How to Align Your Meals with Your Body’s Natural Clock

You probably know about your circadian rhythm in terms of your sleep, but it is responsible for far more. Your body’s internal clock and circadian rhythm influence not just sleep patterns and how well you get and stay asleep. It can also influence your hormones, body temperature, appetite, and digestion.

Chrononutrition, or eating in time with your circadian rhythm, has been shown to help with weight management and potentially lower your risk of certain health problems, such as high cholesterol. Some studies have even found that synchronizing your meal timing with your biological clock can also help you manage non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, reduce blood pressure, reduce bodily inflammation, reduce cancer risk, and reduce cognitive decline (via The Institute of Functional Medicine). Chrononutrition is also sometimes referred to as circadian rhythm fasting or intermittent fasting.

So, how can you make this meal-timing approach work for you? Here’s what you need to know.

Understanding Your Body’s Natural Clock

Your circadian rhythm is a biological clock that operates on a 24-hour schedule. This internal clock runs on its own, but is also affected by external factors like sunlight. That’s why light exposure can impact both your circadian rhythm and your sleep. As mentioned, your circadian rhythm impacts not just sleep, but also hormones, appetite, and digestion. More simply, it controls when you’re likely to feel hungry during the day as well as the efficacy of digestion.

Benefits of Eating According to Your Biological Clock

If you eat with your biological clock, you can see benefits, including reduced weight, lower blood pressure, and a lower risk of chronic illness or disease. Additionally, you’ll increase your digestive efficacy, meaning you’ll get more nutrients from the food you eat.

Luckily, getting these benefits typically isn’t that difficult. Your biological clock naturally wants you to eat during the day (rather than, for example, right before bed, which has long been thought to cause weight gain), as well as to eat larger or smaller meals at certain times of the day, which could help you increase your energy and avoid the dreaded afternoon, workday slump.

Strategies for Aligning Meals with Your Biological Clock

Beyond merely eating when you feel hungry, you can do a few things to align your meals with your biological clock.

For example, eat larger meals during the day and lighter meals in the evening. While this can feel odd at first, as Western societies generally eat their largest meals last, it can help you stay more energized and longer throughout the day while avoiding digestion and sleep issues that may occur due to eating a heavy meal later.

Just like maintaining a consistent sleep and wake schedule supports your circadian rhythm, having regular meal times does too. Try to follow a dining routine by eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner at consistent hours each day. Intermittent fasting is also a big part of eating according to your circadian rhythm. Most suggest fasting between the hours of 6 p.m. and 8 a.m., or, more generally, not eating while it’s dark out. During these “fasting” periods every evening and night, avoid drinking anything other than water.

Then, when you do eat, pay attention to your body’s signs and clues that it’s finished. Don’t eat everything on your plate if you’re satiated. Stop eating when you’re full. This requires slowing down, mindfully eating, and really paying attention to your body between each bite.

One of the best things you can do to make this process easier is meal planning and prep. It can be difficult to always eat at the same time every day if you’re scrambling to get a meal cooked. Likewise, if you work a 9-to-5 job, getting in a meal before 6 p.m. can be hard. Preparing meals to heat and eat will make it all a little easier.

Challenges and Considerations

Of course, some challenges and considerations come with changing your diet in this way.

For example, some may have different optimal eating times than others. Your ideal mealtimes may be different from a partner’s. Additionally, some individuals may need to avoid intermittent fasting, such as those who are underweight, those with naturally declining metabolisms, or those with histories of eating disorders.

Beyond biological challenges, there are also social challenges. As mentioned, if you work until 5 p.m. every day and begin fasting at 6 p.m., it can make going out to dinner with friends or family impossible. Likewise, if you work odd hours, you could also find that you’re sleeping and eating at odd times too.

As such, you may need to adjust your eating patterns to best suit your health goals and lifestyle rather than simply sticking to a prescribed, strict eating schedule that is not based on your unique needs.

Also, keep in mind that just because you’re eating according to your body’s natural rhythms, that doesn’t mean that you can eat whatever you want and see results. You still need to strive to eat healthy foods and maintain a balanced diet rich with lean proteins, vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. In particular, try to eat a very healthful, nutrient-rich breakfast, as it will be your most significant and most important meal of the day, while eating according to your circadian rhythm.

The Bottom Line

Adjusting your mealtimes to align with your body’s natural rhythms can boost your energy, improve metabolism, and support better overall health.

Need more help determining the best habits to form for your health and well-being? Jump on a quick, introductory call with an Arootah health coach today.