When is Just as Important as What
Hormones play a big role in digestion. But why are we talking about hormones? There is more to hormones than just the "sex" hormones that we think of immediately.
Cortisol is the primary stress hormone. It does a lot of things, like regulate blood pressure, metabolism, and sleep/wake cycles. It's activated when our bodies sense an alert. All other bodily functions will slow down or cease, including digestion, when we are in an alert state. Historically, this may have meant running for our lives from a tiger. Today, we live in an elevated state of stress all day. So we have elevated levels of cortisol - all day. Cortisol activates glucose levels in the blood, which, if not used, causes the most dangerous type of fat, visceral fat, in the mid-section, which is what crowds your organs and keeps them from functioning at optimal levels. Reducing cortisol helps to reduce glucose levels and visceral fat. Lowering stress levels lowers cortisol.
So how can you do this just by changing when you eat? Cortisol regenerates at night, as we sleep, to be high in the morning and deplete throughout the day.
Eat a nutritious breakfast within an hour of waking to help "kick start" your metabolism. Waiting to eat later in the day causes this process to start later. and leads to higher levels of cortisol at the wrong time of day, causing mid-afternoon energy crashes, sugar cravings, and late-night bingeing.
When cortisol is high later in the day, another hormone, called ghrelin causes sugar and carb cravings, leading to late-night cravings and snacking.
Once cortisol is balanced, your circadian rhythm is also balanced, allowing serotonin and melatonin to kick in. By bedtime, your natural hormone rhythm causes you to have restful, uninterrupted sleep. No more sugar cravings or late-night bingeing. You wake refreshed and full of energy.
Another important point about meal timing is how much time to allow between meals. This is called "rest and digest". Allowing your body enough time to digest a meal, then "rest" before it has to do it again. Ideally, 4 to 5 hours between meals is sufficient. This also allows a process called "autophagy" to occur, when your body "eats up" dead and damaged cells—optimizing your system to operate at its highest level.
Be sure to eat enough to provide satiety between meals. Remember to build your plate according to the meal template, focusing on protein, healthy carbs (vegetables) and healthy fats! Drinking water between meals helps to curb cravings, too.
