The Twelve Hour Eating Rule

Good morning! Time for your bagel (but only if it's been 12 hours since your last meal :P). 

The Twelve Hour Eating Rule is when you wait twelve hours between your last evening meal or snack and breakfast. I've talked about this before on the blog, but decided to re-visit the topic now that it is Spring and Liver time (and it is also detox time for some). Fasting for 12 (up to 16 hours) overnight is one of the easiest and gentlest ways to detox the body. It is important to wait for twelve hours between your last dinner meal and breakfast the next day to let the migrating motor complex (MMC) to be activated. The MMC is activated when the gut is done digesting. It is a series of waves throughout the digestive tract to clean-up remaining food, bacteria, toxins, excess hormones, etc. Imagine a broom and it gently sweeping the gut lining; that's what the MMC is like. 

So try remember when you finished dinner and try to don't have breakfast until at least twelve hours has passed. By remembering this rule, you may be less likely to engage in night time snacking because you won't want to break the (detoxing) fast! For those trying to lose weight, my weight-loss expert professor told my class that following this simple rule can be helpful. 

*Obviously take this advice/rule with a grain of salt. Breast feeding mothers, pregnant women, diabetics, the elderly, children, those who exercise in the morning, etc, should eat when no matter when; eat when hungry and as needed. Also ignore this rule if you wake up starving! This is a sign that the tummy needs to eat, not detox! This post is not meant to be medical advice. 

**The photo above is a New York style bagel that I consumed while in New York city! Gluten-overload, but a delicious treat :)