Looking at snacking through the lenses of science and Ayurveda.

The body needs time to digest the meals you’ve eaten. Snacking interrupts this process.

A good rule from Ayurveda is to fill the stomach 1/2 with food, 1/4 with water, and to leave 1/4 space. This space allows the stomach to work to digest the food. It’s like not overfilling your washing machine or your food processor: There needs to be room to work. If you’re snacking after meals, you could be overfilling the stomach.

Your body can’t be eating and digesting at the same time. We need time between meals and we also need time between each day’s meals. This is fasting. We are all practicing intermittent fasting when we sleep at night. If you have a habit of late-night snacking, look at how long your eating window is. Your eating window is the time you spend eating. It starts when you eat your first meal of the day, breakfast, and ends with your last meal or snack. Is this longer than 12 hours? If so, you are not giving your body enough time to digest that day’s meals. Limiting your eating time to 12 hours or 10 hours (even if you are eating the same food and the same amount of food) will improve your health markers, including body weight.

According to Ayurveda, we need a moderate breakfast, our biggest meal at lunch when digestion is strongest, and a light dinner no later than 7p. Meal times needs to consistent from day to day. If your meal times are irregular, this can negatively impact the quantity and quality of your sleep.

Look at why and when you’re snacking. Are you not eating enough at meal time? Are you bored? Are you dehydrated? Are you eating enough protein, healthy fats, and complex carbs with each meal? Are you crashing after eating processed foods/carbs?

Logging your food can be helpful. Logging can give you awareness and education around food, serving sizes, and macronutrients. Use the free app My Fitness Pal.

Find what works and be consistent.