Is the question "what to eat?" Or "when to eat?" by Murray

I like to fast every now and then. I do it as much for the clarity of mind that results as for the physical purifying effect.

You might think it strange but what I like to do when I'm fasting is to look through cook books. It's so easy to take food for granted in our affluent society. When deprived of it, it is, for me, invariably restored to a divine status, a gift of heaven and earth and reading cookbooks becomes a devotional study.

By the time the fast ends I'm so clear as to what I want to eat. It's never the cake or chocolate. These are superficial cravings that subside quickly for me. What remains are truer and truer rememberances of what truly nourishes me.  Beetroot featured heavily in my most recent fast and when it was time I made a roast beetroot salad with goat's cheese and rocket.

A greater insight occurred as a result of this most recent 3-day fast though, which was not so much about what I eat but when.  In my reading I learnt that the liver governs the catabolic (breaking down) and anabolic (building up) processes in the body.  The former begins a 4am every day. Digestion is part of this process.  At 4pm every day the Liver switches in to the anabolic process using the nutrients derived during the day for restoration and repair.

In light of this, eating a big meal at night time is swimming against the tide of the body's rhythms.

This helps explain the heaviness experienced in my body upon waking, accompanied by a niggling anxiety prior to my fast.  Since the fast I have resolved to eat my main meal during the day and a light soup for dinner. I have been waking earlier, needing less sleep, and feeling lighter, happier and ready to go upon waking.

I can't help but wonder how much of the confusion about WHAT to eat might be resolved by changing the focus to WHEN we eat.

Of course, if like me you have an Anglo-Saxon background you'll probably be used to eating the main meal at night. No doubt there are some cultural hurdles to be jumped if you're considering implementing what I'm suggesting, but when you consider the costs verses the benefits through giving it a trial, you may discover, like me and my family, that it's a no-brainer.

By Murray Goodchild