Healthy Eating Schedule It

Healthy Eating Schedule It pexels.com According to Courtney Peterson, the study author and assistant professor of nutrition sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, “The more you can eat your food earlier in the day, even if you’re not changing the timing of your meals, the better … Not everyone can always change their diet. But most everyone has some sort of control over when they eat or … how much food you eat at each meal.” So why exactly does timing matter? Our body has an internal clock on a 24-hour cycle (this is known as the circadian rhythm, for those of you that vaguely remember your high school human anatomy class). Essentially, certain times of day are better for certain things, which now includes eating. According to Peterson, “We know your best blood sugar control is in the morning. We also know that when you eat food, the energy it takes to digest it is a little higher in the morning.” This isn’t the first study of its kind, either. Past research (in mice) found that eating throughout the day increased weight more than those that ate their food earlier in the day. The study also found that mice that ate while they should be sleeping can disrupt their learning and memory (as a little bit of a sidenote). This study, however, was conducted on people and had similar findings. The study followed 11 people with two different eating schedules over a period of four days. The first eating schedule allowed participants to eat between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. The second eating schedule was more “traditional” in that participants ate between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. The only variable here was the time slot, as both groups ate exactly the same amount in terms of calories. While calorie burn wasn’t affected, researchers found that eating earlier in the day burned about 6 percent more fat. On top of this, the hunger levels were even throughout the day for those that ate earlier in the day, although they “fasted” between dinner and breakfast (an 18-hour span). Why is this? If you think about it, going 18 hours without a meal sounds miserable. However, researchers say that when your body has gotten its fill of calories for the day, it recognizes that and is no longer hungry. If this is true, weight loss is about to become that much easier. (Or, maybe not easier, but a lot more structured). To attempt this eating plan, the six-hour window of eating is hard to adjust to. Peterson recommends individuals attempt an eight-hour window (from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.) until their bodies adjust. Of course, individuals could also eat more for breakfast and lunch than they do for dinner, so the bulk of their calorie intake occurs at the beginning of the day rather than late at night. So basically, by eating your meals earlier in the day, exercising regularly and ensuring that you’re eating healthy, you should have no problem losing or maintaining your weight. And keep an eye out for further studies, as it’s likely that this will not be the only study commenting on eating times versus what you’re eating in regards to weight loss and/or gain. In the meantime, don’t take the study too seriously, but I wouldn’t count it out either, as the results tend to speak for themselves. So if you can manage to change your eating schedule, it looks like (at least at this point in time) it’s going to be worth it. While that probably means no late night pizza to soak up your night out, it also means a healthier, happier you. So take your pick and go out there and focus on it, and you’ll do just fine! Happy eating! (But only between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.).