Book Summary: What to Eat When
Michael Roizen’s What to Eat When talks about the value of not just eating well but also timing when you eat particular foods. A practical guide to helping you make the most of the food you eat, increasing your energy and health.
Related Book Summaries to What to Eat When:
Drinking Water – James Salzman
The Sleep Solution – W. Chris Winter
What to Eat When Book Summary Big Ideas:
Understanding Food: The Basics
Within your food you have a few small distinctions, for example in a broader context food is broken into micro and macronutrients. Micronutrients are the vitamins and minerals that we need for our body to function and macronutrients are divided into three further categories.
Carbohydrates, or carbs, are molecules that our body breaks down into glucose. Glucose is one of the primary sources of energy for our body which makes it incredibly important for our day to day functions.
Protein is the second macronutrient, usually found in nuts, meats and other animal products. Protein can be used as a secondary source of energy when the body needs it but it’s primary function is to be broken down into amino acids, the building blocks of the body. The protein from different food sources contain different amino acids and this is one of the reasons you want to maintain a varied diet.
The third and final macronutrient is fat. Fat contains far more calories than either protein or carbs and because of that it makes a great fuel source for the body. By eating the right fats we can even reduce our bodies level of inflammation as well as lowering the risk of cancer and heart disease.
Blood Sugar and Fat Storage
Consuming too many carbs at once causes what people know as a spike in blood sugar levels. This spike sets off a chain reaction within the body. The body produces insulin in response to increases in blood sugar levels, insulin’s job is to guide the sugar to where it’s needed, usually your muscles but also to store excess in your fat cells. This over time is one of the major contributing factors to weight gain.
Over time if this insulin response is used too frequently it can eventually lead to insulin resistance. Where your body won’t be able to regulate its blood sugar levels as well as it used to. Higher blood sugar levels overtime contribute to conditions like diabetes and other serious diseases.
An important note is that the body becomes more insulin resistant as the day progresses so high sugar snacks before bed will so far more damage than a higher carb breakfast would. Limiting the amount of carbs you intake each day is a great first step on the road to losing weight as well.
Circadian Rhythm
Your circadian rhythm affects more than just how well you sleep. It also affects the times of day that we become hungry. Eating both early in the day and sticking to consuming food while the sun is up we’re found by the University of Turin to be factors that slowed weight gain among the 1200 participants of one of their studies.
What to Eat When Book Summary Notes:
- The diet industry likes to push the views of what to eat but pays no attention to when.
- Fat contains 2.25x more calories per gram than either protein or carbs.
- Of the two types of fat, you should focus on eating unsaturated fat like that of salmon, olives, avocados and nuts.
- Insulin stores fat because our bodies think there may be a time of food scarcity ahead and it wants you to have large reserves.
- Eating larger portions earlier in the day is correlated to being considered healthier in general.
- Intermittent fasting can have positive affects on our weight even if we’re still consuming the same number of calories.
- Studies show that reducing an eating window from 14 to 11 hours had positive weight loss effects.
- A practical trick for eating larger meals earlier is to eat your dinner for breakfast. Eat a meal the size of what you would normally consume for dinner but for breakfast.
- To begin to shift how you eat, start by tracking what you eat all day for a few days.
- There is a 20 minute lag between eating and feeling full, this explains the link between faster eating and over eating.
- Try replacing any of your go to foods with healthier alternatives that you can keep on hand.
