Sweet craving in middle of night

STEP AWAY FROM THE FRIDGE

Go into your bathroom and brush your teeth and maybe rinse with Listerine..you won't want to eat after that !!

STEP AWAY FROM THE FRIDGE

Go into your bathroom and brush your teeth and maybe rinse with Listerine..you won't want to eat after that !!

You might want to go to the doctor to have yourself diagnosed for hypoglysemia. It sounds like you are having some blood sugar issues. A couple of supplements that might help are, 1) chromium picolonate and 2) the amino acid L-glutamine. You should do a search for these on the internet and find out what people say. I have known a couple of people who have had good results with taking L-glutamine right before bed. Check out this link.


www.chiro.org/nutrition/FULL/Sweet_Alterna
tives.shtml

Edited by: UBER_HIPPIE at: 5/26/2008 (21:04)

When do you stop eating at night? If you have an early dinner and don't eat at all again after dinner, you may just be genuinely hungry and your body is looking for a quick fix for your blood sugar.

Our bodies learn to be accustomed to routine. If you have a sweet craving a few nights in a row, and indulge your body will learn to wake up to eat. You might not really want it, or need it - but your body is in a habit of doing it.

This is why babies need to be weaned off bottles once theyre old enough to not need them. You may have to 'wean' yourself off the sweets if your body is responding to routine rather than a genuine need.

I could be wrong, but my guess is that something else is waking you up and the sweets are your instinctive way of soothing yourself back to sleep. I'm not sure of how to test this idea or what to do about it. Maybe try to remind yourself to pay close attention next time you wake up, to see if there's a sound, or your room is too warm, etc. Also, spend some time when you're wide awake thinking about what else you could do to get back to sleep. Maybe herbal tea, or maybe something completely unrelated to food, but comforting, like brushing your hair, cuddling your pet, etc.

Agree - if your cravings are that severe, then you probably should take stock of your eating patterns throughout the day (and maybe your sleeping habits, too). Check in with your doc, too.

But for sweet cravings - I bought a bag of Hershey's miniatures, the dark chocolate ones - and have 2 pieces whenever I need a chocolate fix. I think those two pieces are under 100 calories, and enough for me. I also recently bought the single serving cups of Weight Watchers ice cream (140 calories each), but they are more expensive and definitely feels like more of an indulgence - but might do the trick while you're trying to sort out this issue.

Try an apple, grapes, or a banana when you get a sweet craving. Top it off with a few almonds or soy nuts or some other lower-fat nuts. The fruit addresses the immediate sweet craving and the almonds give you a little protein, fiber, and fat to keep you full.

Also, have you tried a small complex carb snack before bedtime? That might help keep your sugar levels constant while you sleep.

On the bright side, at least you wake up for your snack. I've read a lot recently about people eating in their sleep, which is kinda scary.

If minor dietary changes don't keep you from waking up hungry, call your doctor and make sure it's not a symptom of something else. Just in case.

Honestly, I can't give you a decent response as to why you're getting your cravings in the middle of the night. However, I do know that, usually, severe cravings are a signal that your body genuinely needs something in whatever you're craving. Are you eating within your carbohydrate range? A sweets craving could indicate a low sugar level.

As an intermediate fix, perhaps have some applesauce or cups of fruit on hand. The fructose from the fruits (especially applesauce...yum!) may help stanch the cravings and both are quite healthy.

I have a problem sometimes in the middle of the night I wake up craving sweets. This craving is strong enough that it wakes me up from a sound sleep. If I eat something sweet I cannot seem to stop with just one piece. Example the other night I woke up craving something sweet. I went into the pantry and got an open box of cookies. But eating just one does not take the craving away. I finished up the box. There was only 10 cookies left which is a good thing but I should not have eaten any at all. I do not seem to have these sweet craving during the day or even at night before I go to bed. Just in the middle of the night when I am sleeping. Can anyone tell me why I would be having sweet craving in the middle of the night. Then any ideas on how to deal with these cravings.

Edited by: FORESTCREEK50 at: 5/26/2008 (01:13)