Your three natural body cycles- what we go through every 24 hours
The universe really is amazing. There are cycles in everything in the universe. There are cycles in weather, the seasons, the economy, wars, moon, sun, animal populations, geological formations, sea, physics, clocks and a million others I don’t have room to mention.
But did you know that your body also has a cycle?
And I am not talking about the obvious, nor am I talking just to the ladies here. This information is important for Everyone, so listen up! If you are not familiar with body cycles yet, so much is about to make sense…
Your body runs on 3 eight-hour cycles per day. Formally referred to as the Circadian Rhythms, and known for thousands of years via Ayurvedic teachings, to me understanding and applying these body clock principles has been the reason behind enjoying easy digestion, keeping my weight from fluctuating, never experiencing fatigue and maximizing my metabolism.
These are the cycles:
4AM-12PM Elimination
12PM-8PM Appropriation
8PM-4AM Assimilation
During the hours between 4AM and 12PM, your body is in the Elimination Cycle. It never stops to work on your digestion and you can still eat or drink or whatever at this time, but understanding that this is the period most important for cleansing and releasing toxins (‘Eliminating’), we can make the right food choices if we are going to eat. It is best to stick to liquids and most hydrating living foods, as we let our body shed the toxins (think how you wake up tired, sweaty, headachie and with bad breath- all are signs of detox symptoms). So if you do choose to eat during this period, it is important to go for anything that will require minimal digestion and support this cleansing cycle, such as fresh fruit or green juices. This is why you often hear experts refer to breakfast as ‘the most important meal of the day’, exactly so you can make a careful choice on what’s light on digestion, not so you can eat the most gigantic feast. You are breaking the fast (break-fast), so do it right or proper elimination won’t get a chance.
“The elimination cycle is without question your greatest ally in the preservation of health and prevention of disease”; “If a blood test was to be taken every hour for 24 hours, it would show that the bloodstream is most heavily burdened with the by-products of metabolism during the hours between 4am-12noon, indicating the stepped up elimination cycle, because it is the blood that carries waste material to the four channels of elimination: bowels, bladder, lungs, and skin”– Harvey & Marilyn Diamond, Fit for Life
During the hours between 12PM and 8PM, your body is in the Appropriation Cycle. During this period, we are most awake, active, present and therefore efficient at digesting, metabolizing and burning through the majority of our heavily concentrated foods. This is why the majority of meals (lunch, dinner and snacks) also occur during this cycle. The most important thing to do during this period however IS NOT to be dictated by the clock or so called ‘norms’ of mealtime, when we are too starving to care what we have for lunch and tend to shove so much food down ourselves too quickly, that by the time the body registers what happened, it is too late and we overeat, get bloated and ‘too tired’ to digest. The most important thing to do then IS to eat only when hungry and in smaller portions, so you give your body plenty of breaks and chances to break down through the food with the least required effort, so it reserves the energy for everything else you need doing, not merely wasting it on digesting your meals.
During the hours between 8PM and 4AM, your body is in the Assimilation Cycle. This is the time you are most likely to be relaxed or sleeping. This period is when all the ‘assimilating’ or absorbing of nutrients and minerals from your food occurs and gets transported to your organs, bones and cells via the blood. It is when all the rebuilding, renewing and healing takes place. It makes sense to eat dinner early, so that the foods you eat are digested and out of the stomach in preparation for this phase. As all the goodness gets drawn from the food for you to strengthen, the remains get ready for Elimination, the start of the next cycle all over again.
Try this for yourself and be mindful of these three cycles for 10 days. Once you learn to pay attention to them, it will become second nature and your body will reap the bounty of benefits.
Would you like to use this article for your website, blog or newsletter? You are most welcome, please add this paragraph at the end:
Tanya Alekseeva is a Wellness Coach who specialises in Raw Food Nutrition and Detoxification options. Tanya works with a variety of clients ranging from corporate organisations through to individuals and schools, to educate and ensure they achieve their most desired wellbeing and ultimate health objectives. She is the founder of Better Raw and Corporate Créme in London, travelling nationally and internationally to provide seminars, workshops, detox programs and one-to-one coaching. Tanya is also an author of various books, and they as well as her DVD ‘Raw Food 101’ are available now on http://www.BetterRaw.com/
Hours
00:00 Midnight
02:00 Deepest sleep
04:30 Lowest body temperature*
06:00
06:45 Sharpest rise in blood pressure^^
07:30 Melatonin secretion stops (It started from 21:00)
08:30 Bowel movement likely
09:00 Highest testosterone secretion
10:00 High alertness
12:00 Noon
14:30 Best coordination
15:30 Fastest reaction time
17:00 Greatest cardiovascular efficiency and muscle strength
18:00
18:30 Highest blood pressure
19:00 Highest body temperature
21:00 Melatonin secretion starts.
22:30 Bowel movement suppressed
00:00 Midnight
Following day ....
[* What happens to your body when your body temperature drops?
Hypothermia is a dangerously low body temperature. The average normal body temperature is around 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, or 37 degrees Celsius. If your body temperature drops to just a few degrees lower than this, your blood vessels in your hands, feet, arms, and legs start to get narrower.
Why the human body temperature is 98.6 degrees?
Scientists have found the reason why our body temperature is 98.6° Fahrenheit (37°C). Apparently it's the perfect balance, as it's warm enough to prevent fungal infection but not so hot that we need to eat nonstop to maintain our metabolism.
Is temperature of 38 high?
The normal temperature inside your child's body is usually around 37 degrees Celsius. Your child has a mild fever if their temperature is higher than 38 degrees Celsius. A high fever usually means more than 39 degrees Celsius.]
Natural Body Cycles
Life is a series of cycles of energy production, storage, and discharge. this general cycle defines all living organisms, from one-celled algae to man. All of nature follows the 24-hour cycle of a day. All creatures, from the oyster to the elephant, follow a daily pattern of work and rest, sleep and activity. There are biological rhythms within the body that dictate periods of tissue repair, tissue growth, waste elimination, and so forth. Body temperature, blood pressure, brain activity, hormone levels, and a host of other factors obey this rhythm, which scientists call circadian.
