eat sugar, you produce insulin to digest it, but you and I have bodies that overreact and produce too much insulin, so once the sugar is gone your body craves more sugar to balance itself. But when you eat more sugar you produce more insulin and get hungry again 2-3 hrs later. And so the weight piles on 😖

Going sugar free does solve it but the first few days are hard as your body is confused: you need to replace fast sugar sources (not just sweets but also fruit juice) with foods that break down into glucose more slowly. Anything with oats is good, or carbs.

Basically go sugar free and when you crave sugar, give your body carbs instead and in a couple of days you’ll stop craving sugar and become one of those people who can skip meals without noticing.

Completely agree with this, however it is hard at first. Glucose goddess on instagram and her book the glucose revolution are brilliant resources for learning about insulin glucose and cravings. I used them while I had gestational diabetes as I literally could t use food to relax in the evening during that time and at first it was so hard but I did get used to it, since having the baby I've gone mad on the carbs and sugar though and I'm back to the cravings so this post has been a good reminder for me to get back to this stiff.