Sidney Baker with Karen Barr in The Circadian Prescription said:
Carbohydrates Provide Energy for Your Body’s Nighttime Tasks
… And circadian rhythm dictates that the time when you most need them is at night. … your body is so engaged with energy-consuming chores that it doesn’t have enough resources to keep consciousness, biochemical replenishment, and detoxification all going on at once.
Carbohydrates provide the large amounts of fuel your body requires overnight for synthesis, or the making of new molecules.
The liver is in charge of this disposal process; it also makes and supplies molecules for other organs. The liver does the heaviest work on the nightshift. …
…
While you sleep, … your body maintains a high level of sugar in the blood. The sustained sweetness of your blood at night is your body’s way of delivering the sun’s energy to your liver and all other organs.
During the day your body sustains a lower blood sugar level that keeps tumbling down unless you eat. … Your body manages your evening carbohydrates differently. When you eat the same amount of carbohydrates in the evening, your body is able to keep a uniform blood sugar level between the hours of midnight and 6:00 a.m. by converting glycogen to glucose, even though you are not eating anything. Without an evening load of carbohydrates, though, your body will have a harder time keeping your blood sweet.
Carbohydrates and Sleep
…
If you put off consuming carbohydrates until evening [4pm onwards], you will sleep better. Not only are you providing your body with the appropriate raw materials it needs to do its nighttime work, but the carbohydrates also allow the absorption of tryptophan and other nutrients that are needed for sleep. Carbohydrates are like the ferryman that tryptophan uses to cross the river to your brain, where it is converted to serotonin, the mother of the family of nighttime neurotransmitters.
…
Why We Need Protein
So if you are not eating proteins to burn it as fuel, why do you need it? Obviously, if I’m asking you to eat most of your carbohydrates in the evening, then more fat and protein will automatically end up in your breakfast and lunch. But eating more of your protein during the day is not simply a default based on avoiding carbohydrates. Just as there are important reasons why your body needs carbohydrates at night, there are important reasons for eating proteins during the day. … Protein supplies materials needed for one of the chief biochemical cycles of daytime hours.
… Protein provides a platform for the operation of the daytime chemistry of consciousness and action. Called adrenergic chemistry, …
…
… morning is the time for what you might call the `’up`’ part of your body’s chemistry. It’s associated with the presence of higher levels of adrenaline, hydrocortisone, thyroid hormone, and other substances required for a state of alertness and activity. And because protein provides these raw materials for adrenergic chemistry, failure to eat it in the morning leads to a general inefficiency in body chemistry, …
Notice the counterintuitive paradox here; everyone thinks the carbohydrates are for energy, so they find themselves puzzled when a breakfast of doughnuts and juice leaves them fuzzyheaded, exhausted, and hungry by midmorning. Taken in the evening, the same doughnuts and juice, however unhealthy, are appropriate and compatible with the nighttime activity of sleep.
…
… The Ten Rules of the Circadian Diet
…
Rule 1: Put protein in your morning meal, snacks and lunch. …
Rule 2: Move most of your carbohydrates from breakfast, lunch, and morning snacks to the evening.
After 4:00 p.m., your goal is to cut back on protein and emphasize healthy carbohydrate-rich foods …
It’s not possible or desirable to transfer all the carbohydrates that you eat from morning to evening; instead, I’m talking about emphasis. …
…
Nor do you completely cut protein out of your evening meal. … carbohydrates taken in the morning dissipates during the day; when taken in the evening it is sustained for nighttime use.
…
Rule 4: Eat plenty of fresh fruit, but save most of it for the evening.
…
Rule 5: Avoid caffeine except at around 4:00 p.m., when it is circadian neutral.
…
Rule 8: Consume healthy oils.
…
Rule 9: Drink eight glasses of water a day.
…
Rule 10: Eat regularly.
… The best schedule for eating is breakfast at 7:00 a.m., lunch at midday, and supper in the early evening. …
) I have noticed bags developing under my eyes and my mood is down more often than not. I have been going through a particularly stressful time the last 2-3 months which has exacerbated the inflammatory factors, although the bags and depressed mood developed before this. I'll prepare my bedroom along these guidelines and record any findings here :)
