I know Oprah says she doesn't eat after 7 PM, but that doesn't mean it is law. What time do you go to bed? If you go to bed at midnight, eating before 7 PM may leave you hungry. My rule of thumb is to try to get dinner 3 or more hours before bedtime.

Most people eat their largest meal of the day for dinner. Usually this meal is larger than we really 'need' in terms of portion. Therefore, a snack is not usually necessary after dinner because you are not actually hungry. If you are snacking, it is very likely you are snacking because of emotional reasons, boredom, stress, or just plain feeling like eating something. Usually when we eat even though we are not hungry we are choosing things that are high sugar or high fat to satisfy the psychological hunger. Our brains like sugar because it is instant energy and we like fat because it is very dense in energy.

If you are truly hungry after dinner, eat the snacks listed in my snack smart blog. If you are not hungry but just eating for other reasons, then make sure that you eat something that will satisfy your craving with as few calories as possible. Before I give some suggestions, also consider modifying your habits so that you do not snack when hungry. since you are psychologically hungry, avoiding eating will be all about occupying your mind. Change up your routine so that you break the habit of snacking. Sit in a different chair when watching TV so it is a different environment. I know this may sound silly, but just making one change to your environment can help you break a habit. Chew gum or strong mints. Brush your teeth right after dinner so you have a minty mouth and you won't have to do it again before bedtime. Go for a short walk around the block. Make a sign that says "Kitchen Closed" and post it at the entrance to the kitchen after dinner dishes are cleaned up. Call a friend to occupy your mind. Surf the internet because if you are using your hands you are less likely to snack than if you are sitting with your hands free.

If you really feel that psychological need to snack, try to limit calories as much as possible. Set a limit for yourself of less than 100 calories.

Eat 6 times a day. Don’t snack between meals or you will gain weight. Stop eating after 7 PM. Are you confused? You are not alone! Just like many things in the nutrition world, the advice on snacking has been mixed.

After searching for the answer to this question for many clients who are striving to control cravings and get sustained energy, I have come to the overwhelming conclusion that eating light and eating often is the best policy. How often is often and how light is light? That varies from person to person. But here are some tips to help you figure it out for yourself.

Eating light
Eating light is difficult to do in our super-sized environment. I follow my fullness cues to determine when to stop. Again, this is difficult to determine because we are so accustomed to cleaning our plates and eating everything put in front of us. My best advice is to eat slowly so the signal can get to the brain that you are getting satisfied. The other advice I have is to stop when you are satisfied, not when you are full. Keep telling yourself that you only need to eat enough food to get through the next 3 or at the most 4 hours. Don’t try to eat as much food as possible to get you through 7-8 hours. That is too much food for your body to process at one time. That brings me to my next point….

Eating often
In order to prevent cravings and get sustained energy, you need to keep your glucose, or blood sugar, in the proper range. When you go too long without eating, it signals to your brain that you are starving and your body stores fat because it doesn’t know how long you are going to starve it or often you are going to do that to it. Your brain then tells your taste buds that you want sugar because it is instant energy. Your brain may also be craving fat because it is very dense in energy (calories). If you eat often you will not crave these foods because your body will be getting sustained energy and it will not have to try to manipulate your brain to try to get energy. Your body cannot use more food than it needs for a 4 hour period. The job of insulin is to come in and break down food into energy (glucose) and get it into the cells where it is needed within a certain period of time. If you feed your body more than it needs, the body will simply release more and more insulin and will put the extra food into fat storage.

Bottom line
Eat small amounts every 3-4 hours. If you limit your portions at meals you can make room for extra calories as snacks. This leads to more energy, increased metabolism, and decreased cravings for high sugar and high fat foods.

I ran out of room today, but I will continue tomorrow with some ideas for snacks.