In todays video we discuss what happens to your body when you eat before bed.
Roll the titles.
Hey everyone, welcome back to the channel as always just a quick reminder that I am
now offering the SIBO, organic acids, stool tests and consults via my website.
So if you have any digestive or health problems then consider taking these tests as they will
provide a lot of detailed information upon which you can start making informed decisions
and start getting your health on track.
And on that bombshell to the video.
Now when most people think about spikes in blood sugar levels then they typically think
about lots of sugary foods in the diet.
And this is very well established.
So if you eat lots of sugary foods without the presence of fibre then obviously your
blood sugar levels will spike very quickly.
While many people understand this concept very well, not many people understand that
the time of day you are eating is equally important for controlling blood sugar levels.
And let me explain.
So all living beings and creatures, plants, fungi and bacteria follow a circadian rhythm.
It determines the sleeping and feeding patterns of all species.
As humans we have a master Circadian rhythm clock in our brain as well as having Circadian
rhythms clocks in our gut bacteria, organs and also our cells.
There are clear patterns of brain wave activity, hormone production, cell regeneration and
other biological activities linked to this daily cycle.
As stated humans we have a predetermined clock in our bodies that determine when our metabolism
is most active and this is determined predominantly by light.
So the sun comes up, our body clock kicks in, we eat when our metabolism is most active
and then we stop eating later in the day when our metabolism is not as active.
Now it doesn’t matter whether you are Diurnal or nocturnal, every species, plant, bacteria
and fungus will have an external trigger that will kickstart their body clock and they will
then follow their own Circadian rhythm.
As such there has been a lot of scientific research around time restricted eating for
humans and our Circadian rhythm.
Now time restricted eating simply means that you eat in alignment with your body clock.
People who practice time-restricted eating typically eat during an 8- to 12-hour daytime
window and fast during the remaining 12 to 16 hours.
Unlike intermittent fasting, which involves caloric restriction, time-restricted eating
permits a person to eat as much as they want during the eating window.
Now hand in there with me, I am not going Tim Shieff on you and I am certainly not about
to drop urine therapy on you.
The science behind Circadian rhythms and time restricted eating is very well established.
Now as I said just now time restricted eating has two components.
Intermittent fasting and a circadian component to it.
So let me show you with science what happens in your body when you eat outside of your
bodies circadian rhythm, because I think it will blow your mind.
So your metabolism varies throughout the day, it doesn’t operate at the same speed.
So if a healthy adult eats the same identical meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner there
would be a significant difference in your blood sugar levels in the aftermath of each
of those meals.
So effectively your insulin sensitivity is lowest in the morning so your blood sugar
levels would be minimally elevated compared to the evening meal where your insulin sensitivity
is higher and therefore you get a much greater elevation in your blood sugar levels.
And this is very well established in the scientific literature.
So let me just repeat that.
You can have the same identical meal 3 times a day, but there will be a significant difference
in your blood sugar levels after each meal.
For a while this perplexed scientists and they weren’t sure why there was a significant
difference after each meal.
Then they delved into this further and established that it was probably melatonin that was driving
these changes.
So Melatonin is the hormone that regulates the sleep–wake cycle.
So as long as you are not bathing yourself in blue lights before bed the pineal gland
will start releasing melatonin approximately 3 hours before you go to sleep.
Now when melatonin is released it binds to receptors in the pancreas that tells your
body to stop producing insulin.
So what do you think will happen if you eat a meal after your body has switched off your
insulin production?
Quite simply your blood sugar levels are going to remain very high as that glucose is not
getting taken up into the cells.
So if you go to bed at 11 your melatonin production will kick in around 8-9pm on average.
Some people it could be 7pm.
Now the studies surrounding melatonin and the pancreas receptors were born out of a
discovery around a decade that showed some obese people and diabetic people have a genetic
mutation in their melatonin receptors.
So quite simply you want to stop eating 4 hours before you go to bed because otherwise
this could cause significant glucose elevations throughout the night that longer term could
lead your more susceptible to diabetes.
Not only that…..simply having high glucose levels during the night could also stimulate
the bladder……so if you are someone who constantly wakes up during the night needing
to urinate then I would recommend stopping all fluids and foods at least 4 hours before
you go to bed.
So I typically go to bed around 11-12pm, so this is why I avoid all food and drinks after
7 pm.
And in fact I generally eat between the hours of 8am and 6pm as this allows me to practice
time-restricted eating so that I am eating around my bodies body clocks.
So that’s the end of todays video, I hope you all enjoyed and as always remember to
look after your body because it’s the only place you have to live.