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Sleep Eating :(

Hello! So I've been vegan for over a year, and recently almost 100% raw (can't get off the Manna Bread, nothing else will do!). I'm a bit of a troubled sleeper, but the most annoying thing that happens is that I'll wake up in the middle of the night and, as if still dreaming but conscious at the same time, find my way down to the kitchen and eat a snack. It's annoying because 1) I eat enough during the day. I'm not hungry. In the past I've done things like that because my body needed food, but that's not the case this time, 2) Most of the time the things I eat are fattening and frequently, not raw. Sometimes I eat handfuls of my boyfriend's white cheddar popcorn!!!!! I'm always horrified at it. But I do it. And I know I'm doing it because I'll come out of my dream state sometime when I'm in the kitchen, but then decide to eat anyway because, I don't know, I'm tired and it sounds good. And 3) In the morning I feel guilty and demoralized and it puts a bad spin on my day. I exercise 5-6 days a week, but I feel like I'm not getting anywhere because of my late night snacking. Any suggestions? And please don't say brush your teeth instead of snacking, that doesn't work. My brain wants food at night! Not toothpaste ;)

Comments

  • ambiguousambiguous Raw Newbie

    Why not have a healthy and filling raw snack (or some manna bread) a little while before bed? It sounds like you may actually be hungry, even if you don't think you are. Or you may have a sleeping disorder--did you sleep eat before going (almost) raw?

  • I saw a documentary about this, and there isn't much you can do. I suggest as ambiguous said, having a little snack before bed - bananas are good for inducing sleep.

    What you could also do is go to a hardware store and buy an interior lock for your bedroom. That way you are locked in, and you have to unlock the door to get out. Maybe ask your boyfriend to hide the key? (And attach the lock?)

    It seems a bit extreme, but I'm sure if you do it for a couple of months then you'll cure the habit.

    Good luck!

  • SuasoriaSuasoria Raw Newbie

    Or lock up the foods you're likely to get into?

  • Hi There, I believe that there is always something that can be done. It sounds like you are operating at a subconscious level when this is happening. Something within you is creating this behavior. You might want to tune in with the part of you that is doing this and find out what the benefit of going downstairs at night for a snack is. Comfort? Stress eating etc.

    Once you know what the benefit of the eating is you can come up with other ways of getting the benefit. If it is stress eating you might need to find ways of managing stress such as meditation or yoga.

    Hope that helps.

  • I think hipnotizer has got some points.

    Most important is to find out why you need to eat, because you don't do this without a reason and deep inside you already know the answer it's just to find it.

    Don't mean to make it seem easy because it can be hard. My mother is an art theraphy person and she has told me about art theraphy and that sounds very smart to me. It is about "talking" with your feelings straight away and not go through the intellect.

    Maybe if you think of the nightly eating and sit with a paper and a piece of paper and just draw whatever somes to your mind (not as a nice drawing more like a telephone scribbling thing) you might draw something that has to do with it? Not like scary unnatural just like you drawing without so much straining.

    What I think is that before you know why you do this it is so difficult to know what to do about it but often when we find what drives us the solution is very simple.

    Hope you can find out.

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