If a person is unable or, more likely, unwilling to drop from three to two meals a day, they might be able to try moving the evening meal to an earlier time or at least, try downsizing.

Isn’t that the great unattainable of this modern world though; everything(body) has become so big yet efforts to downsize are usually in vain?

It’s a fact that most humans eat more than they need to survive, therefore, for most, ‘eating less’ is more the adjusting of a routine than it is embarking on the abnormal; also, I guess, in order to move from three to two meals per day, one needs to first start eating ‘meals’ rather than just ‘whatever-crap-I-can-shove-in-my-mouth-whenever-I-can-manage, because my life is so busy’ (come on, we went there last time; I feel I have adequately pointed out that, generally, this perceived ‘business’, is largely silliness). In fact, what would be genuinely interesting to discover is, of all these ‘hectic’ Kiwi lives, if there is actually anything more being achieved, or if we have just developed markedly improved Facebook response times…?

While we sleep, our bodies repair damage done throughout the day; understandably, our bodies burn significantly fewer calories (energy) while we sleep as opposed to our waking hours. The issue is that when a person goes and fills their stomach with food before sending it to bed for slumber, suddenly, instead of that body’s nightly repair-job, it is now having to fulfil the task that has taken priority – digesting, processing then neatly packing away a stomach-full of food before morning.

To those people who are accustomed to waking with sinuses full of mucus, this is generally the cause; your body has spent all night processing a stomach-load of food thus the increased body-heat generated by an overworked digestive system has caused your body to experience mild hyperventilation which has resulted in irritated airways hence the appearance of the body’s natural lubricant, mucus.

The added benefit of sleeping on a less-than-full stomach is that when you wake, generally, you will feel like eating; by breaking the nightly fast each morning a person can be sure of a more energetic body and clearer-thinking mind.

If eating earlier/eating less on bedtime is a possible life adjustment, I assure you, it is a worthwhile one; the benefits are more than I can be bothered documenting today.

Article by Tim Walker

Edited by Slim Lyne

Photography by Ways Lyne