The hours of lesser digestive evils

If you're gonna eat the cake...

and I understand, sometimes you're gonna...

do so before noon.

There are certain hours of the day when digestive function is strongest. During these hours, Nature helps the body out.

This is a recurring theme in Chinese Medicine. Owing to a constant exchange of Qi between Nature (the Macrocosm) and the human body (the microcosm), the former can provide support for the latter.

When the Macrocosm is calm and settled, it calms the microcosm.

When the Macrocosm is fiery and active, it stokes the fire of the microcosm.

And fire is the point here. The digestive fire. An internal fire that cooks (breaks down) foods, extracts vital nutrients, and purges waste. It does its best work between about 6:00AM and high noon (when the sun is on the rise) because Nature is supplementing it.

These would be the preferred hours, then, to eat foods that are cold, raw, sugary, and rich. Foods that are less than kind to the digestive system. Foods that, as a rule, smother the digestive fire.

So if you must eat the cake...

and I understand, sometimes you must...

don't do it after dinner like everyone else.

Eat it when you can borrow some extra fire from Nature.

6:00AM to noon. These we shall call the "Hours of Lesser Digestive Evils." Still not a great time to eat the thing you shouldn't eat. But better than the alternatives.

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P.S. There's early scientific evidence related to the impact of time of day on metabolism.