Continuing my theme of small things almost everyone can do to begin improving their health now before the beginning of 2017. Start a habit early and it will stay with you for all of 2017 and the rest of your life.
This is a bit controversial – don’t eat breakfast. For some people, it is easy, they don’t eat much at all. I’m one of them. Maybe a cup of coffee and a banana or something else. Eat a large meal at lunch and a smaller meal later in the day.
Eating a large meal before bedtime (3-4 hours) disrupts quality sleep. Your digestive system is churning away and the real quality of restorative sleep is decreased. If you finish your meal three to four hours prior to going to sleep, you will sleep much better. That means that there are no snacks from your last meal until you actually go to bed for the night.
Eating a larger meal at lunch time allows time for your body to fully digest the food you’ve eaten. Eating two meals a day improves your health as you age. It forces you into an intermittent fasting situation. Intermittent fasts significantly improve your long-term health. It causes human growth hormone to be created in your body at much higher rates.
Eating a couple of meals a day rather than several other meals spaced throughout the day also keeps your insulin levels lower. Eating every few hours from morning till night keeps insulin in your system much longer that it should be.
Drink lots of filtered water, especially in the morning. Many times your body is dehydrated (especially after sleeping) and not hungry. Fill up with some water and find out if you were really thirsty or hungry. Western philosophy tells us to eat a hearty breakfast. Eastern philosophy teaches that breakfast is not important – eat it if you want, but it is not required.
Follow the money – who benefits when you eat cereal and other processed breakfast foods?