Is Time Restricted Eating (TRE) Right For Me?
If you were to ask me, “JW, what’s one thing I can do right now to lose some weight?” The answer would be easy. I’d say, don’t eat after 7p.m. or before 11 a.m. That’s it. That would be my one best pitch to start you out. We would get more granular from there, but if there was only one thing that would be it.
Of all the major diet fads (and I hate to refer to it as that) of the past few years one of the biggest has to be time restricted eating. You may call it intermittent fasting. This is simply adhering to a schedule of when you do vs. don’t eat.
I’m going to show my cards right out of the gate. TRE is one of the single most effective practices you can adopt for longevity, fighting longterm disease, losing and managing weight, getting better sleep and having more energy. Not a bad list huh? And this isn’t just opinion or anecdotal. Reams of scientific data back up these claims.
Let’s consider one of the biggest benefits most people are interested in-weight loss. I get asked all the time. “Will intermittent fasting help me lose weight?” The answer is yes. And I’m about to give you the best news of all. You don’t have to change your diet as to the “what” you eat so much as “when” you eat.
So if the questions is, “Jason, are you telling me I can eat everything I eat now, but as long as I eat it between 11a.m. and 7p.m. I will lose weight?”
My answer is, “Yup.” Do I think you should just move your time window? No. I think you should fill the window with wholesome nutritious foods. However, most people just want to eat whatever they want and still lose weight. We humans are funny that way. We want it all. Well, here is a way you can at least start the TRE process. Don’t focus so much on the “what” but the “when.”
In one study a group of mice were tested to prove this hypothesis. The two groups were born of the same mothers, fed the exact same amount of calories of a high-fat diet. The only difference is one set of mice could eat over a 24 hour period. The other set of mice could only consume their calories within an 8 hour window.
Guess what happened? Over the first 12 weeks the 24 hour eaters suffered the same health issues of gained weight, onset diabetes and other ailments that 11,000 previously reported research had shown.
However, the mice that were fed the exact same things but allowed only to eat during the 8 hour window suffered no weight gain or other maladies. This was a big step in proving the “when” we eat might just be as important as the “what” we eat.
Last week I wrote about the circadian rhythm. A big part of the 24 hour eating cycle is it disrupts the circadian rhythm. This can lead to malfunctioning organs and cell recovery.
“Yea Jason but that’s mice. What about the two legged beasts?” I figured that was coming. Well, friend-o another study was conducted with 10 subjects all with a BMI over 25. This means they needed to lose weight. All of them on average ate in a 14 plus hour window. Researchers asked the participants to shorten their feeding window to 10 hours. That’s it. they didn’t change their diet in any way. The only thing that change was the “when.”
Every participant lost 4% of their body weight over a for month period. Think about about that. Just by changing when they ate if a subject weighed 200 lbs going in they were nearly 10 lbs lighter after. Yet they still ate the exact same things. Imagine how much they could have moved the needle if they added a cleaner diet to the mix.
There’s also the benefit of autophagy. So what exactly is autophagy? To put it in Sulphur Springs born and educated terms it’s the cleaning of your cells. What happens is when the cells are not flooded with inflammation through excessive eating they have time to repair. While you might feel hungry and that can suck you are also starving glucose cells that can cause inflammation.
Autophagy also helps to boost our immune system by lowering overall inflammation. Autophagy is a very vital part of our body’s overall survival mechanism. Autophagy balances out the attack initiated by the immune system leading to less overall inflammation.
A quick word about inflammation. I used to always hear this term and really didn’t understand what it referred to. So here’s a very stripped down version. Essentially inflammation is when your body sends in a rescue unit to stave off infection or any other form of injury. Remember, diseases or viruses are just another form of something attacking your body. Inflammation is when the body initiates troops to go save you.
Inflammation is actually the result of the miracle of our body. It automatically begins to defend itself. However, too much inflammation is bad. It’s like leaving your troops on the battlefield too long. Eventually they will tire and wear out and the enemy will overcome them.
When we allow autophagy to take place it manages the bodies immune response. Think a small Spartan army going to attack the problem versus a large less able force. Autophagy manages Spartans who are efficient in their work.
When we eat often, we never let the cells straighten up their room, and end up with a mess. It’s like those windy days you decide to clean out your garage. You try to clean yet the leaves and dust just keep blowing back it.
Some Q&A on TRE
Are there any downsides to TRE? No. There are no known reports that keeping your feeding window to 8-12 hours has any adverse affects
Can it be combined with keto, paleo, etc? Yes it can. In fact there is research to support TRE plus keto having a profound positive effect.
Should I do it for the long term or just every once in a while? This should become a lifestyle. It should become weird and out of character for you to eat a late night snack. The thing is your body is already designed for you to eat this way. You will be getting in sync with your body’s natural dietary rhythm.
Does coffee count as food? So this is a two part question. If we are just talking about intermittent fasting as long as it’s black coffee with nothing added this does not technically break your fast. However, if the concern is managing your circadian rhythm this breaks the fast and is to be treated as food.
This really bummed me out. When I decided to dial in my circadian clock I thought it would be easy. However, when I learned that cup of coffee early in the morning counted as food as it related to my circadian rhythm I was bummed. It caused me to take a week off coffee, which I’m going to write about as well.
So let me get this straight. I can eat whatever I want as long as it’s during the 8-12 hour feeding window. That is correct. However, I’m NOT suggesting you should use this as a license to go hog wild and shovel crap in your pie hole you know isn’t good for you. It’s not all about weight management. It’s important you not only eat at the right time but you eat the right things. I’m just saying there is evidence to prove this is so beneficial it actually gives you the freedom to eat much more at liberty.
So what’s the best length 8, 10 or 12 hours. The short answer is no one really knows. The most important thing is 1. it’s a set schedule every day 2. It’s during daytime hours 3. After about 10 hours your benefits seem to double up to 16 hours. From there we really don’t know. My advice would be to shoot for an 8 hour eating window. Also, don’t focus so much on when you can’t eat. Keep your mind on when you can eat.
So there you have it. TRE, intermittent fasting, short term starvation whatever you want to call it is very beneficial. It can help keep you biologically younger. It can help you ward off serious disease. I can help you manage your weight. It can make you sleep better. It’s just a home run practice for your health.
If you want to learn more about taking ultimate control of your health and slowing the aging process, please consider checking out my soon to launch immune centric health master class. You can learn more by clicking below.