3/3 – Hello,
And to answer that question, YES!
Here’s something to think about during not only the Holidays but throughout the winter as well.
In terms of winter and this time of year, most associate circadian rhythms with the rising and setting of the sun. This is true, but most do not realize that our rhythms also align with the seasons and temperatures.
Believe it or not, and please try not to laugh, but our bodies are supposed to slow down and kind of go into a hibernation state when the temperatures drop, and the nights are longer and colder than they are now as we enter winter.
Not that it is ever a great idea to eat a lot of fruit and sugary type foods, but during the summer months our bodies were designed to store calories in preparation for our wintery slumber.
WHAT?!?!? Get fat during bathing suit season?
It has been posited that this weight gain and elevated blood sugar levels are actually an evolutionary adaptation that, like so many things, helped our ancestors survive those tens of thousands of years ago, but now leads to metabolic health concerns like obesity, elevated blood fats, and diabetes.
With this in mind, when would be the worst time to go a million miles an hour, deprive ourselves of sleep, gorge ourselves on cookies, cakes, ice cream, pies, and alcohol, not get a whole lot of natural sunlight…,
And a Partridge in a Pear Tree?
That’s right, the HOLIDAYS!!!!!
Coupled with all the stress, it’s a goll-darn pressure cooker!
Evolutionarily, and “circadian” we should be taking it easy, resting, limiting calories, activating our “fat switches” (let’s see if you’ve read the books!), and living off our bodies’ summer fat stores. We should be exposing ourselves to cold weather and allowing our bodies to go through their “heating” processes as Mother Nature dictated.
Apart from the obvious, I think it is easy to understand why the Holidays get so crazy- we are out of rhythm with Nature!
It can be argued that it is only for a short while, and as long as one gets back in rhythm, no harm no foul, I guess, right?
In fact, the New England Journal of Medicine says on average most Holiday participants gain only about 2-3 lbs from all this
“merry-making.”
If that was the only issue.
As one can see from reading Genius Foods, weight gain is not the problem, but rather the activation of those pathways that cause pretty much every disease known to mankind by not sleeping, not eating nutrient-dense, whole foods, not getting plenty of natural sunlight, and not exercising.…, that’s the problem(s)!
Please read the books- The Circadian Code and Genius Foods.
I suppose it would be a “Grinchy” thing to wish you all a Happy Holiday now that I’ve told you we should probably all be sleeping in a cold cave somewhere!
No, I love my cookies! I might be able to do the cave thing though…, it would depend upon the view and the rent!
It is important to remember that the joy of living should never be measured by the number of pleasures from which a person abstains, but from the number of times he wondered if he could, and he got away with it!
Have a Happy and Healthy Holiday!
Take Care,
Dr. Dave
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