I’m continuing with the concept of 7 daily modifiable factors that we can control to bring about health and wellbeing by discussing food and eating, having discussed drinking and hydration previously.
Food and health are obviously massive subjects and have been a favourite topic for the last couple of decades in the West. New revolutionary diets, ‘super foods’ and clever marketing have made food into a big business, high interest subject in promoting health.
But what about the manner in which we eat our food for promoting health?
In eastern cultures WHEN we eat and HOW we eat have traditionally been given far more focus.
In Chinese medicine, ancient observation determined that the body’s internal organs have peak activity during 2 hour intervals in any 24 hour day. The peak time of the stomach is between 7-9am. The peak time of the liver is 1-3am. With this knowledge we can plan when we eat in order to maximise our body’s effectiveness in processing the food.
Many Chinese people still have their major meal at breakfast time, ensuring it occurs between 7-9am. This will be a hearty meal possibly with rice, vegetables and meat. Obviously our western tastes might struggle with a meal like this for breakfast initially, but having a good breakfast that includes some protein, carbohydrate and fat would have the same effect.
In my coaching practice I recommend including protein for breakfast as it helps with blood sugar regulation through the morning. I also run through a simple questionnaire with clients that helps ascertain their Metabolic Type. This is a concept that suggests we each have a biological preference for a particular ratio of protein to carbohydrate in our diets.
Some will feel better eating more protein, others more carbohydrate or a balance of the two. Some ‘good’ fat is also essential for our body’s processes. See “The Metabolic Typing Diet” by William Wolcott for more information.
We also want to give our livers as much help as possible in completing its hundreds of processes each night, so that we can wake up feeling clear and refreshed. One way we can do this is by ensuring that we have our evening meal before 7pm where possible. This meal shouldn’t be too heavy to allow digestion to be well on its way before the liver’s peak time at 1am.
An awareness of seasons is also helpful for our body’s processing of food. Natural Nutritionists will highlight the importance of adapting diet to the time of year, eating more slowly cooked, warming stews and soups with seasonal vegetables in the winter months and lighter, cooler and raw foods in the summer months.
HOW we eat has also been given a great deal of attention in Eastern traditions, and more recently in the West. The key is to be more mindful when cooking and eating. It starts with how the food is prepared. This should be done with care and attention, some say even down to cutting vegetables along its grain and with gratitude.
The next step is to ensure that we eat with attention. The founder of Gestalt Psychotherapy, Fritz Perls, went as far as to say that if there was one thing we could do to bring about mental health and wellbeing it would be to chew properly and with attention.
And finally, we should try and avoid eating until you’re completely full. Many cultures, such as the ancient Essenes lived long and vigorous lives in part through not overeating and stopping when two-thirds full. More recent research has also shown the negative effects on aging by overeating. See “Healing with Whole Foods” by Paul Pitchford for more information.
The best recommendation I can give is to try adapting how and when you eat and see how you feel. Awareness and attention are your best guides. You can then experiment with little changes and see if that translates to enhanced energy, lightness and wellbeing over time.
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