Circadian Living - grounding, meal timing, coffee, do less
Much like lightness and darkness profoundly impact our energy and well-being, so does staying in tune with our circadian rhythms - taking our cues from the Earth’s energy.
Grounding
Try grounding shoes - you get instantaneous benefits - if you can’t go barefoot very often. It gets the charge of the electric current immediately. You charge your phone every day. You charge your computer every day. Do we charge our bodies? One of the simplest ways to improve your health is to charge your body every day with grounding. You can ground with any part of our body with anything that is growing in the Earth. Touch a tree or a leaf, pinch a blade of grass, stand on cement, bricks or stone with your bare feet. A metal pole, if you live in a city. Any body of water - running water over your hands, a pool, a bath.
Meal Timing
Skipping breakfast works at first. But a few years later, women may have increased weight, dysregulated cortisol and/or blood sugar. At first it works because an acute stressor gives you a burst of energy and suppresses your appetite. But that’s not what happens with chronic stress. Busy, high-achieving women are running on stress hormones already. Chronic stress is going to make your blood sugar go up, its going to make you tired and eventually your intermittent fasting or skipping breakfast is going to backfire. That’s exactly what happened for me. I was a huge fan of intermittent fasting when I tried it late 2020 - early 2021 and used it successfully to lose my covid 15 pounds. But I plateaued in 2022 and when I pushed my body harder it rebelled. And, even though I did not want to admit it at the time, I got burned out.
Humans are more insulin sensitive early in the day - it means we have a better blood sugar response to our meals. So, if you’re a mid-life woman struggling with weight loss resistance, why would we want to backload meals when you’re more insulin resistant. If skipping breakfast is no longer working for you - meaning you’re ravenously hungry at lunch, or anytime, and you’re over-snacking - its time to rethink the timing of your meals. If you’re trying so hard and its not working (anymore), try eating breakfast within 2 hours of waking up. It might take a little retraining your body. Seeing the early morning sunlight should trigger hunger, and when you’re in tune with your body and it is hungry, you should eat protein, fat, and fiber in proportions that result in you feeling satiated from that meal. How do you know if you’re satiated? After 2 hours, notice whether your mood is good, your emotions are regulated, you are hungry or not, you are able to focus and be productive. Try to eat each meal at the same times each day. In the beginning, you might try a protein drink if you’re not used to eating breakfast that early. Currently, I’m liking Paleo Valley protein powder in hot water as the first thing I ingest (after 2 big glasses of water), then having my coffee after breakfast.
Coffee
Coffee can raise stress hormones, like epinephrine which increases insulin resistance. But, when we eat before drinking coffee, we lower the impact of those stress hormones. This can be a hard shift. Especially in the winter when its not getting light out until 7:45ish. The farther away from the equator that you are, the more difficult it will be. But don’t stress out about it because the stress will make it worse. Just do the best you can. Still, try to get the morning sunlight in your eyes. And, strongly consider eating before caffeine. This pattern is very helpful for people with thyroid or metabolic issues.
Do Less
Finally, you have permission to do less. Working out early in the morning under bright lights can contribute to fatigue and metabolic issues. Get outside, ground, and go for walk outside. You may have better results by being gentler with yourself so that your body can come back into balance. [This blog post was adapted from the Thyroid Fixxr podcast episode 451.]
