What is the ideal time to have breakfast?

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How long after waking up should you have your first meal?

I start my day fairly early due to my work schedule. My first client is often at 6.30 am and I am leaving home at just about 5.45 am.

As I am leaving the house, I always see my dad half-awake walk out of his room and directly enter the kitchen. He reaches out for his daily handful of walnuts and almonds even before he has a chance to fully wake up yet.

He has been doing this for years now, believing strongly in a WhatsApp forward he got that said dry fruits eaten the first thing in the morning is the most beneficial.

Are they though?

• What should be the first thing to enter your mouth after a 10- 12 hour fast?

• And how long should you wait before you eat your first meal?

To answer the above two questions, we need to first understand the CIRCADIAN CYCLE.

Now most of us think that the circadian cycle is just our sleep schedule. But that’s far from the truth. Every single organ in our body follows a circadian cycle. Every hormone is released in the system following an in-built clock. For instance, insulin production (the hormone responsible to help us store glucose), boosts during the day and dips as dusk approaches.

This is why multiple studies show that night eaters tend to store more body fat VS those who eat most of their calories during the day.

As per Dr. Satchin Punda, who is a pioneer researcher in the field of the circadian cycle, a disrupted cycle is the root cause of all our diseases.

So what does this have to do with our first meal?

Most of us wake up to the sound of an alarm. Though our bodies wake up to the alarm, melatonin (our sleep hormone), has no idea its day time yet.

Melatonin is responsible to keep our internal organs in a rested state. Thus, till the melatonin activity goes down, our pancreas and liver are still not fully ready to work yet. Anything eaten in this state is less likely to be digested well and absorbed by the body.

Dr. Punda recommends waiting for at least an hour before having the first meal. Especially for those struggling with a bad functioning gut.

What should your first meal be?

Ideally, 500- 750 ml of water to help you increase gut motility and clear your bowel movement. If you wake up a zombie desperate to reach out for your coffee, it is probably a sign that your circadian cycle is off.

I will share a few fun summer breakfast recipes with you tomorrow.

Till then, don’t believe every forward you get on WhatsApp.

Loving you always,

Roshni Sanghvi.