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Our digestive system is something like a factory that opens its doors at 7:00 AM, at which time the workers arrive fresh after a whole night’s rest. They begin to carry out their work with enthusiasm and energy. Its “job” is to digest, think and move the body, doing it in the best possible way. As the day progresses, that vitality of the first hour of the morning decreases, needing to make a stop to regain strength. The best time for this stop is between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., when the functions of the small intestine are active, taking care of breaking down the food into essential nutrients, taking those that we are going to need and discarding the rest to the large intestine. For this reason, it is recommended to eat at this time, including taking a short nap of no more than 30 minutes to recharge the batteries. After this, back to work this time with a little less force, but with the courage to give the final push of the day, which would be between 7:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. At this time our workers are exhausted after the long working day, so without vitality they return home to rest.

Our body itself at this time is already exhausted, it needs the well-deserved rest just like those workers, so we must nourish it with simple foods that do not exhaust it, avoiding those that may involve overexertion. And what would they be, because the raw, cold, very fatty and those that generate mucus.

Using another simile, I like to explain our stomach, it is like a pot where we cook, for which we need fire, it is what transforms the food. If we add foods directly from the refrigerator or those that are harder and raw to this pot, it will take longer to reach its optimum temperature as well as to cook them until the final result of the stew is obtained.

Imagine also that, once the stew is fully operational, we realize that it does not have enough water or we have forgotten some important ingredient, so we add it. What will happen then? Well, cooking will stop, we will have to raise the fire again, wait for it to reach the ideal temperature, delaying the whole process.

To top it off, imagine again that when everything is ready, we add a glass of cold water from the refrigerator. The final result will not be much less a dish with good flavor nor will it have its ideal cooking point.

Well, this is the same thing that happens in our stomach when in the middle of a meal we eat foods that generate this cold, or if to top it off we have ice cream, raw fruit (especially tropical), yogurt or any dessert that is cold. , especially if it has dairy or is rich in fat.

Now reflect, since when do you eat a salad for dinner, or since you arrive late and tired of work, do you have a couple of pieces of fruit or a yogurt, still you do not digest well, this means that the quality of your sleep is not ideal, waking up in the morning with the feeling of not having rested. The reason, everything explained above. Our digestive system at night is exhausted from the activity carried out during the day, if we add to this that we give it to finish those foods that are more difficult to metabolize, the result will be the devitalization of our body, we will be “stealing” energy necessary for the next day. At night, instead of proceeding with the act of resting and repairing the tissues, the body has to take care of carrying out that last and difficult job that we submit to it.

In summary, the best way to have a strong digestive system, restful sleep and not gain unnecessary weight is to eat cooked food for dinner, especially if possible in the form of soup or cream (especially in winter), favoring those that are easier to digest, eat them hot and if you need a dessert, resort to fruit compotes or naturally sweet desserts such as amazake or cooked sweet potato.

Photo by Stephanie McCabe

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