The "How's" of Eating Right

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It’s not all about what you eat, but how you eat. You can theoretically eat exactly the same things you’ve always been eating, and still make massive improvements just by mastering the principles in this guide. By eating in this way, you will reduce the burden on your GI tract allowing it to heal, maximize the healing powers of fasting, rebalance your gut microbiome, improve your primary elimination pathways, improve digestion and assimilation of essential nutrients, increase your energy throughout the day, sleep better, and most importantly restore your immune system's health. And as with all the most powerful things you can do for your health, like fasting and meditation, it is completely free. 

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Here’s a list of the top “how’s” you want to master regardless of what you’re eating: 

 

• Eating window - people these days call it intermittent fasting, but I don’t like that term. Don’t focus on the “fasting” part. We’re just trying to not eat from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to bed to allow for adequate rest on a daily basis. The ideal eating window is something like 8 hours. You can start with 10 hours and then work your way to 8. Initially you will feel hunger because you are habituated to your old routine. But I promise it gets much easier in only a matter of weeks if you stick with it. By doing this, your body will be able to do all of its wonderful detox, healing and cleanup activities uninterrupted in the fasted state. Remember, good nutrition is important, but digestion takes up a massive 80% of our body's available energy. If you're always eating, you will not be in balance with all the other required activities of the body (primarily your immunity). So remember, it's the space between the notes that makes the music.

• Meals over snacking - it’s also best to eat in dedicated meals rather than meals + random snacking in between. Your body has a cycle of digestion that needs to complete before eating the next thing (approximately 4hrs long). If you continually eat, you interrupt this cycle and overwhelm the digestive system. This will be easier for some than others, because when you’re out of balance (blood sugar issues, insulin issues, leaky gut, dysbiosis, etc) then your body is going to crave a quick glucose hit in between meals. But it’s a pattern that has to be broken and you can do it slowly over time with success.

• Predictable mealtimes - when you're working with a compromised GI system, you want to help it out by eating your meals at more or less the same time each day. This way your body will go into a natural rhythm, much like the circadian rhythm, allowing it to anticipate and prepare the digestive juices, stomach acid, and enzymes to receive food at the optimal time. It is also important to note that your maximum digestive capacity is around noon time when the sun is highest in the sky, so you want to eat your biggest meal at lunch, not breakfast and not dinner like we've been accustomed to. 

• 80% rule - you stomach needs space in order to mix the gastric juices with the food properly. If you eat until you’re “full”, which we’re all used to, then it’s too late, you’ve already over-eaten. You want to eat until you are 80-85% full, leaving that needed space. And to ensure satiety until the next meal, you want to make sure you have adequate protein and fat on your plate, not just carbohydrates. 

• Chew well/eat slow - to support the 80% rule, eat more slowly. If you eat fast, the delayed satiety signal to your brand will cause you to over-eat. Slow down and chew your food very well. This is supremely important. You want to make sure there are no pieces remaining before you swallow. Basically you want to chew your food into a mush called chime before you swallow. This is where your digestion start. It's not only a mechanical process, but your saliva contains enzymes such as amylase that need to mix well with your food before swallow. This will ensure proper digestion and absorption of all the essential nutrients in your food.

• Eat relaxed - in order to digest food properly, your autonomic nervous system must be in a relaxed, parasympathetic state. If you are eating in a rushed/stressed state, you will not digest your food properly. When you sit down to eat your meal, before you take your first bite, take a deep breath, and be grateful for the long journey the food took to get to your plate. Become aware of the magic it took to grow the food out of the power of the sun, water and minerals in the soil. It really is magic when you think about it. It's a miracle how we can eat food that came together from the elements of the natural world and turn it into a human body. Awareness of this alchemy is key. Also try not to eat in front of the television, reading the news or on the go. Make it intentional and just take a pause from your busy day. Remember, you are not merely the sum of all the nutrients you shovel into your mouth. It's a two-way relationship that needs to be honored.

• Food energy - the energy with which the food is prepared and eaten also matters. It should not be prepared and eaten in a rushed/stressed state. The same goes for the way the food was raised. If it was raised in a stressed/unnatural state, you will be ingesting that same energy. You are what you eat. And when you eat something that you know you ideally shouldn’t have, never eat this food with guilt or shame. You will be eating that energy too. Just enjoy it and know that you are on a longer term journey to eat as well as you can for your health. 

• Water - the practice of eating with a glass of water or some other liquid at your side is not ideal for proper digestion. You feel thirsty when you eat because the body uses a lot of liquid during the digestive phase (multiple liters per day). But the time to hydrate is not during the meal itself. It is before and after. Otherwise you are diluting your stomach acid/juices. Stop drinking 30min before and wait 1.5hrs after your meal before drinking again. A little water is totally fine, so if you need a small sip just to get the food down or prevent choking, please do so!

• Digestive aids - remember your digestive aids with each and every meal while you are in the healing phase of your life. You want to do this until you balance your health with your new routines and intentions, which could take months to years. The two natural aids are apple cider vinegar and digestive bitters (aka Swedish bitters). Otherwise the supplements are digestive enzymes, betaine HCL, and bile salts/ox bile. Sometimes you can find all of these in one pill. There are important details on how to take each, so please ask first if you’re not sure. For after meal digestive support in case of any discomfort, try DGL (licorice), ginger, peppermint or slippery elm bark.