When it comes to healthy digestion we want to make sure that we have optimal break down, absorption and elimination of food with no pain or discomfort.
While there are many factors that influence digestion, such as food choices and stress there is one factor you may not have considered.
That factor is the timing of your ingestion.
There is a new discipline of investigation called chrononutrition which studies the interplay between nutrition and our circadian rhythms.
To remind you, our circadian rhythms are physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a 24-hour cycle. These natural processes respond primarily to light and dark cycles. We often think of them in connection to our sleep cycle.
However, new research is confirming what chinese medicine has known for thousands of years:
The timing of your meals matters.
Your body is better able to digest its foods in the morning. For example, your stomach works more efficiently in the morning and your body can break down and absorb carbohydrates more efficiently in the morning.
Conversely, food eaten in the evening is not digested as easily, and sugar isn’t metabolized as efficiently.
Therefore, eating heavy meals in the evening can lead to gastric discomfort and weight gain.
This means that the same foods eaten by the same person at different times of day are metabolized differently.
Check out this study that compared weight loss and other health markers in two groups – one that ate a large calorie breakfast and low calorie dinner, and the other that ate a low calorie breakfast and a high calorie dinner.
Guess who lost more weight? Guess who had lower scores of glucose and insulin in their blood? And guess who was less hungry?
When it comes to maximizing digestion – it is super important to pay attention to what foods you’re eating.
But take your cue from chrononutrition and pay attention to WHEN you are eating.
