Understanding Digestive Rhythm

Starting to surf this summer, I find myself gaining a deeper understanding of the rhythm of the ocean. I watch the more experienced surfers tune into a rhythm that I have yet to feel. It reminds me of musical rhythms. I am often in awe of musician’s ability to tune into each other’s beat. This too is a rhythm I don’t truly understand.

The rhythms I find myself most intrigued by are the rhythms within our body. We all experience them, yet we may not be truly grasping their wisdom

Rhythm is everything; we find it in our heartbeat, our breath, our brain waves, or in a woman’s cycle. When rhythm is on, we are on. When it becomes erratic, we become erratic. Through yoga we discover that when the breath finds its rhythm, the mind finds peace.

When it comes to digestive rhythms, there is much to be said about timing and frequency. Some experts support three meals a day while others advocate lots of snacking. While there may not be one true way to eat, if we are experiencing weight, mood or health issues, our own rhythm is out of sync.

It is not uncommon in our culture to skip meals, or to have the first meal late in the day. Often trying to minimize calories, we have a small breakfast and supplement our appetite with a dose of caffeine. Immersed in work, we may push through lunch not feeling hungry until 2-3pm. These actions are most commonly not based in rhythm but rather in stress or in fears such as of gaining weight.

When we do this, we are over-riding our body wisdom. Our body temperature fluctuates through the day. When body temperature is at its highest, then metabolism is at its peak. This happens around noon, when the sun is highest in the sky.

Put simply, the peak metabolic hours are between 12pm-1:30pm. When we postpone lunch until 2pm-3pm, we miss these hours.

Between 2pm-4:30pm our body temperature naturally drops. Historically in Japan (before it was influenced by modern Western diets,) Sumo wrestlers would eat the same foods as all other Japanese but in bigger quantities and late at night. Mostly at 1-3am, when digestion is at its lowest.

Many of us have our biggest meals at night. One study has shown that one group of people ate a 2000-calorie diet at night and they all gained weight. The other group ate the same 2000-calorie diet during the first half of the day resulting in some losing weight and some maintaining weight.

Skipping breakfast and lunch is not sustainable- it leads to fatigue, sugar cravings, headaches, weight gain, and binge eating later in the afternoon or night. Perhaps we don’t experience it within a day but within the spectrum of a week. Holding back on calories during the week and binging on the weekend.

When the body is going through its days starved of nutrients, it is triggered into starvation mode. In order to survive what it perceives as scarcity, it begins a hormonal process to slow down the capacity to burn calories and refrains form building muscle in order to conserve energy.

The same effect can happen through a diet rich in food but lacking in nutrients. But we’ll save that for the next article about Macronutrients.…