Circadian rhythms are a blend of interaction of an internal clock and external cues of the earth’s magnetism, electrical fields, gravitational fields and cosmic radiation, even the movement of other planets. Each of our twelve acupuncture meridians in our body have a two-hour period of heightened activity, together, totaling 24-hours–the circadian cycle of the earth’s rotation. The body has bio-rhythms of 14-days for the physical, 28-days for the emotional and 33-days for the mental aspects of ourselves. Healing occurs in cycles. Some days the body has a high-energy level and it rebuilds damaged tissues. On such days, we may feel great. On other days, the body must do its detoxification and remove accumulated toxins. When this happens, we may experience low levels of energy or even depression.
Most people lead a lifestyle and follow a diet that inhibits the body in its cyclical work. For instance, when the body is cleansing itself via a cold, people become impatient. They try to suppress the cleansing cycle with drugs or food and the body must abandon its efforts. The body behaves in a sort of roller-coaster fashion as it conducts its detoxification process. One day it may cleanse heavily and we feel like shit. The next day, the toxins have been removed and we feel great. We feel so great, in fact, that the body decides to dig a little deeper and remove some of the older toxins, and then we feel worse.
This is a continuing cycle in the process of healing. Once a certain level of health has been reached, we don’t notice the cycles as much and they cause progressively less discomfort. The body goes through increased detoxification and healing crisis with every change of season. Notice how people seem to get sick at those particular times of the year. Fasting for 7-10 days with each seasonal change is practiced by those who understand the benefit gained from helping the body during these natural times of cleansing.
The Body’s Infinite Wisdom
Your body wants to live forever; it wants to be free from all pain and illness; it actively desires complete healing to take place within it at all times. Your body is your friend and partner in your effort to regain health. The body has the innate capacity, knowledge, and wisdom to heal itself at any time–if it is allowed to do so. The body possesses its own healing ability and the wisdom to direct this ability. The only thing we must do is let the body conduct its work with as little interference as possible. We can furnish it with the highest-quality raw foods when it needs it or abstain from food when it doesn’t desire it. We can exercise and rest the body, and give it fresh air and sunshine.
Other than that, all we can really do is wait patiently and intelligently and not become alarmed by the symptoms of its healing or try to suppress those symptoms--even if we are healing heart disease, cancer, AIDS, or any other degenerative condition. If you have faith and trust in your body’s ability to heal itself, the unpleasant symptoms, which may accompany this healing, become more bearable and are not a source of fear or misgiving. Ultimately, we must let our body perform its health-restoring work at its own pace. The real doctor is within–the body alone is capable of performing all the needed healing functions. The cellular intelligence driving the body is infinite in its capacity. We need not have any fears about its wisdom or ability to restore itself to the highest-possible level of health and well-being.
Did you know that your body runs to three 8-hour cycles per day?
Like the earth and the moon, sea, and seasons, our bodies have cycles. Our bodies go through these cycles every 24 hours, each and every day.
Once we learn to pay attention to these cycles, our bodies and health will reap the bounty of benefits.
By gearing our daily food intake according to these cycles, as well as correctly combining those foods, we will experience much improved all around health (our real goal) which for most include less fatigue and normalization of your weight ( the bonus)
So now lets learn about these cycles and combinations, as well as how to place them in your life.
Cycle no. 1 – ELIMINATION (4am-12pm)
This is the time when your body would like to direct most of its energy to the work of cleansing toxins from your body. To not interrupt this work, light eating is the best choice now , as the best way to break your fast (BREAKFAST).
This does not mean a cup of coffee (regular or decaf) and a donut . By light I mean eating the lightest, most perfect food.. Fruit and Fruit Juices (diluted with water is best for most)
You see, fruits does not in your stomach. In fact, fruit goes through the stomach and directly to your small intestines.
In this way, there is no diversion of energy from the body’s work of eliminating being used for digestion of food.
You see. when a heavy traditional breakfast is eaten ( eggs, potatoes, grits, bacon, toast, biscuits, waffles, pancakes, french toast, etc), it takes energy away from eliminating toxins and uses it for digestion of foods just eaten, and proper ELIMINATION IS NEVER ACHIEVED.
The ideal elimination pattern.
Three to five bowel eliminations daily — once upon rising, one after each meal, one before retiring.
When this pattern is not the norm ( and for most, it i not), then over time, it can take its tool on the body.
Eating fruit and drinking fruit juices in the morning (especially the ripe, juicy ones), can provide an easily absorbed food, high in vitamins and minerals. You have also employed the greatest cleanser for your body, as they help to dissolve the often old accumulation of mucus and waste that is along the intestinal walls ( this include small intestines and colon) .
For some, eating fruits only in the morning may take a while to get used to. Do the best you can. Eat the amount of fruit and/or juice to make you comfortably full.
If you feel hungry later in the morning, you can have bananas, granola, bran muffins (made with natural sweeteners), or whole grain toast. Keep in mind your objective is to adjust to ONLY FRUIT AND/OR DILUTED FRUIT JUICES IN THE MORNING.
Cycle no. 3 – ASSIMILATION (8pm – 4am)
During this cycle, the body is now ready to ABSORB THE NUTRIENTS FROM THE FOODS WE HAVE EATEN.
It make sense to EAT DINER EARLY, o that the food you eat are DIGESTED AND OUT OF THE STOMACH as preparation for this cycle.
If we eat late, we throw ALL our CYCLES OUT OF BALANCE, We are then….
EATING WHEN WE SHOULD BE ABSORBING; ABSORBING WHEN WE SHOULD BE ELIMINATING; TRYING TO ELIMINATE WHEN WE SHOULD BE INGESTING AND BREAKING DOWN.
Also remember, some of the worse thing we can do to our bodies, concerning our intake of foods is to…..
