When Should We Eat?

Food can make us feel alive and strong, or bloated and tired. And it’s not just about what we eat, but when we eat that can make the difference.

We’ve all heard the old adage, “you are what you eat”, and it is true that what we eat greatly influences our health outcomes. When we eat can also have an impact on our health in a way many of us may not have considered. So when should we eat?

Not too often

In our culture of constant accessibility, we can eat at anytime, anywhere. Even during a global pandemic, with 24 hour supermarkets, home delivery and Uber Eats, we are able to access almost any type of food whenever the craving arrives. This has resulted in a culture where, when we are hungry, we believe we need to eat immediately. We have become so afraid of hunger that we have pre-packaged, snack sized food on hand in case hunger arrives. Our children are like little hobbits and seem to require breakfast, morning tea, mid morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea,.….and on it goes (during this time of isolation, I feel like my life has been the small moments that have happened in between preparing food!).

We need to learn that is it OK to be hungry. In fact, it can sometimes be good for us to be hungry. The recent research into intermittent fasting (i.e. cycling between periods of eating and fasting) indicates our bodies do well when having “time off” eating. There is evidence of a range of improved health outcomes when we allow our bodies a period of time without having to ingest and process food. Which leads to the next point:

Within a 12 hour window (maximum)

If the idea of fasting makes you feel uncomfortable, you can at least focus on giving your body an appropriate time window without eating overnight. This simply means if you finish eating dinner at 7:30pm, don’t eat breakfast until 7:30am. Or if you need to have an earlier breakfast, have your dinner a little earlier in the evening. Focus on having a break from eating for 12 hours overnight to give your body time to rest and digest. This is also a great way to avoid late night munching.

WHEN YOUR BODY NEEDS TO

We are programmed to eat at meal times, even when we are not hungry. Many people force themselves to eat breakfast as soon as they wake or lunch at 12:30pm because it’s lunchtime. We do not need to eat regularly all day in order to keep our metabolism going (this is an old myth that has been falsified), therefore if you are not hungry, don’t feel pressured to eat. Listen to your body and try to become attune to what your body needs, rather than a time on the clock.

When you mindfully decide to eat

Have you ever had that experience when you’re feeling stressed, sad, happy, overwhelmed, bored (insert emotion) and suddenly, without you realising it, you are holding an empty packet of chips in your hand before you realised that you were even eating them? Eating a few chips is not a disaster. Eating a whole packet before registering you had even opened them is where the problem lies. We need to become fully aware of what we are eating, why we are eating it and then enjoy every mouthful. Before you take a bite, stop for a moment and consider why you are about to eat the chocolate or drink the glass of wine. If it’s because you really feel like it and will enjoy and savour the moment then go for it! Otherwise, if it’s simply because of an emotional response to something happening in the moment, step away from the food and distract yourself with something else (see our blog on tiny habits for more ideas on this one).

When you are sitting down

It’s always a good idea to only eat when sitting down. Sitting down will help you focus on what you are eating and savour each bite. Research also shows that eating while sitting down allows you to feel full and more satisfied than when eating on the run.