Hi All:
I am doing quite well eating raw all day.
However, the bane of my diet existence is night eating. I am always SO HUNGRY when I get home.

A typical day is as follows:

breakfast: fruit
lunch & dinner: big salad
throughout the day: fruit, nuts, water, and green tea

I exercise every day -- either I swim a mile or do a spinning class.

So at night when I get home I am HUNGRY. Don't want to eat, but I always end up eating. Any advice about how to avoid this? How bad do you think it is to eat at night?

Why not simply let go of worrying about eating at night - and simply focus on staying full on what YOU consider to be high quality foods? As that process continues and refines....you may find not eating at night to become more natural - and not desired. Just my experience.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

Maybe your still not consuming enough foods for the excersize you are doing each day? Raw starchy veg keeps me feeling more content, grated raw sweet potato, carrots , parsnips. what time do you eat at night?, the latest time I have something to eat is 8.oopm, I usually make a small sweet potato dessert, kinder on the digestion, if you eat to late it puts strain on your digestion, you need to give it a rest. You could even make some small energy balls to snack on in the day, upping the volume of those lovely raw foods in the day should help the cravings at night, its only your body telling you you need that bit more food for what energy you are exerting in the day!

i know what you mean....i teach classes at night, so when i get home at 9:30/10:00 i'm hungry. i no longer need to be full to go to sleep, but i can't sleep if my stomach is growling. i've been having either a green smoothie or watermelon on these nights. i avoid nuts and fats that late. so far, i haven't seen any bad effects...i feel great in the morning and am still losing weight. so i guess it works for me! maybe if you have to eat, just eat something that will digest quickly? like an all-green smoothie/soup? that might help.

michelle

Thanks for your suggestions. I think it is probably a good idea to only eat fruit -- maybe melon since it has so much water, and tea when I get home. It is just a bad habit, along with stress from the day.
I think I am going to be battling this for the long-term, but if I can think ahead and manage it then i should be okay.

this happens to me when i am not mindful of how i eat during the day. ie too little calories, or i dont enjoy the food as it goes into my mouth, im eating on the go, or just trying to satisfy my hunger. if i slow down and chew all the way, enjoy what im doing for myself each moment, during eat bite, i feel more satisfied and dont eat a big meal late at night. i never dream when i eat at night.

i'm also a night eater.
melon is great. stick with
high water content foods and
you can eat guilt free.

love and light
dc

michelle, you said you no longer need to be full in order to fall asleep. do you mind sharing your process around this? I often have a lot of energy at night and resort to eating something to "ground" so I can go to bed. But then my sleep is not as restful and I am more tired the next day when I eat late at night.
Thanks.
Love,
Uma

Night eating is one of the worst habits people have when it comes to eating. I have been eating a raw diet for almost 15 years now and I can tell you I used to have this issue also. I would say, night eating and over eating are too big issues raw fooders get themselves into trouble with. Finally I was able to overcome my night eating/over eating and I feel better then ever!

I knew it was an issue and not the best thing to do eat late at night all the time, but when I was researching for my book "Health According to The Scriptures" it kind of show's eating only 2 meals a day and the last meal around 3pm. This sounding very strange to me but I tried it, eating now around 9am and 3 pm
15 darn years of over eating and now I rocking! Finally! This may sound so weird but what is really weird is that people eat for the sun. When it comes up we jump out of bed, stuff our faces, when it is out at it's highest we tend to eat lunch, and when the sun comes down we eat dinner. Where this 3 times a day thing come from? I did a lot of research on the issue and it's too much to get into here, but what I can say is I've interviewed people who have been eating a raw diet for a very long time, some over 50 years, and they are doing fine eating very little. I now teach at Hippocrates Health Institute in West Palm Beach FL and they serve one 2 meals a day. The guest over come this sickness eating this way. Of course, if it could make sick people better, why not make healthy people healthier.

Just my 22 cents :-)
OK it's midnight now, I'm going to eat 2 Durians...
Just Joking,

Durian King
Out!

Paul, thanks for your message. I saw you speak a couple years ago at the Fort Bragg Expo and the main thing that stuck with me (besides the observation about happy people eating happy meals!) is the main causes of many health problems are overeating and under-sleeping. Well I guess night eating would be part of both of those! I can really relate to your process. Anyway I feel that is so true for me.

Sometimes I sense it's a fear of feeling too good, because dis-ease has been part of my life for so long, who would I be without it? Often when I'm feeling a nice energy flowing, I'll eat enough so that it'll stop, especially if it's bedtime. Then I'll go to bed later because I have to digest for a while, and consequently don't get as much sleep as my body wants. This pattern is pretty frequent for me.

How did you shift out of night eating/overeating? I would love to hear more about it.

Love,
Uma

Trying to fight off the urge to eat at night is the toughest part of my diet as well. Honestly, I just try to keep occupied. No sitting in front of the TV or computer...which breeds snacking. I play guitar or paint...something to keep my hands occupied.

For My Health The Fruit Company Fruit Baskets

I really appreciate this night eating discussion, and am glad to know that I am not the only one that struggles with this. In fact, I would say that I am perfectly disciplined all day until I get home late at night. The times in my life in which I have dropped weight quickly with no effort have been times in which I have not had access to food at night. I know this about myself, but it is tough to implement when I actually do have access to food at night. I am within my healthy weight range, but know this night eating habit is a bad one and preventing me from truly having the body that I desire.
My roommate is a night eater -- if we go out on the weekends, she ALWAYS eats when we get home. She is definitely overweight, and watching her makes me all the more want to not eat at night.
I think simply being aware of the problem is the first step to getting over it. I am going to make a concerted effort to brush my teeth as soon as I get home, and become occupied with other things instead of eating.