EAT WHEN UPSET, EAT TOO FAST, NOT CHEW OUR FOOD WELL, DRINK FLUIDS WITH MEALS, OVER EAT, EAT LATE AT NIGHT (After 8 p. m. Is Late).
On those rare occasions when you eat late, EAT LIGHT; on those rare occasions when you eat a traditional breakfast, still HAVE YOUR FRUIT FIRST.
NOTE: IN EARLY PROGRAM, SOME MAY EXPERIENCE DISCOMFORT ( BLOATING/GAS,ETC.), STAY WITH IT. “THIS TOO SHALL PASS” AS THE BODY MAKES THE ADJUSTMENTS TO THIS NOW NEW PATH OF EATING TO LIVE AN ABUNDANT LIFE, AND NOT LIVING TO EATING UNTO A PREMATURE DEATH.
The following information is invaluable. I first came across it years ago in the health classic Fit for Life, by Harvey & Marilyn Diamond. Utilizing this knowledge throughout my own healthy LIVING/ RAW-FOOD journey has made all the difference.
Although the body can be eating, digesting, using food and cleaning all at the same time to varying degrees, it has been found that from approximately 4am until noon, the body is cleansing itself (eliminating) – this is why, for example, people wake up with headaches, crusty eyes, furred tongues and so on – this is the debris coming out. It makes most sense for the body to be doing its housecleaning while we are asleep, because it’s then that we are not exerting any extra energy and can let nature take its course.
ELIMINATION-During this first 8 hour period, the best foods we can possibly eat (if we want to) are fruits or fruit, veg or green juices, because they require minimal digestion and are the only foods which have been found not to interfere with this cleansing process. Therefore the ideal scenario is to try and incorporate as much fresh fruit or juice into your morning routine and slowly cut down (and ideally, out) on other items. Basically, as soon as you eat anything else, the cleansing stops. I’m convinced that my keeping to this routine for so long is largely responsible for keeping my weight low and my energy high. And you just feel so clean too!
Harvey states, “The elimination cycle is without question your greatest ally in the prevention of health and prevention of disease”..in their second book Fit for life, Living Health.
He also explains “ If a blood test were to be taken every hour for 24 hours, it would show that the bloodstream is most heavily burdened with the by-products of metabolism during the hours between 4am-12noon, indicating the stepped up elimination cycle, because it is the blood that carries waste material to the four channels of elimination:the bowels, bladder, lungs, and skin.
APPROPRIATION-The second eight hour cycle, is between noon and 8pm which, when you think about it, is when most of us eat our two main meals of the day – lunch and dinner. This is the time when the body is most efficient at digesting and dealing with foods. It’s also the time when we are burning them up the fastest because we’re at our most active. As long as we are eating according the dictates of our appetite, we should be merrily refuelling and burning, refuelling and burning in a fairly steady and comfortable way, which makes for a really comfortable feeling in the body.
Eating when one is truly hungry can take a bit of getting used to, but is far more enjoyable than eating just because the clock dictates it’s lunchtime. And it makes so much sense!
ASSIMILATION-The third cycle, is the time for utilising the food you have consumed during the day. Assimilation takes place between (approximately) 8pm and 4am, i.e. the time you’re most likely to be relaxed, asleep or least active. During this time the body can get to work drawing all of the goodness out of your food from the day, and working on healing and rebuilding. As this phase starts drawing to a close it leads neatly back into the first cycle, cleansing, as it gets rid of everything it doesn’t need.
Dr John McDougall says “The best sleep is on an empty stomach”
Your Brain: The Missing Manual: The Missing Manual
By Matthew MacDonald
RELEVANCE OF CIRCADIAN CHANGES IN BLOOD PRESSURE
An article from the e-journal of the ESC Council for Cardiology Practice
VOL.8,N°32 - 04 MAY 2010
J.A. Garcia-Donaire
J. Segura
Dr. Luis Ruilope
Dr. César Cerezo
The availability of techniques for ambulatory blood pressure measurements have shown certain aspects of circadian variability of blood pressure - absence of physiological nocturnal dipping, and/or an early morning surge - that must be considered decisive influences on target organ damage and long-term prognosis. Proper management of these factors would positively contribute to the cardiovascular prognosis of hypertensive patients.
Topic(s): Hypertension
Hypertension is one of the most important challenges for public health systems to manage. This relevance is determined by its high prevalence and its association with the risk of cardiovascular and renal disease (1-3). In 2000, approximately a quarter of
worldwide adult population had hypertension, and this proportion is expected to rise to 29% of the adult population in 2025, which would amount to 1560 million individuals (4).
Biological rhythms
Current management of hypertensive patients does not often consider or at least gives little importance to the biological rhythms inherent to the disease process. The development of techniques for ambulatory blood pressure monitoring and home-blood pressure measurements has generated a series of questions directly related to the chronobiology of the cardiovascular system (5). In recent years, research evidence highlights the influence of nocturnal blood pressure (BP) values and, more specifically, the absence of a nocturnal dipping and an increased morning surge of blood pressure, on the development of target organ damage and an increased cardiovascular risk (5).
Nocturnal dip
Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring techniques have expanded our knowledge regarding the circadian rhythms of blood pressure. Several studies suggest a relationship between cardiovascular complications such as acute myocardial infarction and cerebrovascular disease with circadian BP changes (6). In fact, many studies suggest that patients who do not show an appropriate nocturnal dip in blood pressure may develop a variety of disorders associated with increased rates of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality (7-9). Ohkubo et al demonstrated that a diminished nocturnal decline in BP is a risk factor for cardiovascular mortality in the general population (10).
"Non-dipper" individuals
In this regard, Cuspidi et al have shown that the persistence of non-dipper patterns is associated with increased left ventricular mass index, a thicker interventricular septum, and a larger diameter of the left atrium and aortic root in a group of 375 previously untreated hypertensive patients (7). Similarly, non-dipper hypertensive patients show a greater degree of insulin resistance and lower levels of adiponectin, compared to dipper hypertensives (8). These non-dipper hypertensive patients had a more severe impairment of endothelial function as manifested by a reduced ability of endothelium-dependent vasodilation and mediated by a decrease in nitric oxide release (9). In fact, reverse dipper hypertensive patients showed wider pulse pressure at night than any other group, suggesting the potential role of arterial stiffness as an underlying mechanism of impaired cardiovascular risk (11).
