When’s the best time to eat?
Forgetting to eat our meals at sensible times can have a profound affect on the body. Unlike a car, we don’t tend to stop when our ‘fuel tank’ is empty. Instead our bodies pay the price for our abuse in more subtle ways, coming under immense stress as a result. This decreases healthy cell responses and healing, and tends to increase inflammation. So to look after your body:
- Never skip breakfast, and try to have it by 9 am at the latest (unless you do shift work, in which case adjust the times accordingly). If you want to sleep in at the weekend, it is much better to get up and have breakfast and go back to bed than to leave your body without any food for too long.
- Through the day, try not to go for more than 5 hours without food. This means you will normally need a snack between lunch and supper.
- Occasional snacks are fine, but try to make them healthy.
- Try not to get over-hungry; that’s when people are most likely to binge on unhealthy food. A common mistake is to leave work hungry, and binge when you get home. A better idea is to have a snack as you leave work so that when you get home you’ve got the energy to make yourself some healthy food.
- Snacks that balance carbohydrates, fats and proteins tend to satisfy the appetite much better than ones that are pure carbohydrate (eg fruit and nuts work better than fruit on its own).
Compiled by Miriam Elkan