I read an article this morning stating that eating earlier is better for your health. It states that eating breakfast lowers your risk of cardiac disease. Also, eating later at night resets your body’s clock in such a way that you add more weight. This information is based on animal studies.
I don’t believe them. What you eat is more critical than when. However, when is important. If you continually eat nutritionally unbalanced meals, you will have health problems. Many diseases develop because of nutritional deficiencies. Some of them are scurvy (vitamin C deficiency), rickets (vitamin D, calcium and potassium deficiency), beriberi (vitamin B3 deficiency) and many others – night blindness, goiter, anemia, kwashiorkor, depression, and osteoporosis. Deficiency in vitamin B12 mimics Alzheimer’s disease. Balanced nutrition is a must for good health.
Oriental health philosophy tells us that breakfast is not that important. Eat it or don’t eat it. They tell us to eat when we are hungry. Most of the time we eat breakfast because of habit. Many times, our hunger pains are really caused by dehydration. Is there really a higher risk of cardiac disease among those who don’t eat breakfast?
Cardiac risk is associated with increased homocysteine levels. These levels increase when your body is deficient in folates, vitamin B12 and vitamin B6. A nutritionally balanced diet includes these items.
Eating late at night interferes with your quality of sleep. Sleep is a major factor in health. It is recommended not eating for at least three hours before going to sleep. Oriental health philosophy considers lunch to be the most important meal. It is because you have the rest of the day to digest it.
Daily fasting is extremely healthy. It can be as simple as a twelve-hour fast. That extended time allows your body to perform its functions without your digestion system interfering. It also improves the factors relating to aging and reduces the risks of age-related diseases.
Eat nutritionally balanced meals with occasional intermittent fasting.