How to Stop Late Night Bingeing and Cravings

Cravings. We’ve all had them. They hit when you least expect them, and can completely ruin your progress if you let them. If you are dealing with cravings for foods with high fat or high sugar content late at night, you may be worried you won’t be able to lose the weight you want and gain the fitness results you are striving toward. However, with a little understanding of what cravings are, how they are triggered, and what you can do to stop them, you can get back on track with your fitness routine and keep unhealthy food choices out of your body.

What are Cravings?

When you crave something, it is more than the normal hunger feeling you experience between meals. Cravings are intense yearnings for a certain type of food. While it would be nice if our body’s craved celery and carrots, the majority of the time these cravings are for food rich in fat and sugar.
Unlike normal hunger, cravings can be triggered by pleasant associations, situations, and your emotions. Your mind uses cravings because it associates them as rewards. Many times, this is caused by childhood occurrences. For instance, your mother might have given you chocolate chip cookies and milk every time you finished your homework on time without complaining. Now, when you eat correctly and exercise to get fit fast, you mind may try to reward you by craving those sweets.
While many cravings are caused by psychological and emotional triggers, they can also result because of physical deficiencies in the body. For example, if you crave salty chips late a night, you may not be including enough potassium or iodine in your diet. Cravings for sweets may indicate your intestines may be suffering from an overgrowth of yeast. While your body knows what it needs, and there are reasons it makes you crave certain foods, you should be careful when responding to these cravings. If you feel as if you need to eat something late at night, choosing low calorie, healthy alternatives will help you maintain progress.

Stopping Late Night Cravings

Whether your cravings are psychological emotional, or physical, there are certain steps you can take to prevent late night cravings and bingeing.
Eat Breakfast – When you eat breakfast within an hour of waking up, your body’s metabolism kicks into high gear. This helps you burn more calories throughout the day, and really is the most important meal you can eat if you want to get fit fast. Without breakfast, your body will burn calories at a slower rate and you will be left feeling hungry. ( Try this breakfast )
Don’t Store Unhealthy Food – Storing unhealthy food in your home is just asking for trouble. As the old saying suggests, “out of sight, out of mind.”
Eat Regularly – Consuming four or five small meals every day can not only help you get fit fast by keeping your metabolism going and regulating your blood sugar levels, but it is also a great way to reduce hunger and cravings.
Exercise - Sitting on the couch watching television can actually make you crave food that is unhealthy for you. Get up and exercise. Doing so will release endorphins in your brain that can help improve your mood and fight cravings.
Relieve Stress – Because emotions can trigger food cravings, it is important to find way to relieve stress. Consider taking a walk or even fitting a meditating session into your  fitness routine once a week.http://www.sixpackfactory.com