Breakfasting For Health?

Today’s almonds have been activated by:

⏰ IN A RUSH?

Today’s 30-Second Summary

If you don’t have time to read the whole email today, here are some key takeaways:

• Breakfast is important, and is best in the morning. There is science to this, and today’s main feature shines a spotlight on this!

  • Eating in the evening is not bad in and of itself (there is no special “bonus calorie happy hour”), but if you’re breakfasting at the optimal time (around 10am), and eating in the evening, then you cannot get the benefits you’d otherwise get from intermittent fasting, because your meals will be within 12 hours apart.

• As we age, our collagen levels tend to get depleted more easily. Collagen is important not just for youthful good looks, but also for the health of bones and joints

  • Today’s sponsor NativePath are offering high-quality collagen without additives or harmful impurities

Read on to learn more about these things, or click here to visit our archive

🤫 A WORD TO THE WISE

👀 WATCH AND LEARN

Sleeping Differently After 50!

There are four main things to take into account. To read all about them (and, of course, see the video) you can click the video preview below:

You’ll notice that we’re now hosting these videos on our website, so that we can have room to provide a bit more context. Watch and enjoy!

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🍽️ MAIN FEATURE

Breakfast Time!

In yesterday’s newsletter, we asked you for your health-related opinions on the timings of meals, and got the above-depicted, below-described, set of responses:

• About 32% said “Breakfast whenever, but do avoid eating too late at night”

• About 30% said “Breakfast is the most important meal, and should be eaten in the morning”

• About 23% said “The first meal of the day is important, but it doesn’t matter when it is”

• About 9% said “It helps to keep within a little window of time, but the timing of that window doesn’t matter”

• About 7% said “It doesn’t matter when we eat; calories are calories and nutrients are nutrients”

But what does the science say?

Quick recap on intermittent fasting first:

Today’s article will rely somewhat on at least a basic knowledge of intermittent fasting, what it is, and how and why it works.

Armed with that knowledge, we can look at when it is good to break the fast (i.e. breakfast) and when it is good to begin the fast (i.e. eat the last meal of the day).

So, if you’d like a quick refresher on intermittent fasting, here it is:

Intermittent Fasting: We Sort The Science From The Hype

And now, onwards!

One should eat breakfast first thing: True or False?

True! Give or take one’s definition of “first thing”. We did a main feature about this previously, and you can read a lot about the science of it, and see links to studies:

The Circadian Rhythm: Far More Than Most People Know

In case you don’t have time to read that now, we’ll summarize the most relevant-to-today’s-article conclusion:

The optimal time to breakfast is around 10am (this is based on getting sunlight around 8:30am, so adjust if this is different for you). Ideally you’ll have got some moderate exercise between those two times.

It doesn’t matter when we eat; calories are calories & nutrients are nutrients: True or False?

Broadly False, for practical purposes. Because, indeed calories are calories and nutrients are nutrients at any hour, but the body will do different things with them depending on where we are in the circadian cycle.

For example, this study in the Journal of Nutrition found…

Read in full: Meal Frequency and Timing Are Associated with Changes in Body Mass Index

We should avoid eating too late at night: True or False?

False per se, True in the context of the above. Allow us to clarify:

There is nothing inherently bad about eating late at night; there is no “bonus calorie happy hour” before bed.

However…

If we are eating late at night, that makes it difficult to breakfast in the morning (as is ideal) and still maintain a >16hr fasting window as is optimal, per:

Read in full: Unravelling the health effects of fasting: a long road from obesity treatment to healthy life span increase and improved cognition 

So in other words: since the benefits of intermittent fasting only start at 12 hours into the fast, you’re not going to get them if you’re breakfasting at 10am and also eating in the evening.

Summary:

• It is best to eat breakfast around 10am, generally (ideally after some sunlight and moderate exercise)

• While there’s nothing wrong with eating in the evening per se, doing so means that a 10am breakfast will eliminate any fasting benefits you might otherwise get

• If a “one meal a day, and that meal is breakfast” lifestyle doesn’t suit you, then one possible good compromise is to have a large breakfast, and then a smaller meal in the late afternoon / early evening.

One last tip: the above is good, science-based information. Use it (or don’t), as you see fit. We’re not the boss of you:

• Maybe you care most about getting the best circadian rhythm benefits, in which case, prioritizing breakfast being a) in the morning and b) the largest meal of the day, is key

• Maybe you care most about getting the best intermittent fasting benefits, in which case, for many people’s lifestyle, a fine option is skipping eating in the morning, and having one meal in the late afternoon / early evening.

Take care!

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📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW

The Seven Circles: Indigenous Teachings for Living Well – by Chelsey Luger & Thosh Collins

At first glance, this can seem like an unscientific book—you won’t find links to studies in this one, for sure! However, if we take a look at the seven circles in question, they are:

1. Food

2. Movement

3. Sleep

4. Ceremony

5. Sacred Space

6. Land

7. Community

Regular 10almonds readers may notice that these seven items contain five of the things strongly associated with the “supercentenarian Blue Zones”. (If you are wondering why Native American reservations are not Blue Zones, the answer there lies less in health science and more in history and sociology, and what things have been done to a given people).

The authors—who are Native American, yes—present in one place a wealth of knowledge and know-how. Not even just from their own knowledge and their own respective tribes, but gathered from other tribes too.

Perhaps the strongest value of this book to the reader is in the explanation of noting the size of each of those circles, how they connect with each other, and providing a whole well-explained system for how we can grow each of them in harmony with each other.

Or to say the same thing in sciencey terms: how to mindfully improve integrated lifestyle factors synergistically for greater efficacy and improved health-adjusted quality-of-life years.

Bottom line: if you’re not averse to something that mostly doesn’t use sciencey terms of have citations to peer-reviewed studies peppered through the text, then this book has wisdom that’s a) older than the pyramids of Giza, yet also b) highly consistent with our current best science of Blue Zone healthy longevity.

Click here to check out The Seven Circles, and live well!

May today see you well-prepared for the coming weekend,

The 10almonds Team