You start the day off great by eating a nutrient-dense breakfast. You then eat well throughout the day but when you get home at night you still find yourself reaching for that extra piece of chocolate cake. The reason is that you may be setting yourself up for food cravings. Here are 5 things that you can do during the day that will help reduce food cravings at night.

Go for short bouts of exercise throughout the day

Every day from roughly 2-5pm our bodies have a natural dip in blood sugar. So we’re likely to feel a little more fatigued. We're going to feel like we need quick energy. And when we need quick energy, what do we think of? 

We usually think of sugar & carbs.

We're wanting a quick fix. If you don't have any sort of plan in place, you're much more likely to see like you HAVE to go to the vending machine & get something really sugary or salty, as a way prop yourself up to get through the rest of the day, when in fact, actually taking a walk would help. 

During that time frame, the two for even ten minute walk can help boost your energy and also reduce food cravings.

Pre-plan - know your hunger cues throughout the day

One of the things that I often tell people to do is to pre-plan and understand when during the day do you tend to get that slump? It's different for everybody.  It also depends on your eating rhythm and what you've had for breakfast or if you didn't have breakfast. 

Pre-planning can mean that you plan easy grab-and-go snacks on hand that are nutrient-dense, have complex carbohydrates and fiber and are also delicious.  

Some ideas:

Nuts and Seeds

Hummus and Carrot sticks

Guacamole and cut up veggies

Turkey slices with cucumber

Roasted chickpeas

Think of things that are going to give you that quick energy, but also it's going to satisfy you for a longer period of time. Make sure to know what you tend to crave during that time of day when you tend to feel like that sluggishness or those carb cravings. And be sure to plan & prep  in advance, either in the morning or the night before.

Invite joy and pleasure multiple times a day

Allow yourself small periods of time that you can focus on self care or joy throughout the day.  Often when we're craving comfort foods at night it's because we are feeling so overwhelmed or stressed during the day that we're doing enough that is related to your own selfcare during the day.

Even if it was for two minutes multiple times a day, implementing these small breaks benefits you so that you don't feel as overwhelmed when you get home. 

Eat Mindfully and slowly - be present for your meals, even if for a few minutes

Let me tell you a quick story about a former client of mine. We were working on how to eat mindfully and intuitively during her work-day and to not restrict foods.

She brought a brownie to work one day, and she was so excited about eating it. It was such a breakthrough for her that she was going to give herself permission to have it during the day.

Sadly, she realized later in the afternoon after looking around for her brownie that she was so excited to eat that she already ate the brownie during a meeting. She wasn't even conscious of it.

She was so disappointed because why bring this delicious brownie to work if you're not going to actually be aware and to actually enjoy eating it?

But we're so conditioned to feel so guilty about these types of choices or to feel conflicted about it that we may not even be consciously aware of eating and enjoying it.

If you're not consciously aware, your brain is doing other things, and you’re not fully embodied. You're not getting those important cues about satiety and fullness. 

So eating mindfully, even if it's like a snack for five minutes,rather than multitasking or racing food or whatever will help you in the evening as well. 

Say yes more throughout the day

This one might surprise you, but you need to be able to say yes more often, especially with food.  Having food rules can become very difficult because then what happens is that if we break that rule or if we do something that we've arbitrarily said is not okay, then what does that say about us? It makes us feel worse, and it can lead to what I call the “what the hell” effect. And what happens is when you're saying no all day, not even to just food, but other pleasures it leads to “discipline burn-out”

I've been saying no all day. I've been denying myself and restricting myself all day that there is this part of you that comes out and it's like, I deserve this treat. I deserve this. I WANT this. And nothing is going to talk you out of that at that point.

But if you recognize when you're saying no too often, then you can also understand that by shifting a few of those nos to yeses, it's going to actually alleviate that craving brain at night. 

Making too many decisions during the day

How many food decisions do you think we make a day when you factor in decisions like “what should I have for breakfast”, to “how many bites of this should I have”

Answer: We make over 200 food related decisions a day.

That's a hell of a lot of decisions to make. So here's the kicker. We're only aware of maybe like 14 of them. Can you imagine your brain is working over time, making tons and tons of decisions about what to eat, when to eat, why you're eating, how many bites, etc? In the process of making all those micro decisions, it actually fatigues us, and it makes us more vulnerable at night to just do what’s easiest.

If you don't have a plan for dinner (which many people do not) and you're just going to go home and wing it, you're much more likely to be like, “Well, I'm just going to order a pizza.”  “I'm just going to go to the drive through, or I'm just going to order Chinese or whatever”. Making many decisions during the day will fatigue you at night. You will not be as easily able to make sound decisions, especially when you're considering tiredness, stress, and everything else that happens during the day.

When you're also making 200 decisions about food, of course you're coming home being like, I don't care whatever's on the counter, I'm just going to eat it. 

I hope you found this blog post to be helpful! If you're looking for more information on effective ways to curb food cravings and all things food & eating psychology please check out our other blog posts on the topic by going here.  And be sure to follow me on IG