I ran into this wonderful term in an otherwise mediocre book published in
1998 by the American Diabetes Association called "Diabetes Burnout".  The
book attempts to help people who are getting nowhere following the ADA's
dreadful high carb. As you might predict, it doesn't have a lot to say
except to tell people its okay to feel like a total failure when your
attempts to change your blood sugar don't work.

Fortunately, by flushing the ADA diet down the toilet and cutting your carbs
you can do a lot to succeed in controlling diabetes, but the one thing that
did impress me was the chapter on "Werewolf Syndrome" which is described as
eating perfectly all day and then chugging down twice your weight in food
after the sun goes down.

Been there. Done that. Still do it if I'm not careful.

According to the book, there are a couple things that cause this to happen.

1. Not eating enough during the day.  If you mistakenly eat a tiny breakfast
and lunch taking advantage of not being hungry, you may end up really hungry
later on in the day and that may trigger the night eating excess.

The book doesn't say this, but my take on it is that another problem is that
when you eat a tiny breakfast and tiny lunch and then have a large, low
carb, dinner, you may be pushing up your blood sugar quite high with the
PROTEIN in the dinner which turns into carb via gluconeogenesis. That might
be enough to cause rebound hunger even if you keep your carbs low.

The solution is to eat a bigger breakfast and lunch and a smaller dinner.

2. Conditioned habits.   You see the TV and instantly reach for some snack
food because you've always nibbled snacks while you watch TV.  Often the
same happens when you read at night.  The solution here is to become more
aware. Why does watching TV have to imply nibbling? The answer may be
because the TV is pounding you with food ads with lucious pictures of food
that are triggering an insulin response. If that's the case, well, why not
just read a book--and not a cookbook or diet book!  If it's just habit,
you'll have to break the habit which  means changing your behavior for a
week or two.

3. Availability. I made a huge improvement in my night eating by putting my
chocolate and sunflower seed stash in a drawer in my office rather than in
the drawer in the night stand next to the bed. When I have to put down the
book, get up and walk through the whole house to get that nibble, I tend to
think about it a lot more about doing than when it's just right there and I
just have to reach out, grab a bite, after turning the page.

I find it impossible to eat and hang on my computer at the same time, so
having the food by the computer isn't a problem and the study works for me.
You might have to put your stuff in the garage . . .

4. Conscious eating. The book suggests that you sit down and eat whatever it
is that gets you going on your night rampage but do it with total attention,
not, as most of us do, while we are in the middle of doing something else.
(I'm not sure that would work for me.)

5. Loneliness.  If Food equals Love and you are eating at night because that
is when it hits you how lonely you feel, the book suggests it is time to
call a friend, go out to some event or get some help with whatever is
keeping you lonely. I'm not entirely sold on these facile psychological
explanations, but certainly hanging out with a friend beats hanging out with
the fridge.

Any more ideas?  This is an issue I run into quite frequently . . .

-- Jenny  - Low Carbing for 4 years. At goal for weight. Type 2 diabetes,
hba1c 5.2.
Cut the carbs to respond to my  email address!

Low carb facts and figures, my weight-loss photos, tips, recipes,
strategies for dealing with diabetes and more at
http://www.geocities.com/jenny_the_bean/

Looking for help controlling your blood sugar?
Visit  http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/Newly%20Diagnosed.htm