Ep 145 - Eating at Night When You're Alone How to Love Your Body: The Official UNdiet Online Podcast

Welcome to How to Love Your Body - I’m Lauren and this is Jenna. On today’s episode we are going to be talking about eating at night when you’re alone. We wanted to talk about this because this specific theme has come up a handful of times in our community in The UnDiet Collective Intuitive Eating App. 
We get why eating at night when you’re alone feels like a “habit” you want to stop. Maybe there is even some shame that comes up around night time eating - it might feel secretive and like you’re getting away with something that is “bad” and “wrong.”
First, it’s not bad, it’s not wrong, and by no means do you need to guilt and shame yourself every single time this scenario happens.
We want to share ways in which we can help alleviate this situation and make you feel like it’s okay to eat at night but also maybe help you get to the bottom of why this feels like such a problem for you - here are different areas you can explore that you may find helpful.
1st - What do you make “night time eating” mean? What is the energy around it? What is your experience with it? Most likely it’s coming from a place of “I shouldn't be doing this, it’s bad to eat this at night, why do I do this to myself, I told myself I wasn’t going to feel this sick again” etc - there is not only guilt but a lot of judgement.
So the first step to this process around night time eating is to see it in a different light - let’s create some new energy around it, gentle, kind, compassionate energy.
Can you see it as a sacred time for yourself - when you can actually have some time to relax - where you can “turn off” and mentally unload from the day. This is a time to recharge.
If you love to eat during this time - ALLOW yourself to truly enjoy it. Make an empowered choice rather than an effort in trying to stop this nighttime eating. If you allow yourself and embrace this time - it won’t feel so powerful.
Instead of telling yourself “I’m NOT eating at night tomorrow” - say to yourself - “I EXPECT to eat at night tomorrow.” - If I want to eat, I will eat - and I will listen to my body and give myself permission to enjoy.
Here’s a little activity - Get a journal or notebook - write out your old experience with night time eating - talk about the shame, guilt, judgement, whatever comes up for you. Once you are completed with that - rip it up into tiny pieces and throw it away - NEXT - write your new story around night time eating - talk about the allowing, the enjoyment, the sacred time to yourself - write about how compassionate you are for yourself. Create a new loving experience when it comes to night time eating and hold that energy within you..
Okay now - let’s talk about some practical areas in which we can explore to help you see this night time eating in a new light ---
What may be going on in your day  -
Are you eating enough during the day? Eating at night is absolutely okay and if you feel like you are eating more than you’d like - this could be that you’re famished because you didn’t eat enough during the day. You may not even realize it but it’s important to ask yourself if you are feeling satisfied and full after your meals during the day without having the feeling of grazing or like you’re still hungry. At night, once all the distractions are gone - like the kids are in bed, your work day is over, and you get some time to yourself to just relax - you feel the desire to eat because you may just be really hungry!! There’s other things that may be going on which is fine and absolutely “normal”- such as emotional eating or maybe just the desire to enjoy some food and watch some tv - but start becoming aware of how you feel during the day and making sure you are eating enough for your body to feel good and satisfied!
Another question to ask yourself:
Are you allowing the same food during the day that you eat at night? If you only allow certain foods at a certain time of day/ re