Late night food cravings…haven’t we all been there? But since it’s not about gaining weight, what’s the problem?

Getting hungry in the middle of the night is something a lot of us know; we’re going to tell you whether these late night food cravings matter, what you can do to deal with them and extra tips you can use next time you have one.

3 Easy Steps To Deal With Late Night Food Cravings

Understand what late night food cravings are
When you have cravings, take a minute to think and see whether you’re really hungry or just thirsty
Make a routine and figure out your triggers

What Is It and Does It Matter?

Reader, let’s just tell you before we begin that any rule that says don’t eat after a certain time at night because …xxx…, you can just put aside.

Late night food cravings occur when you feel hungry or want a specific type of food late at night.

We all do it for different reasons, but these are the common reasons why you get late night food cravings:

habit
emotions (like stress, boredom, etc…)
hunger
thirst
blood sugar levels
your routine was disturbed (for example, you started going to bed later than you usually do)

Habit

If your stomach is used to having food at 2 AM, for example, when the clock hits around 2, it starts to wait for the food.

Emotions

You could be craving food late because you’re stressed or bored, or maybe you just want comfort food to cope with your feelings, as many people do.

Hunger

You could just not be eating enough during the day, so you're starving by the time night rolls around.

Thirst

Many people confuse thirst with hunger. If you want to be sure whether you're hungry or just thirsty, drink water before you eat anything. You can usually tell by how satisfied you feel right after.

Blood Sugar Levels

Sometimes, your blood sugar levels can drop for whatever reason (maybe you do a lot of physical activity and don’t eat the right foods to get enough energy, or your body is using up the sugar too fast, etc.…), so you wake up late at night craving sugary foods or foods that turn into sugar after you eat them, like starch.

Your Routine Changed

If your sleep routine changes and you stay up later than usual, the hormones that tell your body when you're hungry and full can get messed up.

If these hormones get messed up, you can gain weight not because you're eating late at night but because you're giving your body more fuel than it needs (whether night or day), and it's not using it, so it stores it as fat. It has nothing to do with eating late or going to the gym.

We talk about weight gain and how it happens in 'How To Lose Weight With Real Food.'

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So, do late night food cravings matter?

All of the things we discussed tell us that late night food cravings are just symptoms you feel because of something you’re doing or something that’s going on in your body.

Imagine two people who have headaches every day.

One of them writes down what happened the whole day before the headache started, what they ate, how they felt, etc.

The other person says, “Ohh…time for an Advil.”

If they both go to the doctor, the person who always writes everything down will most likely find a pattern and figure out what causes the headaches in the first place, but the other person will probably just be given a prescription for headaches and told, "Have a nice day."

Think of it like having a car that suddenly makes a slight noise you've never noticed before. It's a sign that something is off; if you figure out why, you can solve the problem. It's the same thing with our bodies.

Another sign that tells us that late night food cravings are a symptom of something else happening in our bodies is the fact that when you constantly eat that late because of your cravings, you can start to get some of these problems :

disrupted sleep (if this continues, you miss out on a lot of sleep, and this comes with its problems)

digestive issues (like indigestion and heartburn)

your blood sugar spiking and crashing (this not only affects your energy but also your mood)

So you see how it's a domino effect. A problem causes night cravings, then you eat late, and then you have other problems.

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The 3 Steps To Deal With It

You saw the list at the beginning of this article for how to stop late night food cravings; now here’s what you need to know about it:

Since there are so many reasons why it could happen, one of the first things you want to do is understand how and why you get these late-night food cravings.
That way, you can fix the cause of the problem instead of just trying to get yourself to stop eating late.
After that, you want to figure out whether you’re hungry when you get cravings or just thirsty since we often think we’re hungry, but we’re really just thirsty.
Once you feel the cravings, drink water and see how you feel. If you feel like you don’t want to eat anymore, then you are just thirsty.
If you do both 1 and 2 and discover why you have late night food cravings, you should create a routine to break the habit.
To do this, you need to figure out what triggers you and make a plan to avoid these triggers.
For example, suppose you notice that you only crave food late at night after a rough day at work. In that case, you want to avoid having rough days (as much as possible).
You make a routine for when rough days happen, so you get your body out of the habit of wanting food late by ensuring you eat and drink enough at dinner on those occasional rough days.
After doing this for a while, the cravings should go away.
After doing all of this, any time you can’t avoid a rough day at work, you automatically know what to do to avoid triggering your body so you don’t build that late night food cravings habit again; you get home from that rough day, and you make sure that that night you eat and drink enough at dinner.

Extra Tips

These are some extra tips to help you avoid late night food cravings if you don’t have them or to help you continue to avoid them if you just got rid of them:

You want to ensure you’re eating and drinking enough during the day so you don’t wake up craving food at night.

We know a lot of us live a fast-paced life since we have bills running after us, but try to be relaxed when you’re eating; this way, you enjoy the food more, and you know when you’re full; paying attention when you’re dealing with food helps you not confuse thirst with hunger.

Make sure you’re getting enough sleep because sleep affects many things in your body, and when you aren’t sleeping enough, it shows, and late night food cravings are just one way it shows (lack of adequate sleep can cause your body to need more energy because it has to function on low rest).

If you’re in the process of fixing your late night food cravings, get support from the people around you (family, friends, your doctor) until you master the routine.

FAQ

Seek professional help for late-night food cravings if:
They lead to excessive overeating or unhealthy eating patterns.
You experience significant weight gain or health issues.
It majorly negatively affects your life in any way, shape, or form (basically, if it gets out of control).
Suppose you cannot identify the core reason for your late-night cravings and must try other methods. In that case, some of the following supplements can potentially help:
Protein supplements - such as whey or casein protein
Fiber supplements - like psyllium husk
Garcinia cambogia
5-HTP (5-Hydroxytryptophan)
Melatonin
Yes, fasting can help manage late-night eating habits by creating structured eating windows and reducing late-night snacking opportunities. It may also help regulate hunger hormones and improve overall appetite control.
Some healthcare practitioners you could see are:
Registered Dietitians
Nutritionists
Psychologists or Therapists
Primary Care Physicians
Endocrinologists
Some include but are not limited to:
Diabetes
Hyperthyroidism
Sleep disorders (e.g., sleep apnea)
Depression and anxiety
Night Eating Syndrome (NES)
Leptin resistance

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Conclusion

Some health issues we face are not the problem but the symptoms of the problem. Late-night food cravings are one of them. Solve your night cravings with one of the tips we mentioned, like drinking water to find out if you’re hungry or just thirsty without knowing.

Take the Next Step: Speaking of health problems, check out How To Lose Weight With Real Food & Keep It Off Dietless next.

Let Us Know: Did you figure out what was causing your late night food cravings?

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