Do you struggle with eating after dinner? I know that many do. We aren’t typically hungry for the few hours that follow dinner time, yet we nevertheless end up eating. I have three truth cards for that as well. It helps me to read these truth cards out loud just before dinner time. It also helps me to read them out loud just after dinnertime, too. If I find I am tempted, I like to launch Barb Raveling’s “I Deserve a Donut” app (she has an I Deserve a Donut book now too for those without iPhones!) and use some of her questions to illuminate what is going on.
In any event, here are THREE truths that I can say out loud that help me to NIP EVENING EATING in the bud!
- Unless I eat an early dinner (or light dinner, stopping before I reach a “5” on the hunger scale), I simply WILL NOT BE HUNGRY before bed!
Have you experienced this? Where you know that you ate plenty at dinner time, but you know you are planning…actually planning to eat anyhow? Do we want to BE CURED of this overeating and extra weight stuff? Do we really WANT to be obedient to the Lord in eating only what we need for fuel? Then the truth is, unless we eat a very early dinner or an extremely light dinner, it isn’t likely we will be hungry before bed!
- I sleep better when I don’t overeat at bed-time or just before.
Have you ever had a food-fest in the evening while watching TV or a movie or playing games with the family? Or perhaps that is your computer or reading time and you just munch most of the evening? Has it affected how soundly you sleep? It does for many of us who struggle with this. When we use food for fuel, we are able to sleep peacefully!
- When I don’t overeat at night, I wake up hungry for breakfast which is a good thing!
A lot of people assume that they need to eat in the morning when they wake up. Honestly, when I overeat the night before, I am not hungry until 10am or sometimes even 11am! Is this true for you?
How About You?
Do you struggle with night-time eating? Might speaking these truths out loud each morning and again in the evening before you eat after dinner actually help you? What are your strategies for emerging victorious over the temptations to eat in the evening “just because?”
Stay tuned for part 2 of night-time eating Truth Cards!
This is my biggest downfall..I do great during the day..I have always done my worst eating in the evening, and even when I wake up in the night and I can’t go back to sleep, I will eat..Altho, I will say, it has been much better since I have been “on board”..and I am at least more conscious of what I am putting in my mouth..
Note…Is this a continuation of the “Renewing My Mind” study? or just an extra? I thought that study was completed..I enjoy whatever you share on this blog..It is so helpful to me…Thanks again.. Barbi
Hi, Barbi. I believe renewing our minds is so vital to our success that I have included a lot of material here even outside of the actual study about it. The study IS completed, but I hope we will continue to renew our minds…inviting God to transform us from the inside out like it speaks of in Romans 12:2
Can I be honest and say that I really think it stinks that I’m not hungry most nights? I have a habit of eating while watching a movie (we don’t have tv, but we rent from Netflix). Recently we’ve been watching a tv series from Netflix and I really really really want to eat while watching. I have REALLY been struggling in this area. I am upset when I am not hungry when *I* want to be hungry. I really need to get over this. I want to overcome!
Christina, I can so relate to what you said about being mad sometimes when I am not hungry when I want to be hungry. It is frustrating not to have a bad attitude about it and I have to fight myself on this all the time!
Hi, Christina. I soooo know what you mean. Sometimes, I will plan my dinner so that I am hungry and can eat during movie time (true confessions).
I was thinking the same thing as Heidi….on special “movie nights” maybe eat a very small dinner or skip it all together and eat that popcorn! ~ Carol
I have a small bowl of cereal if I get hungry at night before bed. If not hungry I try not to snack. I’m not perfect at it, but keep pressing on in the LORD. With Christ Jesus I can do all things who strengthens me. Amen.
Amen, Jamie! I find that sometimes just a cup of milk can do the trick to offset an unexpected 0 just before bed.
Awesome Heidi! Just think of how many of us are tempted with “evening overindulging”. It is so prevalent that I think, “is there anyone that’s not tempted in the evening”? Ha ha, I know there are people that are not tempted at night. Here’s my Truth Card: “Who LOVES the darkness? The father-of-lies; that’s who! So, renew your mind repeatedly!” I love what Charles Stanley states (in his 2014 edition of “Walking in The Spirit”), “Prepare for the battle BEFORE the battle”. Oh Heidi, I very much look forward to Part 2 & 3! Thank you Jesus, thank you Heidi.
Yes I do! I eat ice cream every night after eating supper, no matter how much supper I have . I have such a sweet tooth! Carbs I crave for all the time! I hate it.
Deanna
This is just what I needed to read this morning. Heidi, you hit the nail on the head when you said we actually plan to eat anyhow. I do this!! It is a decision I already made before the evening even began. I’m stealing Mar’s truth card about the darkness and I’m renewing my mind about this whole situation. ?
Thank you Heidi AND Deanna for your honesty – hallelujah, it is the truth, isn’t it though; we sometimes PLAN to overindulge in food? I’ll explain, and I should have included this in my previous reply: Until this post by Heidi, and then Deanna stating the same – I thought I was the ONLY one that “PLANNED” an overeating session, time, or place. I have only read the opposite until Heidi did the good deed of including the truth today. Previously I had only read, “It’s not like we PLAN to overindulge”… and that left me pretty discouraged thinking that I was the only one that “planned” an overindulgence. NEW PEOPLE: Do NOT get discouraged from what I have written here, I am walking closer and closer with Jesus, submitting and surrendering more and more — yes, the food too! So, I only wrote what I did to HELP others to know they are not the only one that actually PLANS a binge. However, when renewing your mind and CHOPPING DOWN THE LIES and replacing it with truth, I have learned to CHOP THAT LIE DOWN as soon as it even pops into my head… more and more, better and better. Walking in the Spirit, not in the flesh:)
Thank you so much for your honesty and writing this. I so badly struggle with this. I know it’s bad and wrong to do but I feel like there is nothing to stop me when all I want is something sweet and salty to snack on. Once I finish eating, I feel horrible and disgusted at myself. It has gotten better I just so wish to could stop it forever. With God I can! Jut frustrating that I still fall back and do it.