Long-term prognosis
All these changes determine a worsened long-term prognosis for non-dipper. In a meta-analysis including data of 3468 patients from four prospective studies, the dipping pattern and the night-day BP ratio significantly and independently predicted mortality and cardiovascular events in hypertensive patients without a history of major cardiovascular disease (12). In diabetic patients, the loss of the physiological circadian pattern is associated with increased mortality in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes (13).
Early morning surge
Moreover, there is growing evidence linking an early morning rise in blood pressure with increased cardiovascular risk (14). Although the mechanisms responsible for this relationship are not well known, several factors contribute to hemodynamic and neurohumoral blood pressure (6,14,15). It has been described in patients with coronary disease in which myocardial ischemia may appear transiently in the first two hours after waking (16). Similarly, in reviewing a group of 1167 patients with ischemic stroke, early morning stroke onset as opposed to strokes at any other times of day, have been observed more frequently (17) and the incidence of stroke is directly related to the magnitude of the morning rise in blood pressure (18). Similarly, several meta-analyses have confirmed the relationship between cardiovascular complications (myocardial infarction (19) or stroke (20)) and strokes occuring at highest incidence in the early hours of the morning.
References
1. Neaton JD, Wentworth D. Serum cholesterol blood pressure, cigarette smoking, and death from coronary heart disease. Overall findings and differences by age for 316.099 white men. Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial Research Group. Arch Intern Med 1992; 152: 56-64.
2. Prospective Studies Collaboration. Age-specific relevance of usual blood pressure to vascular mortality: a meta-analysis of individual data for one million adults in 61 prospective studies. Lancet 2002; 360: 1903-1913.
3. Weiner DE, Tighiouart H, Amin MG, Stark PC, MacLeod B, Griffith JL, Salem DN, Levey AS, Sarnak MJ. Chronic kidney disease as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality: a pooled analysis of community-based studies. J Am Soc Nephrol 2004;15: 1307-1315.
4. Kearney PM, Whelton M, Reynolds K, Muntner P, Whelton P, He J. Global burden of hypertension: analysis of worldwide data. Lancet 2005; 365: 217-223.
5. Hassler C, Burnier M. Circadian variations in blood pressure: implications for chronotherapeutics. Am J Cardiovasc Drugs 2005; 5: 7-15.
6. Giles T. Relevance of blood pressure variation in the circadian onset of cardiovascular events. J Hypertens 2005; 23 (Suppl 1): S35-S39.
7. Cuspidi C, Meani S, Salerno M, Valerio C, Fusi V, Severgnini B, et al. Cardiovascular target organ damage in essential hypertensives with or without reproducible nocturnal fall in blood pressure. J Hypertens 2004; 22: 273-280.
8. Della Mea P, Lupia M, Bandolin V, Guzzon S, Sonino N, Vettor R, et al. Adiponectin, insulin resistance, and left ventricular structure in dipper and nondipper essential hypertensive patients. Am J Hypertens 2005; 18: 30-35.
9. Higashi Y, Nakagawa K, Kimura M, Noma K, Hara K, Sasaki S, et al. Circadian variation of blood pressure and endothelial function in patients with essential hypertension: a comparison of dippers and non-dippers. J Am Coll Cardiol 2002; 40: 2039-2043.
10. Ohkubo T, Hozawa A, Yamaguchi J, Kikuya M, Ohmori K, Michimata M, et al. Prognostic significance of the nocturnal decline in blood pressure in individuals with and without high 24-h blood pressure: the Ohasama study. J Hypertens 2002; 20: 2183-2189.
11. Jerrard-Dunne P, Mahmud A, Feely J. Circadian blood pressure variation: relationship betweendipper status and measures of arterial stiffness. J Hypertens 2007; 25: 1233-1239.
12. Fagard RH, Thijs L, Staessen JA, Clement DL, De Buyzere ML, De Bacquer DA. Night-day blood pressure ratio and dipping pattern as predictors of death and cardiovascular events in hypertension. J Hum Hypertens 2009; 23: 645-653.
13. Sturrock ND, George E, Pound N, Stevenson J, Peck GM, Sowter H. Non-dipping circadian blood pressure and renal impairment are associated with increased mortality in diabetes mellitus. Diabet Med 2000; 17: 360-364.
14. Weber MA. The 24-hour blood pressure pattern: does it have implications for morbidity and mortality? Am J Cardiol 2002; 89(suppl 2A):27A–33A.
15. Kario K. Morning surge and variability in blood pressure: a new therapeutic target? Hypertension 2005; 45: 485-486.
16. Rocco MB, Barry J, Campbell S, Nabel E, Cook EF, Goldman L, et al. Circadian variation of transient myocardial ischemia in patients with coronary artery disease. Circulation 1987; 75:395–400.
17. Marler JR, Price TR, Clark GL, Muller JE, Robertson T, Mohr JP, et al. Morning increase in onset of ischemic stroke. Stroke 1989; 20:473–476.
18. Kario K, Pickering TG, Umeda Y, Hoshide S, Hoshide Y, Morinari M, et al. Morning surge in blood pressure as a predictor of silent and clinical cerebrovascular disease in elderly hypertensives: a prospective study. Circulation 2003; 107: 1401–1406.
19. Cohen MC. Meta-analysis of the morning excess of acute myocardial infarction and sudden cardiac death. Am J Cardiol 1997; 79: 1512–1516.
20. Elliott WJ. Circadian variation in the timing of stroke onset – a meta-analysis. Stroke 1998; 29:992–996.
VolumeNumber: Vol8 N°31
Introduction to Healthcare in a Flash!: An Interactive, Flash Card Approach Page 241
By Marilyn Turner
CLICK HERE
The universe really is amazing. There are cycles in everything in the universe. There are cycles in weather, the seasons, the economy, wars, moon, sun, animal populations, geological formations, sea, physics, clocks and a million others I don’t have room to mention.
