Eat like this!
What and when you eat can change your life
Did you know Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of holistic medicine, is often referred to as the “science of longevity.” Have I shared with you that diet is at the center of our practice; it nurtures not only the body, but also the mind and spirit. Food, after all, is our main source of energy and strength. It provides sustenance and radiance to life.
Today, I want to talk to you about a matter that is recently in the news:
That when you eat is as important as what you eat.
For centuries Ayurvedic doctors, like me, have been instructing our patients to be mindful of when to eat. Finally mainstream, western science is catching up. Just a couple of weeks ago the Washington Post published an article:
It’s not just what you eat, but the time of day you eat it - the timing of your meals can have striking effects on your weight, appetite and chronic disease risk.
This is great news! It means more people will start to follow this important advice.
What we tell our patients:
“A key part of healthy eating habits (Ahara Niyama) is to identify the proper/healthy time to eat. In addition to paying attention to meal timings, it’s important to track how much and how frequently one should eat each day. This influences our capacity to digest food and extract & absorb nutrients from the food, helping us live a long and healthy life.”
Most conversations in Ayurveda start with digestion, specifically how to have a health digestive fire (agni) and this is especially true when exploring meal timings.
Start by Creating a Healthy Eating Schedule
Ayurveda tells us that each day is divided into 4-hour dayparts. Each of these dayparts is connected to the slow rise, peaking, and then falling of digestive fire (Agni) in our body. The strength of the surge in the digestive fire depends upon the movement of the Sun; that directly affects our digestion. Our eating habits should align with our body’s internal clock.
Make lunch the largest meal of the day
When the Sun reaches its peak, around noon, our body’s digestive fire is at its peak, kindling an appetite. This produces saliva and gastric enzymes allowing for ultimate digestion and absorption of nutrients. Typically, the ideal time of the day for our heaviest meal is between 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM. It is the best time of the day to integrate heavier or difficult-to-digest foods. This is also the best time for a splurge food (sugary treat). By eating the largest meal at midday, the body remains well supplied with energy throughout the afternoon hours.
Breakfast and dinner become smaller meals
So, if we consume our largest digestive load between 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM, our breakfast and dinner should ideally occur between 6:00 AM to 10:00 AM, and 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM respectively. During these times of the day, Earth and Water elements (Kapha) are in aggravation and produce reduced digestive fire (Mandagni). Simply stated, during these times our body will respond better to digesting smaller amounts of food.
Even if we design a meal plan and eat the healthiest and best food, when we are in a state of mandagni, it will be of little use to us. The food will only be partially digested, and the body will generate toxins (ama.) Ama will putrefy inside your body and may cause bloating and inflammation. It can also cause laziness and increase the heaviness in the body, resulting in weight gain.
The evening time frame (kapha period), when we have dinner, a large meal can have a far worse Impact on us than the morning kapha period when we have breakfast. Our body naturally wakes up slowly with the Sun. Eating moderately in the morning is therefore ideal. The Sun is present, but less bright and our agni is not strong. However, by dinner time the sun is completely down, and our digestive strength is very low. This is when you should eat your lightest meal.
Large meals at night can also affect our sleep. During sleep, the body repairs, heals, and restores while the mind digests thoughts, emotions, and
experiences from the day. When we eat very close to bedtime our body’s energy is diverted into physical digestion, the physical healing and mental digestive processes are, therefore, halted. For this reason, Ayurveda medicine not only recommends that the last meal of the day be relatively light, but also completed three hours before bed, to avoid any imbalance. In this way, the body is free to do its rest and repair work at the deepest levels during sleep.
Three meals per day instead of grazing
It’s tempting to graze or snack throughout the day, but Ayurvedic Medicine prescribes against this technique.
When food is consumed too soon after a previous meal our digestion is impaired. Our system is still working on digesting the first meal and becomes overtaxed and ineffective at digesting any of the food in our system. The effect is much like overeating and toxins are produced. This is often accompanied with heaviness, bloating and lethargy.
Each meal should be consumed only when the previous meal has been digested, the body feels light, and a true appetite has returned.
We eat for so many reasons beyond hunger and it truly impacts our body. We eat for emotional reasons, boredom, from bad habits and for entertainment. Unfortunately, this compromises our health.
It takes a while to learn the difference between the desire for pleasure through food and true appetite. Try to pay attention to your body and eat when you are truly hungry; be mindful about when you eat. Waiting at least three hours between meals is a good general guideline.
I know this is easier said than done. In modern times, we have busy mornings and days. We reserve the largest meal of the day for dinner. This is when we are with family and friends, it’s when we socialize with good food and wine.
When we compare what we do to what we should be doing, we see that we may be overloading our body with undigested food, creating toxins (ama) in the body. Over time this can impair digestion, resulting in a build-up of ama. When ama builds up, it weakens the digestive fire thereby affecting energy levels, circadian rhythms, etc. This can open our body to various illnesses and increase free radical production, which in turn speeds the aging process.
Food is key to all health and well-being, and eating the right food at the right time of the day can nourish and support you. Ayurveda teaches us to eat meals at consistent times each day, with lunch as the largest meal, and to avoid snacking between meals. It instructs us to remember to take your time to enjoy our meals and be grateful for the foods we eat along the way.
If you are eating larger dinners late at night with snacks throughout the day you may have work to do. I believe in taking baby steps to create permanent habits. What is one thing you want to change right now? Do that and once it’s a habit change something else. Overtime, you will love being mindful and intentional about your health. You will reap the rewards and feel happy and healthy.
If you want to learn more about Ayurvedic Medicine and work with a holistic doctor, click here to schedule a 15-minute free inquiry call.
Namaste,
Dr. Ranjana Chawla
Doctorate of Ayurvedic Medicine