Circadian Rhythms

and the benefits of eating at regular times

Many women I see are caught in fairly chaotic eating patterns, from trying to live on 1200 calories a day, to skipping meals, to not eating with the family such as making wonderful nutritious meals for the kids and not eating them themselves.

Some women are very in tune with themselves and can navigate eating at irregular times quite well, eating nutritious food when they feel true hunger signals. But generally speaking, I find its very common for women to try and manipulate their eating to lose weight, often starving themselves in the morning when willpower is the strongest, which often backfires later in the day.

Our bodies are not ‘ours’ in the sense that they are part of this evolving universe and have their own patterns and ways they like to flow. Naturally, they function better when aligned with the rhythms of nature, that have evolved over millions of years. We ignore these natural rhythms at our own peril.

When we nurture our bodies by falling into natural rhythms of eating and sleeping, as well as eating seasonally, we provide our bodies with a sense of safety and security. When we eat three meals a day, at the same time every day (most of the time), the body knows when to send out hunger signals, when to prepare for food by producing digestive juices, and when it’s going to get a break and can produce hormones to shut down hunger (such as at night). The body likes rhythm and can adjust itself accordingly.

If you want to lose some weight, regular eating patterns are your friend, because a secure body will allow itself to lose some extra padding. A body that doesn’t know when it is going to be fed next, or that goes too long between meals, will more likely hang onto that weight, because perhaps it will need it. Perhaps there is a famine. Who knows when the next meal is coming? That unpredictability works against us.

It’s not just about losing weight though. Many thin or healthy-weight women also have erratic, chaotic eating patterns, and would feel much more grounded and stable, less anxious, if they adhered to regular proper meals.

We live in chaotic times where we tend to be habitually busy, on social media a lot, and there is a background energy of stress in our culture. In Ayurvedic parlance, vata energy is dominant. These aspects of modern life can all be considerably balanced with mindfulness of daily rhythms such as three meals a day, and a regular bedtime and getting up time. This can contribute to much more calm, a sense of inner stability and ability to cope.

Do you know when your next meal is, and what you are going to eat? If you do, that part of your brain can relax. If you don’t, it is likely hypervigilant and it is highly likely your food choices will be left to what you can grab when hunger sets in, which is rarely ideal.

We really are simple creatures, as much as we like to think we are beyond all this.