College nutrition and bad food ruts

Question
Hi,
I am 19 and am living on campus at college rite now. I consider myself fairly
healthy but I have developed a very weird eating pattern that I really want to
change, but I'm not sure how. Im at a healthy weight and always have been
but I'm also constantly worried about gaining weight. My patterns seem to be
keeping me in shape but not satisfying me any longer! Ill try and explain my
routine:
Breakfast is light with a 90 cal yogurt and some fruit
Lunch is always a salad with fat free low carb dressing with some tuna on it,
and maybe a slice of light bread
snack around 4 is a 100 calorie snack pack
I eat a late dinner around 8 and it is always the same- a huge pile of veggies
with salsa, a salad with fat free dressing again and a few salt free pretzels
now heres my problem.. i eat light all day because at night i like to eat a lot. I
don't know why, but i could go a whole day without eating but I have a hard
time stopping eating at night. so i save my calories and have a 100 calorie
pop corn single bag, 2 or 3 sugar free jellos, an apple, a low fat cheese stick
and sometimes a bite of chocolate or a few more pretzels or I will munch on
cereal. some nights it is less than this- just pop corn fruit and a cheeze stick,
but some nights it is more and I go on a small binge. Its so hard for me to
control my cravings at night and I dont understand why but it is obviously
verry frusterating. Do you have any sugjestiong to keep me satisfied and
content all day and at night as well?
I don't eat meat- just fish and eggs and I do live on a college campus so its
hard for me to cook, but when i go home i usually stay on the same pattern
but maybe a little more junk food.
Any tips!? I would soooo greatly appreciate it!
Sincerely,
Julia

Answer
Dear Julia, Your diet is essentially a healthy one, with foods from all the food groups. To stop your current habit of overeating at night, change your routine. Don't buy the foods that you like to snack on. You have made it common practice to eat those foods at night, so now make it common practice to eat some different foods at night. Those little carb snacks can cause cravings, so don't buy them. Try eating a large salad at night with tuna fish or hard boiled eggs. Try eating some fish at night, or a protein shake from the health food store. Protein and fat in the diet is essential for health, carbohydrates are not. Your body can make carbs from protein and fat, so make sure you are eating foods that contain protein and fat. Salad oils, nuts, avocados, eggs, fish, meat, chicken, low fat cheese, cottage cheese, are some examples of good foods to choose along with your fruit and vegetables. Hope that helps, Laura Kraemer,Slimkids.com

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