Nutrition writer Adelle Davis wrote “Eat breakfast like a king, eat lunch like a prince and eat dinner like a pauper.” There are those that agree with this statement and other who do not.
I do both!
I am not a big fan of eating as soon as I get out of bed, plus I like to give my body at least 12 hours in every 24 to cleanse and repair itself. Every time you eat, your body has to ramp up its digestion processes to assimilate the nutrition from the food, and rid the body of toxins. This means that all its processing power is tied up, and no capability is available to rid the cells of toxic waste and focus on repairing damaged cells. Its a bit like your computer – it only has so much processing capacity at any one time, and you cannot scan the disk or defrag the hard-drive whilst you are using the computer to do other things. You have to wait until it is idle to run these utility functions.
I also like to exercise first thing – so will have a protein shake following, then wait until 10.30-11am before having any carbs for breakfast.
My main meal is lunch – at around 2pm. I always have chicken/steak and lots of salad. Portion control is the key to avoiding that after lunch doze zone. As my blood sugars are level from the earlier protein, and I have little additional carbs at lunch [half a toasted tortilla], I feel energetic for the rest of the day.
I enjoy my “reward” glass of wine and handful of nuts pre dinner, then eat very lightly around 7.30-8pm. This gives me a good 2-2.5 Â hour clearance before retiring, meaning my dinner is well digested and I sleep well.
So you see I start light – go moderate – end light.
Even with weeks of very little sleep due to an inconsiderate neighbor, I can still maintain a full workday and mental stamina [even if I am a bit more forgetful than normal]. I am sure this is due to my daily eating plan, and my morning exercise routine.
So think not only about what you eat, and when you eat it. Try a few combinations of moving your food allowance around through the day, and see what impact it has…you may be as pleasantly surprised as I was.
Nicola