But did you know that your body also has a cycle?
And I am not talking about the obvious, nor am I talking just to the ladies here. This information is important for Everyone, so listen up! If you are not familiar with body cycles yet, so much is about to make sense…
Your body runs on 3 eight-hour cycles per day. Formally referred to as the Circadian Rhythms, and known for thousands of years via Ayurvedic teachings, to me understanding and applying these body clock principles has been the reason behind enjoying easy digestion, keeping my weight from fluctuating, never experiencing fatigue and maximizing my metabolism.
These are the cycles:
4AM-12PM Elimination
12PM-8PM Appropriation
8PM-4AM Assimilation
During the hours between 4AM and 12PM, your body is in the Elimination Cycle. It never stops to work on your digestion and you can still eat or drink or whatever at this time, but understanding that this is the period most important for cleansing and releasing toxins (‘Eliminating’), we can make the right food choices if we are going to eat. It is best to stick to liquids and most hydrating living foods, as we let our body shed the toxins (think how you wake up tired, sweaty, headachie and with bad breath- all are signs of detox symptoms). So if you do choose to eat during this period, it is important to go for anything that will require minimal digestion and support this cleansing cycle, such as fresh fruit or green juices. This is why you often hear experts refer to breakfast as ‘the most important meal of the day’, exactly so you can make a careful choice on what’s light on digestion, not so you can eat the most gigantic feast. You are breaking the fast (break-fast), so do it right or proper elimination won’t get a chance.
“The elimination cycle is without question your greatest ally in the preservation of health and prevention of disease”; “If a blood test was to be taken every hour for 24 hours, it would show that the bloodstream is most heavily burdened with the by-products of metabolism during the hours between 4am-12noon, indicating the stepped up elimination cycle, because it is the blood that carries waste material to the four channels of elimination: bowels, bladder, lungs, and skin”– Harvey & Marilyn Diamond, Fit for Life
During the hours between 12PM and 8PM, your body is in the Appropriation Cycle. During this period, we are most awake, active, present and therefore efficient at digesting, metabolizing and burning through the majority of our heavily concentrated foods. This is why the majority of meals (lunch, dinner and snacks) also occur during this cycle. The most important thing to do during this period however IS NOT to be dictated by the clock or so called ‘norms’ of mealtime, when we are too starving to care what we have for lunch and tend to shove so much food down ourselves too quickly, that by the time the body registers what happened, it is too late and we overeat, get bloated and ‘too tired’ to digest. The most important thing to do then IS to eat only when hungry and in smaller portions, so you give your body plenty of breaks and chances to break down through the food with the least required effort, so it reserves the energy for everything else you need doing, not merely wasting it on digesting your meals.
During the hours between 8PM and 4AM, your body is in the Assimilation Cycle. This is the time you are most likely to be relaxed or sleeping. This period is when all the ‘assimilating’ or absorbing of nutrients and minerals from your food occurs and gets transported to your organs, bones and cells via the blood. It is when all the rebuilding, renewing and healing takes place. It makes sense to eat dinner early, so that the foods you eat are digested and out of the stomach in preparation for this phase. As all the goodness gets drawn from the food for you to strengthen, the remains get ready for Elimination, the start of the next cycle all over again.
Try this for yourself and be mindful of these three cycles for 10 days. Once you learn to pay attention to them, it will become second nature and your body will reap the bounty of benefits.
Would you like to use this article for your website, blog or newsletter? You are most welcome, please add this paragraph at the end:
Tanya Alekseeva is a Wellness Coach who specialises in Raw Food Nutrition and Detoxification options. Tanya works with a variety of clients ranging from corporate organisations through to individuals and schools, to educate and ensure they achieve their most desired wellbeing and ultimate health objectives. She is the founder of Better Raw and Corporate Créme in London, travelling nationally and internationally to provide seminars, workshops, detox programs and one-to-one coaching. Tanya is also an author of various books, and they as well as her DVD ‘Raw Food 101’ are available now on http://www.BetterRaw.com/
Your Three Natural Body Cycles: This is known as the circadian rhythms.
Hours
00:00 Midnight
02:00 Deepest sleep
04:30 Lowest body temperature*
06:00
06:45 Sharpest rise in blood pressure^^
07:30 Melatonin secretion stops (It started from 21:00)
08:30 Bowel movement likely
09:00 Highest testosterone secretion
10:00 High alertness
12:00 Noon
14:30 Best coordination
15:30 Fastest reaction time
17:00 Greatest cardiovascular efficiency and muscle strength
18:00
18:30 Highest blood pressure
19:00 Highest body temperature
21:00 Melatonin secretion starts.
22:30 Bowel movement suppressed
00:00 Midnight
Following day ....
[* What happens to your body when your body temperature drops?
Hypothermia is a dangerously low body temperature. The average normal body temperature is around 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, or 37 degrees Celsius. If your body temperature drops to just a few degrees lower than this, your blood vessels in your hands, feet, arms, and legs start to get narrower.
Why the human body temperature is 98.6 degrees?
Scientists have found the reason why our body temperature is 98.6° Fahrenheit (37°C). Apparently it's the perfect balance, as it's warm enough to prevent fungal infection but not so hot that we need to eat nonstop to maintain our metabolism.
Is temperature of 38 high?
The normal temperature inside your child's body is usually around 37 degrees Celsius. Your child has a mild fever if their temperature is higher than 38 degrees Celsius. A high fever usually means more than 39 degrees Celsius.]
Natural Body Cycles
Life is a series of cycles of energy production, storage, and discharge. this general cycle defines all living organisms, from one-celled algae to man. All of nature follows the 24-hour cycle of a day. All creatures, from the oyster to the elephant, follow a daily pattern of work and rest, sleep and activity. There are biological rhythms within the body that dictate periods of tissue repair, tissue growth, waste elimination, and so forth. Body temperature, blood pressure, brain activity, hormone levels, and a host of other factors obey this rhythm, which scientists call circadian.
