When to Eat

Yeah. So you know what to eat now: healthy food. Less fat, maybe less carbs, no processed sugar, etc... More protein, veggies, fruits, whole grains, etc...

The question is: do you know when to eat these foods? Well, carbs are better pre-workout foods. Doesn't mean you should only eat carbs before a workout. Always mix your meals. You should have veggies or fruit in every meal, some protein, and plenty of carbs before a workout. After a workout? Food high in protein, with less carbs is good.

Yeah, yeah, you probably know all that... but I've done some more reading on eating. There's more to it!

I've told you that 5-6 meals a day is better than 2-3 meals a day. Very true! This helps your metabolism work faster and more efficiently... but did you know that you should have a 12 hour fast every day? You see, when you sleep, your digestion slows down... a ton. Apparently, your digestive system needs a rest too! Not just your muscles! Imagine that...

Ok, this is another reason for you to go to bed earlier. Why? Because when you stay up late, you are likely to snack. Because you're tired, your will power is lower, so you're likely eating something bad for you: like chips, ice cream, cookies, etc. That wasn't even my main point. My main point is that to give your digestive system a good 12 hour rest, you can't eat for 12 hours... so if you're snacking away at 11pm, you're going to have a rough time not eating until 11am in the morning.

So for you night owls you may think: awesome! I can now just eat late, and then eat a late breakfast and do just fine! No, you can't. You digest slower at night! You'll gain fat, my friend. Let's say, you always stay up late (or all night) because of your job (if it's because you're partying, change your habits, dude) then eating late is fine. Just don't eat 2-4 hours before you go to bed... If you stay up late on the weekends, or if you work nights, actually be awake like a normal person to be social, you don't only throw off your sleeping patterns, but your digestive patterns. You have a digestive clock too. To change it properly, you can only vary your eating my one hour at a time, if you don't you'll likely gain fat and/or you get less muscle.

Alrighty. So you have to eat earlier, and less at night. It's better for your body! There is all kinds of weird chemical and hormones that are effected by your eating times, I just can't remember them.

I read something like this, it's a little off topic, but I found it pretty funny, and true!

"There have been studies that show people lose more weight they eat eggs for breakfast. There has also been studies that show people lose more weight when they have oatmeal for breakfast. There were even studies that showed that people who ate cereal for breakfast lost more weight. There were even more studies that show if you eat chocolate cake you lose more weight... common denominator? They ate breakfast."

Obviously, cake is one of the worst things for you as a breakfast, but it's better than nothing! Eat breakfast dude.

It's also a good idea to stop eating carbs 4-5 hours before you go to bed. You can still have protein and such, but you don't want energy food that late at night. Just another tip for yah!