calorie count/evening munchies

[Guest guest]

Continuiing this thread...I've also thought that perhaps a planned bedtime meal would be the way to go. That certainly bucks conventional wisdom that it's "bad to eat at night," but if that's what the body WANTS, perhaps conventional wisdom is off base. As the body prepares for sleep in the last hours of the day, is it possible that there's a real need food? And why the urge to carbo load, specifically? I intuitively sense that the evening munchies are physiological, not psychological, even though real hunger per se is usually absent. I'd love to get to the bottom of this.

I know that important hormonal shifts occur in the evening. Is there a connection? My hunch is that yes, there are connections, but I doubt that we understand them yet. I've always heard that most excess pounds are usually attributed to overeating in the evenings, and many people tell me this is a problem for them. But as much digging as I've done on the subject, I've come up empty-handed except for a few vague explanations that don't really solve the problem. Although she's not an extraordinary expert, in my opinion, I'm thinking of Pamela Peeke and her coined phrase, "the cortizone." She identifies a key problem with changing levels of cortisol at day's end, but her solutions for managing the "cortizone" are very fuzzy pop-psychology-stress-management stuff. Sorry, stress management doesn't cut it Pamela. If it's a physiological problem, it demands an answer that will directly affect the body's chemistry. (Anyway, if I reduce stress any MORE, I'll turn into a walking zombie.)

If anyone wants to help by sending me links or book titles that might be helpful, I'd appreciate it.