Circadian rhythms are a blend of interaction of an internal clock and external cues of the earth’s magnetism, electrical fields, gravitational fields and cosmic radiation, even the movement of other planets. Each of our twelve acupuncture meridians in our body have a two-hour period of heightened activity, together, totaling 24-hours–the circadian cycle of the earth’s rotation. The body has bio-rhythms of 14-days for the physical, 28-days for the emotional and 33-days for the mental aspects of ourselves. Healing occurs in cycles. Some days the body has a high-energy level and it rebuilds damaged tissues. On such days, we may feel great. On other days, the body must do its detoxification and remove accumulated toxins. When this happens, we may experience low levels of energy or even depression.
Most people lead a lifestyle and follow a diet that inhibits the body in its cyclical work. For instance, when the body is cleansing itself via a cold, people become impatient. They try to suppress the cleansing cycle with drugs or food and the body must abandon its efforts. The body behaves in a sort of roller-coaster fashion as it conducts its detoxification process. One day it may cleanse heavily and we feel like shit. The next day, the toxins have been removed and we feel great. We feel so great, in fact, that the body decides to dig a little deeper and remove some of the older toxins, and then we feel worse.
This is a continuing cycle in the process of healing. Once a certain level of health has been reached, we don’t notice the cycles as much and they cause progressively less discomfort. The body goes through increased detoxification and healing crisis with every change of season. Notice how people seem to get sick at those particular times of the year. Fasting for 7-10 days with each seasonal change is practiced by those who understand the benefit gained from helping the body during these natural times of cleansing.
The Body’s Infinite Wisdom
Your body wants to live forever; it wants to be free from all pain and illness; it actively desires complete healing to take place within it at all times. Your body is your friend and partner in your effort to regain health. The body has the innate capacity, knowledge, and wisdom to heal itself at any time–if it is allowed to do so. The body possesses its own healing ability and the wisdom to direct this ability. The only thing we must do is let the body conduct its work with as little interference as possible. We can furnish it with the highest-quality raw foods when it needs it or abstain from food when it doesn’t desire it. We can exercise and rest the body, and give it fresh air and sunshine.
Other than that, all we can really do is wait patiently and intelligently and not become alarmed by the symptoms of its healing or try to suppress those symptoms--even if we are healing heart disease, cancer, AIDS, or any other degenerative condition. If you have faith and trust in your body’s ability to heal itself, the unpleasant symptoms, which may accompany this healing, become more bearable and are not a source of fear or misgiving. Ultimately, we must let our body perform its health-restoring work at its own pace. The real doctor is within–the body alone is capable of performing all the needed healing functions. The cellular intelligence driving the body is infinite in its capacity. We need not have any fears about its wisdom or ability to restore itself to the highest-possible level of health and well-being.
Did you know that your body runs to three 8-hour cycles per day?
Like the earth and the moon, sea, and seasons, our bodies have cycles. Our bodies go through these cycles every 24 hours, each and every day.
Once we learn to pay attention to these cycles, our bodies and health will reap the bounty of benefits.
By gearing our daily food intake according to these cycles, as well as correctly combining those foods, we will experience much improved all around health (our real goal) which for most include less fatigue and normalization of your weight ( the bonus)
So now lets learn about these cycles and combinations, as well as how to place them in your life.
Cycle no. 1 – ELIMINATION (4am-12pm)
This is the time when your body would like to direct most of its energy to the work of cleansing toxins from your body. To not interrupt this work, light eating is the best choice now , as the best way to break your fast (BREAKFAST).
This does not mean a cup of coffee (regular or decaf) and a donut . By light I mean eating the lightest, most perfect food.. Fruit and Fruit Juices (diluted with water is best for most)
You see, fruits does not in your stomach. In fact, fruit goes through the stomach and directly to your small intestines.
In this way, there is no diversion of energy from the body’s work of eliminating being used for digestion of food.
You see. when a heavy traditional breakfast is eaten ( eggs, potatoes, grits, bacon, toast, biscuits, waffles, pancakes, french toast, etc), it takes energy away from eliminating toxins and uses it for digestion of foods just eaten, and proper ELIMINATION IS NEVER ACHIEVED.
The ideal elimination pattern.
Three to five bowel eliminations daily — once upon rising, one after each meal, one before retiring.
When this pattern is not the norm ( and for most, it i not), then over time, it can take its tool on the body.
Eating fruit and drinking fruit juices in the morning (especially the ripe, juicy ones), can provide an easily absorbed food, high in vitamins and minerals. You have also employed the greatest cleanser for your body, as they help to dissolve the often old accumulation of mucus and waste that is along the intestinal walls ( this include small intestines and colon) .
For some, eating fruits only in the morning may take a while to get used to. Do the best you can. Eat the amount of fruit and/or juice to make you comfortably full.
If you feel hungry later in the morning, you can have bananas, granola, bran muffins (made with natural sweeteners), or whole grain toast. Keep in mind your objective is to adjust to ONLY FRUIT AND/OR DILUTED FRUIT JUICES IN THE MORNING.
Cycle no. 3 – ASSIMILATION (8pm – 4am)
During this cycle, the body is now ready to ABSORB THE NUTRIENTS FROM THE FOODS WE HAVE EATEN.
It make sense to EAT DINER EARLY, o that the food you eat are DIGESTED AND OUT OF THE STOMACH as preparation for this cycle.
If we eat late, we throw ALL our CYCLES OUT OF BALANCE, We are then….
EATING WHEN WE SHOULD BE ABSORBING; ABSORBING WHEN WE SHOULD BE ELIMINATING; TRYING TO ELIMINATE WHEN WE SHOULD BE INGESTING AND BREAKING DOWN.
Also remember, some of the worse thing we can do to our bodies, concerning our intake of foods is to…..
