Sequential Eating, Metabolism, and Digestion

February 27, 2013 10:41 PM

I was researching sequential eating and would like some advice, here are my thoughts and questions: It seems that it takes (on average) 2-4 hours for foods or beverages to leave the stomach. I was wanting to eat/drink something specific every two hours. I have 8 hours to sleep every night, and I like to eat right before sleep as well. This leaves me with 16 hours in a wakened state. Or, 9 segments of eating/drinking. (I drink water right when I wake up) On the basis of sequential eating, what are some useful tips/advice I could keep in consideration while putting together snacks of 1-3 things? It's looking like 4 meals a day, 5 drinks a day, alternating every two hours. OR, what I would rather prefer, is eating 9 meals a day (fruit in the morning with my water), and drinking 6oz of water every hour on the dot. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
posted by JamesBlakeAV to food & drink (4 answers total)

Are you looking for advice on what to eat? Or how to manage your schedule...?
posted by Specklet at 3:33 AM on February 28 [1 favorite]

I'm not familiar with this approach, but I'd say that a thing to keep in mind is that it will take a while for your stomach and regulatory system(s) to adapt to this so that you can start to use your hunger cues again as guidance in how much to eat. Until then, I'd be sure to have a lot of high-nutrient snacks (nuts or whole fruits, etc.), especially for the times bracketing a usual mealtime, so that you don't get a blood sugar cycle going that makes you hungry more often than you really need to eat. That is, don't get into carb-driven swingyness.
posted by acm at 7:41 AM on February 28 [1 favorite]

The details of what to eat when on a sequential eating plan were pretty clearly laid out in Stanley Bass's original book, Ideal Health Through Sequential Eating. I personally think this is nonsense (and the gastroenterologist who's been treating me for dysmotility agrees), but if you want to follow the method, go to the source. Bass is very very detailed.
posted by Sidhedevil at 11:35 AM on February 28 [1 favorite]

Thank you all!
posted by JamesBlakeAV at 12:51 AM on March 1