I just got a text from one of my awesome clients Nicola Riettie who is an amazing REALTOR!  

The text reads:

"Hey I need some help.  Having a problem with snacks at night.  Some nights I'm totally full & don't want anything but many nights we're up watching a movie & I keep wanting to snack.  What's the best thing to have at that point.  I'm usually at 4 meals/day on those nights, but don't feel right about having another meal so late.  I'm a salty food pretzel kind if snacker, but worry the 4-6 pretzel rods are too salty, a banana helps, but I'm afraid it's too much sugar.  Help?????"

I find that this is a problem with a lot of people.  Especially those moms who eat an early dinner with the kids between 5-6pm but don't go to bed until 10-11pm.

Here are the problems:

1.  Helloooooooo........ let's do simple subtraction.  10pm - 5pm = 5 hours!  Girlfriend, you need to EAT!  You should never allow so much time going without eating.  For one, you slow metabolism, and you lose out on burning calories.  The second thing is YOU HAVE LOW BLOOD SUGAR because it's been so long without you eating.  When this happens, guess what your body NEEDS AND WANTS.........  SUGAR!!!!!  At that point, its ridiculously HARD to FIGHT THE CRAVINGS.

How do you prevent this?

Eat a THERMIC MEAL every 2.5-4 hours

2.  Sometimes people don't eat enough earlier in the day (in hopes of "dieting"), so by dinner time, a regular serving size for dinner is not satisfying enough.  It's like your body hasn't caught up with food from starvation mode all day.

So what do you do?

Instead of trying to "NOT EAT A LOT" all day, eat a good size THERMIC MEAL, every 3-4 hours and you will not be craving PRETZELS, BANANAS, and God knows what else.

3.  Sometimes people eat enough all day and eat enough times a day, but they don't enjoy what they eat.  So if you are not psychologically SATISFIED with your dinner, guess what happens an hour later?  YUP, you are looking for the crunch, the salt, the sweet, anything to satisfy yourself.

So what do you do?

Take the time to make healthy meals that taste good and are not bland and boring.  If you enjoy the whole process of eating, from the look, to the texture, to the taste of the food, chances are you won't be looking for a snack after dinner.  Diana Levy has some great recipes on her blog, and I have tons of great recipes on my site under NUTRITION.  Take the time to do some research and find healthy recipes that taste great.

If by some WEIRD chance, none of these 3 things are happening to you, and you are still hungry after dinner, here is a great option:  Make a Veggie Frittata.  I make these all the time with all kinds of different veggies and herbs.  I always have one in my fridge so if you need to munch on something, you can have a slice (imagine its a pie), of a yummy veggie frittata!  These are easy to make and super yummy.  And a great go to for when you need  a snack but you don't want a full meal.  Nicola LOVED this idea, and I am sure because she's such a great client, she will be making one tonight and munching on it while she watches a movie with her hubby.

Take some