Should you eat breakfast or skip it?

The digestive system has highs and lows of energy, as do all the organs of the body. The Chinese have observed these energy flows carefully for thousands of years and have produced a very accurate clock which depicts the times of strength and weakness of the different organs. 

According to TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) the digestive system is strongest between seven and eleven in the morning. The stomach’s meridian peak is between nine and eleven. This is the time to eat a big breakfast like many nutritionists are suggesting. 

The problem with eating a big breakfast

The problem with eating a big breakfast however is, that all the prime digestive juice is used up first thing in the morning, and this can negatively affect digestion later in the day. Additionally the wrong kind of breakfast can make us feel sluggish and tired before the day has even started! And if we are about to sit in the office all day we don’t give our body a chance to burn off the calories from the breakfast. What can happen instead is that we impair our digestion and feed the harmful flora, which in turn will produce more toxins in our body.

Helping the body cleanse itself

To help the body cleanse itself, it is a good idea to avoid a big, heavy breakfast. A lot of people say “I never eat a big breakfast so my body must be cleansing every morning.” Then you find out they run on coffee or tea or chocolate or sugar all morning. Remember, these are all foods we have eliminated during our 30 day program, because they are all direct irritants to virtually everyone’s stomach. If the stomach is aggravated it will be tightened up and not make proper digestive juice, and the person will be even worse off. No, the body will not be able to cleanse itself this way. In fact, the liver is going to be overloaded, trying to break down the toxins found in these non-foods. 

To help the body cleanse itself you need to trick the body in the morning, to make more digestive juice, than is actually needed. It needs to be something light that doesn’t require much digestion itself. 

Below you will find the Meal Plan for Week Two, the recipes as well as the grocery shopping list.