Why It All Falls Apart at 9pm (and How to Fix It)
You know this one, don't you. You are absolutely brilliant all day long. Sensible breakfast, lovely lunch, you sail through the afternoon feeling rather pleased with yourself. And then 9pm arrives, the house goes quiet, and there you are, stood at the open cupboard in your dressing gown, going in. Again.
I know that feeling so well it makes me smile, the rueful sort of smile. For years I thought it meant I was hopeless, that whatever steel I had during the day simply ran out by bedtime and left me weak. So let me tell you the thing I wish somebody had told me a great deal sooner, because it changed everything.
It is almost never about willpower
Night-time grazing is hardly ever a willpower problem. Truly. It is not that you are weak-willed, or greedy, or lacking in discipline once the sun goes down. Far more often, it is simply this: the day was too light.
Think about it. If breakfast was a bit mean, lunch was rushed and small, and the afternoon went by on a cup of tea and good intentions, then by the evening your body has had quite enough of being short-changed. It comes to collect, and it collects in the evening when you finally sit down, relax, and stop being busy. That cupboard raid is not a moral failing. It is your body sensibly trying to make up a shortfall you created earlier without meaning to. Once I understood that, I stopped feeling guilty and started feeling rather sorry for my poor hungry self.
The fix is more, not less
Here is the part that catches everyone out, because it feels backwards. The answer to evening grazing is not more restriction. Tightening the screws even further during the day only makes the evening hungrier and the cupboard louder. The fix is actually to eat more, earlier.
Build yourself bigger, more satisfying meals during the day, the kind packed with potatoes, beans, whole grains, heaps of veg and plenty of fruit. Foods that are light for their size but genuinely fill you up and keep you full for hours. When your daytime meals are generous and satisfying, your body simply has no shortfall to come collecting for at 9pm. The cupboard goes quiet all on its own, not because you fought it, but because you are not actually hungry anymore. That, my love, is so much kinder than white-knuckling your way past the biscuit tin every night.
For when you simply fancy something sweet
Now, let me be realistic, because sometimes it is not hunger at all. Sometimes you have eaten plenty and you just fancy something sweet of an evening, and that is a perfectly lovely and human thing to want. There is nothing to fix there. The trick is just to have a few lighter sweet options ready and waiting, so that "I fancy something" has a gentle, satisfying answer that you feel good about afterwards.
That is exactly what I keep on hand. A bit of something sweet that hits the spot without the heaviness, ready to go so I am not rummaging hopefully through the fridge. My friend Chelsea has put together some gorgeous easy options that fit the bill beautifully, the sort of thing you can have on standby for those evenings when a little sweetness is just what is called for.
Watch: Easy Low-Calorie Vegan Desserts gives you a handful of simple sweet treats to keep ready for the evening.
So tonight, instead of standing at the cupboard feeling cross with yourself, eat a proper satisfying day, and have one of these ready for when you fancy a treat. You were never weak. The day was just a bit too light.