Thanks for the support and feedback!

Is it really all about discipline? I mean, maybe your body really needs the calories or nutrients - probably the latter. I'd say not night eating is a goal to shoot for after you've been raw for a while - not something to do in the first couple of years. I've heard the key to getting over night eating is green drinks. If you tend at all toward diabetes, I know I've found eating more fruit is the worst thing I can do - that I'm better off eating something alkaline and cooked... but that's just my experience. Try not to be so hard on yourself!

Paul,

I really liked your advice. Thanks for sharing. I've been struggling with eating too much at night, too. When I was water-fasting, eating at night was not an issue. It's just this last time that with my fast and this cold winter weather that I noticed that during the day, I seem to only need to drink juice and then when I get home, I eat two heavier items. I knew that if I could eat minimally at night, the weight would drop like it did during the fast. I'm not obese nor super fat, I just feel better and look better when I'm lighter. I was starting to look like myself towards the end of the last fast but I couldn't continue to fast forever. After the fast, I slowly got back into eating and then it seemed I couldn't stop eating. I moderated the quantity (and eliminated many of the nuts/seeds) but of late was thinking that if I could only stop eating earlier rather than eat late when I get home, I would be in better shape. The sticking point seemed to be that most times, I don't get home until after 6P or more often 7:30P. This means a meal at about 8P when I have to go to bed by 10P - 12A. This leaves little time for activities late at night outside of meal preparation, eating, and winding down to start the process all over again.

So, with your idea of eating the last meal at 3P, it got me thinking that I might not have to eat when I get home at all. If I eat all my meals at work prior to arriving home and dedicate my time at home to work or hobbies, etc., I won't have to worry about eating too late, etc. I might not have my last meal at 3P. It may be more like 4P but that is much better than 8P. I will probably phase into it by eating raw fruit or raw veggies first and then eliminating the those, too. Thanks for the idea. Therese

Hi Therese:
I like your idea of maybe not eating at home in the evenings at all. I have a similar situation in that I eat most of my meals at school. I definitely don't need to eat anything at home in the evenings, because I usually eat dinner at school.
Do you prepare your food for the next day in the evening? I do, which is my weak point. Maybe a solution will be to not enter the kitchen at all (not cross the Rubicon) and just prepare my food in the morning before I leave. Maybe you could try that as well. Think of how much you could do at home in the evenings if you didn't prepare food, eat, and clean up!
I hear ya, it is a tough situation!
Optimist4life

it's 12:30 pm.
I just finished my bedtime head-of-lettuce and am off to my pillow for some dreams.
I refuse to get upset with myself about eating at night. I know I shouldn't do it. But it keeps things moving on the inside, and helps me slow down.
maybe this will help you?
switch your food choices to dry greens at night.
just, be ready to BE REGULAR (you know what I mean?)

measure twice, cut once.

"In Watermelon Sugar the deeds were done and done again as my life is done in watermelon sugar." ~r.brautigan

I make paintings

Hey Opt,

Thanks for the note. I do prepare for the next day. What I've been preparing is mostly juice. Last Friday, I found that I only drank/chewed blended oranges (juice) and didn't touch the raw hummus I had prepared and brought. That means I didn't eat much at all during the day. I just ate/drink about the equivalent of 1 3/4 oranges during the 11 hours I was away from home.

I ate the hummus, some veggie soup, a handful of nuts, and an orange when I got home.

Regarding eating due to food preparation at night, the one rule that I know based on my body's experiences is that if I drink juice at night, I'm awake for hours more. I cannot afford the loss of sleep so I avoid drinking any juice late at night. This is one way to avoid eating what has been prepared. As for the salad or whatever, it doesn't appeal to me to eat directly before bed. I've been preparing food at around 9 or 10P. Having had bad experiences of going to bed on a full-stomach, I don't want to repeat the stress/discomfort. I guess I've differentiated between eating late vs eating directly before going to bed.

Today, I switched around the food sequence since I was mostly at home. I ate the orange, nuts, and soup in the afternoon and then am eating fruit at night. I have yet to eat my pomegranate but ate 3 medium bananas already. The pomegranate should be enough as I feel almost satisfied with the bananas.

I will also drink some hot water with minerals in it and that should be it. In future, I will likely just drink the minerals when I get home. This is akin to have a relaxing herbal tea to wind down. I like "tea time" and associate fond memories so it will be nice to continue this ritual. What I am in process of changing is eating solid food after 5/6P.

Yes, I agree that I will be able to get a whole lot more done when I get home instead of wasting 2-3 hours in preparation, eating, clean-up, and winding down from the meal. It will be a bit of a social adjustment but I guess it would be likened to ordering a mineral water at a bar rather than a liqueur. Hope that helps. Therese

drinking lots of water and juices helps me with night eating.

also, reminding myself how much better i feel and easier it is to get up in the morning when I don't eat right before bed helps.

if you can, take a structured exercise class with a point to get better in the morning (like a martial art or a dance or sport... something you will want to improve upon) so you know that when you wake up in the morning you want to be your best so you can improve your game. it will give you motivation to want to feel good in the morning. You may not have this option. it's just a suggestion. it has helped me a lot.