EAT WHEN UPSET, EAT TOO FAST, NOT CHEW OUR FOOD WELL, DRINK FLUIDS WITH MEALS, OVER EAT, EAT LATE AT NIGHT (After 8 p. m. Is Late).
On those rare occasions when you eat late, EAT LIGHT; on those rare occasions when you eat a traditional breakfast, still HAVE YOUR FRUIT FIRST.
NOTE: IN EARLY PROGRAM, SOME MAY EXPERIENCE DISCOMFORT ( BLOATING/GAS,ETC.), STAY WITH IT. “THIS TOO SHALL PASS” AS THE BODY MAKES THE ADJUSTMENTS TO THIS NOW NEW PATH OF EATING TO LIVE AN ABUNDANT LIFE, AND NOT LIVING TO EATING UNTO A PREMATURE DEATH.
The following information is invaluable. I first came across it years ago in the health classic Fit for Life, by Harvey & Marilyn Diamond. Utilizing this knowledge throughout my own healthy LIVING/ RAW-FOOD journey has made all the difference.
Although the body can be eating, digesting, using food and cleaning all at the same time to varying degrees, it has been found that from approximately 4am until noon, the body is cleansing itself (eliminating) – this is why, for example, people wake up with headaches, crusty eyes, furred tongues and so on – this is the debris coming out. It makes most sense for the body to be doing its housecleaning while we are asleep, because it’s then that we are not exerting any extra energy and can let nature take its course.
ELIMINATION-During this first 8 hour period, the best foods we can possibly eat (if we want to) are fruits or fruit, veg or green juices, because they require minimal digestion and are the only foods which have been found not to interfere with this cleansing process. Therefore the ideal scenario is to try and incorporate as much fresh fruit or juice into your morning routine and slowly cut down (and ideally, out) on other items. Basically, as soon as you eat anything else, the cleansing stops. I’m convinced that my keeping to this routine for so long is largely responsible for keeping my weight low and my energy high. And you just feel so clean too!
Harvey states, “The elimination cycle is without question your greatest ally in the prevention of health and prevention of disease”..in their second book Fit for life, Living Health.
He also explains “ If a blood test were to be taken every hour for 24 hours, it would show that the bloodstream is most heavily burdened with the by-products of metabolism during the hours between 4am-12noon, indicating the stepped up elimination cycle, because it is the blood that carries waste material to the four channels of elimination:the bowels, bladder, lungs, and skin.
APPROPRIATION-The second eight hour cycle, is between noon and 8pm which, when you think about it, is when most of us eat our two main meals of the day – lunch and dinner. This is the time when the body is most efficient at digesting and dealing with foods. It’s also the time when we are burning them up the fastest because we’re at our most active. As long as we are eating according the dictates of our appetite, we should be merrily refuelling and burning, refuelling and burning in a fairly steady and comfortable way, which makes for a really comfortable feeling in the body.
Eating when one is truly hungry can take a bit of getting used to, but is far more enjoyable than eating just because the clock dictates it’s lunchtime. And it makes so much sense!
ASSIMILATION-The third cycle, is the time for utilising the food you have consumed during the day. Assimilation takes place between (approximately) 8pm and 4am, i.e. the time you’re most likely to be relaxed, asleep or least active. During this time the body can get to work drawing all of the goodness out of your food from the day, and working on healing and rebuilding. As this phase starts drawing to a close it leads neatly back into the first cycle, cleansing, as it gets rid of everything it doesn’t need.
Dr John McDougall says “The best sleep is on an empty stomach”
Your Brain: The Missing Manual: The Missing Manual
By Matthew MacDonald
RELEVANCE OF CIRCADIAN CHANGES IN BLOOD PRESSURE
An article from the e-journal of the ESC Council for Cardiology Practice
VOL.8,N°32 - 04 MAY 2010
J.A. Garcia-Donaire
J. Segura
Dr. Luis Ruilope
Dr. César Cerezo
The availability of techniques for ambulatory blood pressure measurements have shown certain aspects of circadian variability of blood pressure - absence of physiological nocturnal dipping, and/or an early morning surge - that must be considered decisive influences on target organ damage and long-term prognosis. Proper management of these factors would positively contribute to the cardiovascular prognosis of hypertensive patients.
Topic(s): Hypertension
Hypertension is one of the most important challenges for public health systems to manage. This relevance is determined by its high prevalence and its association with the risk of cardiovascular and renal disease (1-3). In 2000, approximately a quarter of
worldwide adult population had hypertension, and this proportion is expected to rise to 29% of the adult population in 2025, which would amount to 1560 million individuals (4).
Biological rhythms
Current management of hypertensive patients does not often consider or at least gives little importance to the biological rhythms inherent to the disease process. The development of techniques for ambulatory blood pressure monitoring and home-blood pressure measurements has generated a series of questions directly related to the chronobiology of the cardiovascular system (5). In recent years, research evidence highlights the influence of nocturnal blood pressure (BP) values and, more specifically, the absence of a nocturnal dipping and an increased morning surge of blood pressure, on the development of target organ damage and an increased cardiovascular risk (5).
Nocturnal dip
Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring techniques have expanded our knowledge regarding the circadian rhythms of blood pressure. Several studies suggest a relationship between cardiovascular complications such as acute myocardial infarction and cerebrovascular disease with circadian BP changes (6). In fact, many studies suggest that patients who do not show an appropriate nocturnal dip in blood pressure may develop a variety of disorders associated with increased rates of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality (7-9). Ohkubo et al demonstrated that a diminished nocturnal decline in BP is a risk factor for cardiovascular mortality in the general population (10).
"Non-dipper" individuals
In this regard, Cuspidi et al have shown that the persistence of non-dipper patterns is associated with increased left ventricular mass index, a thicker interventricular septum, and a larger diameter of the left atrium and aortic root in a group of 375 previously untreated hypertensive patients (7). Similarly, non-dipper hypertensive patients show a greater degree of insulin resistance and lower levels of adiponectin, compared to dipper hypertensives (8). These non-dipper hypertensive patients had a more severe impairment of endothelial function as manifested by a reduced ability of endothelium-dependent vasodilation and mediated by a decrease in nitric oxide release (9). In fact, reverse dipper hypertensive patients showed wider pulse pressure at night than any other group, suggesting the potential role of arterial stiffness as an underlying mechanism of impaired cardiovascular risk (11).
