Weeks 3–4: Time Restricted Eating With A Night Limiter

“Instead of piling up food in my fridge that says ‘Come eat me!’ I keep enough for only a couple of days. And I rarely have treats around that might tempt me late at night, which is when I usually crave something really fattening. What am I going to do? Drive out at 11 at night just to satisfy a craving? No, that’s crazy.” — Jennifer Love Hewitt

Once you have mastered the 12 hour fast and refeed rhythm, the next step is to coordinate your eating so that you finish your food 3 hours before bedtime.

This is primarily because we want the stomach to fully empty so as to sync up and optimize our sleep and wake cycles, known as our circadian rhythms.

We have all had the experience of eating late, having crazy dreams, and poor quality of sleep. Not to mention acid reflux, and feeling like a bag of potatoes the next day.

For better sleep, check out this article for ways to hack into better sleep.

We are creatures of habit, and we maintain those habits via circadian rhythms.

It is the communication between the various clocks in our body and our master clock in the brain helps regulate our natural sleep and wake cycles.

The master clock in our brain is called the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN).

It is a small little nucleus in our brain that is sensitive to light, and is the master coordinator of our wake and sleep cycles.

This small nucleus in the brain syncs your sleepiness and wakefulness with light that comes through the retina.

Then it coordinates with other, body-clocks (like the liver for example) using neural or hormonal signals, core body temperature, or eating and fasting cues.

You can begin to see how late-night computer/device use, snacking, and large dinners throw off our internal clocks — both in the brain and the body.

Let’s walk through a common North American evening with our internal clocks in mind.

Outside, the sky begins to darken. The SCN detects this and starts the process of preparing the body for sleep.

But then…our largest consumption of energy — dinner — takes place. The liver, a clock in the body, receives information that fuel (for movement, and energy) is at its highest.

And just like that, we are out of sync.

Continuing this example, after dinner, we sit and watch TV (or browse social media on our devices), increasing the amount of light and stimulation reaching our central clock in the brain. This confuses the brain and inhibits the natural release of melatonin, a hormone that promotes and regulates sleep.

Or perhaps we skip the TV, instead of pouring ourselves a glass of wine or indulging in a late-night snack. This creates circadian dissonance between the brain (which sees it’s dark outside) and the body (which is now full of energy to burn).

So when you eat late at night, the peripheral clocks in your liver, gut, and fat cells wake up — Hey! There’s new energy here! Time to rev things up and put this to good use! — while your brain is like: Whoa, there. It’s dark outside; time for bed.

Image courtesy of: https://atpscience.com/fasting-what-is-up-with-that/

One of the best ways to sync your central and peripheral clocks is to stop eating after 7 p.m.

Allowing the stomach several hours to empty (which is to say, while you are upright) will correct for mixed messages between your brain and body.

Or, as a more general rule of thumb, stop eating 3–4 hours before bedtime to allow your stomach to empty itself completely before your nightly fast.

Do this night limiter for 2 weeks straight before moving on.