Really?

Time.com published an article by Dr. Nancy Snyderman, Debunking 10 Myths About Dieting. The first entry: You can eat after 8 PM.

Really?

Dr. Nancy justifies this statement with the conventional understanding of diet: calories in vs. calories expended, anything extra stored as fat. Doesn’t matter what time you eat, only how much. Snyderman looks quite trim, so it seems this works for her.

But does this equation really even make sense (one of my favorite questions)? Aren’t our bodies primed to digest in midday (when pre-industrial cultures took their largest meal), and doesn’t it matter what we do after eating?

If your experience of weight management is that it’s not quite that simple as calories in/calories used, you are not alone, and you are not wrong.

Managing weight is more complex and nuanced than counting calories, and it is more complex for some than it is for others. People who are very steady by nature, and active by lifestyle, usually have an easier time of it. Makes sense.

The good news: there is much that the rest of us can do to address this issue successfully and healthfully.

The first step is to know your body, and to know it more deeply than what shows up in the medical test results. Ayurveda offers many insights. Banyan Botanicals, one of my favorite purveyors of Ayurvedic health products, offers a short questionnaire to help you discover your body type. You can fill it out here and learn more, and if you choose, have an assessment emailed to you.

Of course a questionnaire cannot provide a completely customized assessment, but if you are unfamiliar with Ayurveda and the concept of body types, this will bring you closer to understanding your constitution and how to work with it to achieve your goal of balance and health.

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