When to eat?

[Daisy]

This question concerns not what we should eat, but when. Shelley, I read an older post in which you said that you only eat one meal a day, plus snacks. Is it a good idea for everyone to eat like this? I have recently been researching the "Warrior Diet" which recommends fasting all day and then having one large meal in the evening. What do you think would be the effects of this on digestion/metabolism? If you've fasted all day, is it still bad to eat more than two cupped-hands-full in one go?

This leads me to another question: is breakfast really the most important meal of the day, as claimed? I actually prefer to have a cup of hot water and lemon in the morning, and nothing else. Please give some insight into how many meals we should eat and at what times. I'm sure individuality comes into this somewhere, but surely there are some general guidelines that apply to all?

[J F]

In many other countries outside of the US, pariticularly in Europe, lunch is considered the main meal. It provides the fuel you'll need to get you through the day's activities. I, too, don't like to eat much in the mornings, sometimes finding my body wants to fast half the day with just juice, tea, fruit, maybe a few nuts, then I usually eat a hearty meal around noon. Then another meal a few hours later, then dinner. It's not that way every day, but it is often my body's inclination to do so.

[shelley]

Now that I have a very active job, I'm eating a bit more - yippee! But I almost always skip breakfast. My tummy just doesn't wake up until about two hours after I do, so if I eat then I just feel heavy and awful. I wait until after noon to eat.

It's best not to eat after 10:00 pm, preferably 8 or 9 even.

Lunch should be your biggest meal if you can manage it, and it's always better to skip a meal than to eat because you think you have to. If you're not hungry or too bosy or too stressed, don't eat!

Lemon water is a great way to cleanse the body and get it ready to digest food.