Long-term prognosis
All these changes determine a worsened long-term prognosis for non-dipper. In a meta-analysis including data of 3468 patients from four prospective studies, the dipping pattern and the night-day BP ratio significantly and independently predicted mortality and cardiovascular events in hypertensive patients without a history of major cardiovascular disease (12). In diabetic patients, the loss of the physiological circadian pattern is associated with increased mortality in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes (13).
Early morning surge
Moreover, there is growing evidence linking an early morning rise in blood pressure with increased cardiovascular risk (14). Although the mechanisms responsible for this relationship are not well known, several factors contribute to hemodynamic and neurohumoral blood pressure (6,14,15). It has been described in patients with coronary disease in which myocardial ischemia may appear transiently in the first two hours after waking (16). Similarly, in reviewing a group of 1167 patients with ischemic stroke, early morning stroke onset as opposed to strokes at any other times of day, have been observed more frequently (17) and the incidence of stroke is directly related to the magnitude of the morning rise in blood pressure (18). Similarly, several meta-analyses have confirmed the relationship between cardiovascular complications (myocardial infarction (19) or stroke (20)) and strokes occuring at highest incidence in the early hours of the morning.
References
1. Neaton JD, Wentworth D. Serum cholesterol blood pressure, cigarette smoking, and death from coronary heart disease. Overall findings and differences by age for 316.099 white men. Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial Research Group. Arch Intern Med 1992; 152: 56-64.
2. Prospective Studies Collaboration. Age-specific relevance of usual blood pressure to vascular mortality: a meta-analysis of individual data for one million adults in 61 prospective studies. Lancet 2002; 360: 1903-1913.
3. Weiner DE, Tighiouart H, Amin MG, Stark PC, MacLeod B, Griffith JL, Salem DN, Levey AS, Sarnak MJ. Chronic kidney disease as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality: a pooled analysis of community-based studies. J Am Soc Nephrol 2004;15: 1307-1315.
4. Kearney PM, Whelton M, Reynolds K, Muntner P, Whelton P, He J. Global burden of hypertension: analysis of worldwide data. Lancet 2005; 365: 217-223.
5. Hassler C, Burnier M. Circadian variations in blood pressure: implications for chronotherapeutics. Am J Cardiovasc Drugs 2005; 5: 7-15.
6. Giles T. Relevance of blood pressure variation in the circadian onset of cardiovascular events. J Hypertens 2005; 23 (Suppl 1): S35-S39.
7. Cuspidi C, Meani S, Salerno M, Valerio C, Fusi V, Severgnini B, et al. Cardiovascular target organ damage in essential hypertensives with or without reproducible nocturnal fall in blood pressure. J Hypertens 2004; 22: 273-280.
8. Della Mea P, Lupia M, Bandolin V, Guzzon S, Sonino N, Vettor R, et al. Adiponectin, insulin resistance, and left ventricular structure in dipper and nondipper essential hypertensive patients. Am J Hypertens 2005; 18: 30-35.
9. Higashi Y, Nakagawa K, Kimura M, Noma K, Hara K, Sasaki S, et al. Circadian variation of blood pressure and endothelial function in patients with essential hypertension: a comparison of dippers and non-dippers. J Am Coll Cardiol 2002; 40: 2039-2043.
10. Ohkubo T, Hozawa A, Yamaguchi J, Kikuya M, Ohmori K, Michimata M, et al. Prognostic significance of the nocturnal decline in blood pressure in individuals with and without high 24-h blood pressure: the Ohasama study. J Hypertens 2002; 20: 2183-2189.
11. Jerrard-Dunne P, Mahmud A, Feely J. Circadian blood pressure variation: relationship betweendipper status and measures of arterial stiffness. J Hypertens 2007; 25: 1233-1239.
12. Fagard RH, Thijs L, Staessen JA, Clement DL, De Buyzere ML, De Bacquer DA. Night-day blood pressure ratio and dipping pattern as predictors of death and cardiovascular events in hypertension. J Hum Hypertens 2009; 23: 645-653.
13. Sturrock ND, George E, Pound N, Stevenson J, Peck GM, Sowter H. Non-dipping circadian blood pressure and renal impairment are associated with increased mortality in diabetes mellitus. Diabet Med 2000; 17: 360-364.
14. Weber MA. The 24-hour blood pressure pattern: does it have implications for morbidity and mortality? Am J Cardiol 2002; 89(suppl 2A):27A–33A.
15. Kario K. Morning surge and variability in blood pressure: a new therapeutic target? Hypertension 2005; 45: 485-486.
16. Rocco MB, Barry J, Campbell S, Nabel E, Cook EF, Goldman L, et al. Circadian variation of transient myocardial ischemia in patients with coronary artery disease. Circulation 1987; 75:395–400.
17. Marler JR, Price TR, Clark GL, Muller JE, Robertson T, Mohr JP, et al. Morning increase in onset of ischemic stroke. Stroke 1989; 20:473–476.
18. Kario K, Pickering TG, Umeda Y, Hoshide S, Hoshide Y, Morinari M, et al. Morning surge in blood pressure as a predictor of silent and clinical cerebrovascular disease in elderly hypertensives: a prospective study. Circulation 2003; 107: 1401–1406.
19. Cohen MC. Meta-analysis of the morning excess of acute myocardial infarction and sudden cardiac death. Am J Cardiol 1997; 79: 1512–1516.
20. Elliott WJ. Circadian variation in the timing of stroke onset – a meta-analysis. Stroke 1998; 29:992–996.
VolumeNumber: Vol8 N°31
Introduction to Healthcare in a Flash!: An Interactive, Flash Card Approach Page 241
By Marilyn Turner
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