[SymphonicHealth] Eat at the Right Time of Day (fwd)

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Subject: [symphonicHealth] Eat at the Right Time of Day

Eat at the Right Time of Day

by Felicia Drury Kliment

One to two hours after eating dinner at 6:30 in the evening, Bob and Amy Gerahty

used to come down with acid indigestion. Although they didn't go to bed until

11:00 P.M., the symptoms lingered, preventing them from getting to sleep. They

blamed their indigestion and insomnia on the food they ate for dinner. Their

typical evening meal consisted of red meat, mashed potatoes with butter, salad,

and a vegetable. Having heard so much about the harm a diet heavy in red meat

and saturated fat can do to the heart and arteries, they became convinced that

the food they had for dinner was at the root of their digestive problems. So

they switched to chicken, fish, and polyunsaturated oils, but it didn't ease

their indigestion. No matter what they ate for dinner they got acid reflux

afterward. The years passed and they continued to lie awake at night with

painful esophageal and stomach problems.

Finally it dawned on Amy that because they could eat just about anything for

breakfast and lunch without experiencing any indigestion, maybe it wasn't what

they ate for dinner but what time they had dinner that was the cause of their

indigestion. So she moved their dinner back three and a half hours to three

o'clock in the afternoon. They haven't had acid reflux since; their weight

problems have also vanished.

Why is it that Bob and Amy have no trouble digesting a big dinner in the middle

of the afternoon, but the same meal eaten three and a half hours later at 6:30

P.M. gave them indigestion? This is not unusual. Acid indigestion is far more

common in the evening after dinner than at any other time of the day. It is

quite likely that the cause is depressed energy levels. This is nature's way of

preparing the body for sleep. With less than normal energy, fewer digestive

enzymes are generated. The result is that in some individuals, the evening meal

remains undigested and gives rise to a whole range of symptoms -- including the

most common, acid reflux. Amy and Bob have no gastric problems now that they

eat their last meal of the day in the midafternoon, because it falls within the

time period -- between ten in the morning and five thirty in the afternoon --

when the body's energy level is highest, indicated by a body temperature of 98.6

degrees Fahrenheit. When energy production in the body goes up, more digestive

enzymes are produced.

Amy and Bob's story points out the fact that for many individuals food is more

easily digested at lunchtime than at any other time of the day. If you want to

continue eating foods that you are allergic or sensitive to, you're less likely

to react to them between twelve and three o'clock in the afternoon.

This is when the thyroid is at its most active and enzyme levels are highest.

Enzyme levels are low in the morning because thyroid function is sluggish then,

and they level off in the evening when thyroid function again begins to slow

down.

" If you want to continue eating foods that you are allergic or sensitive to,

you're less likely to react to them between twelve and three o'clock in the

afternoon. "

If it were possible for everyone to eat the last meal at three o'clock in the

afternoon -- which amounts to a partial fast -- many health problems, including

obesity, would disappear. I recommended to an elderly couple, both of whom were

very ill with cancer, that they have dinner in midafternoon and not eat anything

else for the rest of the day. Although at the time I made the recommendation

their doctor had told them that neither would live more than one year, they are

still alive and enjoying life -- ten years after they began eating dinner at

three o'clock in the afternoon.

An offense to good health is eating badly at dinner, but even worse is eating

unhealthy snacks late at night. Not only have digestive enzyme and thyroid

function slowed to a crawl by then, when you sleep they slow down even more.

People are most likely to get acid indigestion in the evening because at the end

of the day hydrochloric acid, bile, and enzyme levels fall.

Remember, high acid waste levels in the body lead to weight gain. That's one

good reason why liquids that become acidic in the digestive tract shouldn't be

drunk in the morning on an empty stomach. Even if coffee and/or tea don't give

you acid reflux, don't drink them before breakfast. When there is no food in

the stomach, coffee and tea acidify. On the other hand, the best time of the

day to eat fruit or drink fruit juice is in the morning when the stomach is

empty, because fruit has an alkalinizing effect when the stomach is empty. When

fruit is eaten later in the day when the stomach is full, it has an acidifying

effect.

Copyright © 2006 Felicia Drury Kliment

The above is an excerpt from the book Eat Right for

Your Metabolism by Felicia Drury Kliment

Published by McGraw-Hill; April

2006;$16.95US/$22.95CAN; 0-07-146015-2

__________________

Felicia Drury Kliment is a nutritional consultant in

private practice and the author of the acclaimed book

The Acid-Alkaline Balance Diet. Visit her website at

www.eatrightforyourmetabolism.com.