BREAKFAST:: HOW AND WHEN YOUR BODY BREAKS DOWN FOOD

Here is how the founder of Worli’s Health Awareness Centre explains the body’s cycle: noon to 8 pm is for digestion. This is the time to eat, so that the body can most efficiently break it down into nutrients. The time between 8 pm and 4 am is for assimilation/ absorption — when the body does its building and repair work. “This is the time when nutrients received during the day are utilised to make new cells and tissues. This is the time to rest or sleep, (and certainly not eat) since the body is hard at work anyway,” adds Venkat. And, between 4 am and noon it is time for elimination. “At this time, the body is getting rid of the waste debris. All that the body cannot utilise is thrown out,” says Venkat. “The best time to eat foods that take time to digest (cooked food) is between noon and 8 pm.”