What Happens When You Keep Changing Your Meal Times?

Choosing the time to eat may not seem like an important decision, but it turns out it is one of the more crucial components of healthy eating. Your meal times actually affects your circadian rhythms. A circadian rhythm is the 24 hour internal clock that you feel running in the background of your brain. It’s why you feel active and sleepy at the same times of day. Normally, we talk about a circadian rhythm as if there is only one clock for the body. But it turns out there is more than one clock in your body.

Know about your body clock

Your individual bodily systems can be on their own clock that is independent from your primary body clock. In particular, your blood sugar levels are actually on a clock. This means that your blood sugar level goes up and down throughout the day and your body gains energy accordingly. The time that you eat your meals can affect your internal blood glucose clock. This means that if you change your meal times you can actually change your energy levels throughout the day. This may seem common sense, but it is good to know how this works so you can think consciously take actions to affect your energy levels.

Changing your meal times can also help to reset your primary circadian rhythms. If you travel a lot and suffer from jet lag, you can reorient yourself by moving your breakfast meal time by 90 minutes.

If you are trying to lose weight, then changing your meal times can help with that too. If you keep your meals into a 12 hour period, you will eat less overall, and your body will be less likely to store the food you digested as fat.

Who knew that eating meals at different times could so drastically affect you?