Eating Regularly

It is important to eat regularly

Why?

There’s two main things to consider here

Let’s start with metabolism

1. The rate at which you burn food for fuel is called your metabolism

I like to think of it as being similar to a camp fire

When you wake up in the morning, the ‘camp fire’ has been burning VERY slowly overnight, almost smoldering and needs some fuel to get it going again or it will most likely go out – just like your metabolism!

If you put little twigs on the fire, they will burn too fast and won’t sustain the fire

If you put a huge log on there, it can smother the fire and be a struggle to burn

Medium sized logs are perfect to get that camp fire going for the day and keep it burning optimally (as long as you add more logs regularly, of course) 🙂

So how does this relate to you and your intake?

Well, when you wake up in the morning, eating breakfast will fire up your metabolism

Breakfast is break-ing the overnight fast

But feed it with healthy (low GI) food, be fully present and aware when it’s time to eat, and eat slowly!

Did you know?
Many people report that if they eat breakfast, they get hungrier during the day.
I say “great”!
As it is a sign that your metabolism is fired up and working. So feed it.

Then eat regularly throughout the day to maximise your metabolism and keep your fire burning!

(And BTW, those that eat breakfast are less likely to snack late at night!)

Now, if you skip meals often, your body can start to misinterpret this as ‘famine’.
Funny, I know in this day and age with cafes and every corner and supermarkets jam-packed with ‘food’
But your body doesn’t know this. It just responds to how you feed it
When there is minimal food coming in, your body, sensing famine, can quickly become more efficient at burning less food for fuel.
This is the body’s survival mechanism – it’s not being mean, it just wants to help you survive through this ‘famine’
But basically what it does is S-L-O-W your metabolism right D-O-W-N.
And I’m sure you don’t want that to happen!

So you are best to eat regularly to keep your metabolism ‘on fire’.

Now lets look at energy levels, mood and concentration…

2. Did you know that how often you eat dramatically affects your energy levels, mood and concentration?

Want to know how?

Your body uses glucose (also called sugar, but it’s very different from sugar you may use when you are baking a cake!) as it’s main energy source.
This ‘sugar’ comes from the food you eat (yep, not just from sugar!).
Seriously, your body converts most of what you eat into sugar.
It can even convert protein foods into sugar!!!

When you don’t eat for a long period of time, your blood sugar levels will run low.
Making your body tap into stores to produce more of this ‘sugar’.

When your blood sugar drops low you can feel tired, irritable and can experience a low mood.
That’s because your body is struggling to get fuel.
And you will find it hard to concentrate as your brain is only getting a very limited amount of fuel, not as much as it would like to work optimally.

Plus you can feel very hungry as your body desperately asks for more food/fuel.

So you are best to eat regularly to keep your blood sugar level steady.
(As well as choose foods that release energy slowly – there’s that low GI theme again!).
This way of eating promotes optimal energy levels, mood, concentration and will allow you to plow through your day effortlessly :}