I’m sure most of you are aware of the benefits of intermittent fasting - where the recommended “fast” between your last meal of the day and your first should be at least 12 hours. So if you finish dinner at 7PM, you don’t eat breakfast until after 7AM the next day. As I mentioned in a previous blog post (read Muscle: The Organ of Longevity here), it is recommended that in that first meal of the day you try to get at least 30 - 50 grams of protein from your meal. Alcoholic drinks can cause bloating. This is especially true if they are carbonated, such as beer or sparkling wine. They may also make heartburn worse. Keep in mind that vegetables deliver minimal protein. The vegetables in the above referenced meal provided maybe and extra gram or so of protein. There are two main things to consider when ending your fast: the nutrients and the harshness of the food.

I live in a village in the Alpilles Nature Park in the south of France. Food here is about eating what’s local and available. That’s normal in France, but recently lots of people have discovered, or rediscovered, cooking: I think that will be a lasting positive from the pandemic. Our first meal out was at Chez Ju in Mollégès, a great little restaurant, rustic and simple, 10 minutes’ drive from home. We had a table on the pavement, ate snails from a farm 300m away with garlic butter, then tomatoes with mozzarella, and sole grilled with lemon and capers. We would usually have a carafe of rosé, but Stephanie [Heston’s wife] said we should mark the occasion, so I had a negroni, my first for ages.’ A compelling psychosexual story about beauty, desire and art, TIEPOLO BLUE is all the more interesting because it hits notes of such strangeness.’ – Lucy Scholes, Prospect Magazine, ‘Fiction Books of the Year: 2022’ If you start feeling tired at 9:30 p.m. or 10 p.m., Zumpano suggests trying to wind down and going to sleep earlier. For this reason, it’s generally best to start off with easily-digestible foods consumed in small amounts. Move my eating period to lunch. Then lift weights at 5pm. The issue with this is it can hamper my social life as I can’t eat dinner out, and probably make me groggy during the day when I’m working. I like having my day being available to just work.

A study suggests that using bright-light therapy, also known as phototherapy, can help you avoid that post-eating slump. Postprandial somnolence, that feeling of sleepiness after eating, can be attributed to a few different things. Some of the foods you eat can release certain hormones that may make you tired. When you eat can also contribute to feeling fatigued. And how much you eat can play a role, too. Oxford Medical Case Reports 2016: Alcoholic ketoacidosis: a case report and review of the literature [review; ungraded] ↩ Eating once a day is a major mental peg in my schedule. Whatever happens with my day, I know that I will always fast at the same time everyday. So I’m doing something tough everyday, and I don’t need to think about it. That is empowering. The impact of food on my body is more obvious. When I have a pile of sugar now after dinner, I feel very sleepy. I used to feel a bit sleepy while eating through the day too, but I couldn’t tell what was making me sleepy as I ate so many different things in a day within hours of each other.

It has encouraged bad eating habits for me ironically, primarily around sugar. I know that I can eat a ton of sugar after a meal and it won’t have as much of an impact as I don’t eat all day now. But the sugar high still makes me sleepy and I feel it’s unhealthy. I go through phases of getting hooked and getting off sugar.Generally speaking, foods that are more difficult for the body to digest are best avoided when breaking your fast.

For 24 hours or less, I wouldn’t eat a huge cheesy or meaty meal. I’d probably keep it quite vegetarian-based, just so it’s a bit lighter on the stomach. Not having enough bowel movements or having stool that is hard and difficult to pass is likely to be caused by constipation. Stomach pain and bloating are other common symptoms of constipation. https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/stomach-liver-and-gastrointestinal-tract/stomach-ache-and-abdominal-pain We’ve found in our Intensive Dietary Management Program the following protocol works best for those who experience distress while breaking their fasts:Historically, the word ‘breakfast’ described the first meal of the day — no matter when that meal occurred. It wasn’t until the 15th century that the word started being recognized as the meal you consume shortly after waking.