Don’t Say You Didn’t Know: Eating with Health and Wisdom

The Quality of Food

One of the biggest steps we can take for our health is paying attention to the type of food we eat. It's best to fill our meals with more alkaline (non-acidic) foods rather than acidic ones. This idea is explained more in the “Base-Acid” chapter of the book Secrets of Nutrition. In short, eating more plant-based, natural foods helps the body stay healthy and fight off illness.

Also important is avoiding processed foods, anything that’s been changed from its natural form, like fast food, packaged snacks, and artificially flavored products. The more we move away from food that grows naturally from the earth like fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds and turn to industrial, factory-made food, the more waste and toxins build up in the body, leading to disease. This is something we can’t afford to ignore anymore.

The Timing of Eating

One key mistake many of us make is starting the day with food right away. Surprisingly, it’s better to begin the day without eating. Give your body more time to finish its overnight “cleansing” before introducing new food.

And we should try to eat most of our food during the day not at night. Why? Because at night, the digestive system slows down and works at only about 10% of its usual power. When we eat heavy meals late in the evening, the food just sits in the stomach, often rotting or fermenting. That’s why many people wake up tired, groggy, or even feeling sick.

Even without changing what we eat, simply allowing 12 hours or more between the last meal of one day and the first meal of the next helps the body clean and heal itself. This is one of the basic foundations of natural healing.

But what about those who stay up late? It's better not to eat late at all, but if you must, choose something light and easy to digest, like a fruit or blended vegetable soup. Sadly, many people barely eat all day and then overeat at night. This throws the body off balance and leads to poor digestion, high blood pressure, heartburn, obesity, and sleep disturbances.

When we lie down with a full stomach, the food pushes upward and disrupts our organs. At night, our body is meant to rest, heal, and clean itself, not be busy digesting dinner. That’s why the ideal is to stop eating around 6:00 pm in the winter and 7:00 pm in the summer.

A beautiful sign of the body's nightly cleansing is the color of our morning urine. If it's yellow and dark, that’s a good thing it means the kidneys were able to effectively remove toxins overnight. Water is important, but drinking too much can also be harmful. Try to drink clean water (filtered or mineral) based on your needs, especially if doing physical work. More isn’t always better.

In the morning, continue the overnight fast for a few hours. Let the body finish cleansing before eating solid food. You can start with fresh juice made from vegetables and greens with a bit of fruit, followed by fruits on their own. This gentle introduction to eating helps the body absorb nutrients more effectively.

And what about pat shacharit—the morning bread meal? According to the Rambam, this shouldn’t happen immediately after waking up. He explained that it’s best to eat it sometime before midday, giving the body time to finish its natural morning cleanse. In the Talmud (Shabbat 10b), our sages explain that the fourth hour of the day is an ideal time for eating, this is when most people would feel naturally hungry after rising early.

The Quantity of Food

Many of us grew up thinking that eating more gives us more energy. But in truth, it’s the opposite. The less we eat, the more energy we have because the body spends less energy on digestion and more on healing, movement, and clarity.

There are two key principles that help explain this:

1. Sugar is the nutrient that signals fullness but it takes about 15 minutes to do so. That’s why we should eat slowly and stretch meals over at least 15 minutes.

2. The stretching of the stomach caused by fiber in the food also helps create a feeling of fullness. Fiber comes from plant-based foods, and it expands in the stomach, making us feel satisfied with fewer calories. Animal-based foods don’t have this effect. So when trying to reduce portion sizes, go for fiber-rich meals.

Together, these two, natural sugar and fiber signal true satiety and help reduce overeating.

The Manner of Eating

How we eat is just as important as what and when we eat. Rambam gave us practical guidance:

Eat slowly. Take your time so your body has a chance to feel full before you overeat. Satiety (that full feeling) only kicks in after 15–20 minutes.

Chew well. Rambam suggested chewing each bite as many times as we have teeth in our mouth (good luck!). While that might be a bit of a challenge, the message is clear: chew your food thoroughly so your stomach doesn’t have to do all the work. This allows for better digestion and less strain on the body.

When we eat in this mindful and gentle way, choosing natural foods, at the right time, in the right amounts, and chewing slowly, we give our body the best chance to stay healthy, energized, and spiritually awake.