The old saying goes, "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper." The evidence is piling up that that advice is sound, and even more beneficial than we could have imagined. Of course, what we consume is important, but the time of day turns out to be quite important as well. In a series of experiments with both mice and humans, we've learned that both restricting our entire's day of eating to only around eight hours and putting those hours early in the day helps our bodies work more efficiency, reduces blood sugar, lowers blood pressure, and may extend our lives.
The mechanism by which this works is allowing our bodies time to repair, which doesn't happen until several hours after our last meal. Digestion take a lot of energy, and repair functions are delayed until that energy is available. When a body is allowed more "repair time," our worn-out organelles get recycled, damaged cells are replaced, and faulty DNA is repaired. The result is more efficiency and less stress on our biological systems. Read about the experiments that confirmed what our ancestors already knew at Salon. -via Damn Interesting
(Image credit: Larry & Teddy Page)
#diet #fasting #repair #circadianrhythm
