Could the Timing of Your Meals Be the Key to Mitochondrial Power?

Mar 31

So often we get overly consumed by what we are eating that we forget about WHEN we are eating. The when is just as important as the why! One subset of nutrition that explores this when is called chrononutrition, or circadian eating. Emerging research suggests that aligning your food intake with your body’s internal clock has benefits for sleep, health, and our mitochondria.

The Cell’s Power Plant vs. The Body’s Clock

What are Mitochondria?

Most of us know them as the “powerhouses” of the cell, but what does that mean? Mitochondria take the fats, carbohydrates, and proteins we consume and convert them into ATP (adenosine triphosphate). ATP is the universal energy currency of the body. For athletes, more mitochondria and more efficient mitochondria means:

Increased aerobic capacity (V02 Max)
Faster lactate clearance (a delay in that muscle burn sensation)
Better endurance and fatigue resistance
More efficient fat burning (less need for fuel during long duration activity)

What is Your Internal Clock?

Our bodies all follow a natural schedule based on an internal 24 hour clock. It is primarily regulated by light exposure and is responsible for almost every physiological process including hormone release, body temperature, digestion, and metabolism. Your brain controls the master clock, but every organ has its own peripheral clock. These peripheral clocks need synchronizing signals to stay on track, and food is one of the strongest cues!

So How Are These Two Connected?

Metabolic efficiency peaks early: Our bodies are programmed to process food during the daylight hours. Our body is pumping out hormones and sending signals that we are up and need energy to take on the day! Conversely, as the sun sets the body shifts into repair and maintenance mode as it prepares to sleep. During this repair and maintenance mode our mitochondria are less efficient at processing nutrients, especially carbohydrates.

But why: When you are sleeping you are typically in an overnight fast because your last meal was dinner. During this time your cells undergo a cleanup process where the body identifies and recycles damaged or inefficient mitochondria. When you eat late at night or snack constantly, you are essentially telling your mitochondria “we are still open for business!” and that prevents the necessary repair cycle from happening. This leads to an accumulation of sluggish and dysfunctional mitochondria.

So what happens if I eat late at night: When you eat a large meal late at night you are forcing your peripheral gut clock to stay active while your main brain clock is preparing for sleep. This causes circadian misalignment. The result is metabolic chaos! You have reduced nutrient oxidation, increased inflammation, and a reduction in mitochondrial efficiency.

As an Athlete, What Should I Do?

As an athlete you don’t want to starve yourself later in the day, but you should consider compressing your eating window to align with your active phase. It is more important to get adequate nutrition than to make sure our periodization is perfect, but if our training schedule allows for us to make both happen we should take advantage of it!

Frontload your calories: Like I mentioned earlier, your body is more alert and ready to use energy in the first half of the day. Shift the bulk of your energy intake earlier in the day. If you work out first thing in the morning this might mean a substantial refueling post workout. If you workout in the afternoon this is a great way to fuel up and give your body the energy it needs for your upcoming workout.
Close the kitchen earlier: Aim to finish eating at least 2-3 hours before bed. This allows for your master clock to send signals that the active phase is ending and allow your mitochondria to repair. If you are training in the evening, it is still important to have a recovery meal or snack post exercise! This recommendation also allows time for a late dinner or post dinner snack if needed, we don’t need to cut off eating at 6pm sharp. But, if you notice after dinner you are continually wanting to sneak back into the kitchen to graze this is a sign you didn’t do a great job of getting the bulk of your calories earlier in the day.
Have intentional fasting times: The goal is to have approximately 12 hours of fasting time daily to allow your gut to rest and your mitochondria to do their thing! People often hear this and think they need to implement an extreme daily fasting routine. No the case! Let’s say your bed time is 10pm. If you stop eating 3 hours before bed that is 7pm. If you wake up around 6am and do all of your getting ready tasks before eating breakfast, you are at a 12 hour fast. No need to extend this time frame and skip breakfast, because now you are straying from recommendation #1 which is to frontload your calories!

Bottom Line

We have focused on macronutrients and types of foods for decades, but the one conversation I find myself having on repeat with clients is to pay more attention to their meal timing. This is truly and under utilized aspect of our nutrition. By understanding your cells have a schedule, you can stop fighting your body and start working with it.

With anything there is nuance, so if you are an athlete who does play late into the evening this isn’t going to match perfectly with your schedule all of the time. It is important to fuel recovery and I do not recommend skipping your recovery meal just because of timing. If you have a difficult training schedule to work through reach out, I am here to help!