And you may already be doing this
A medical expert has recommended adopting a simple ’12-hour’ eating window that could boost your health. The approach not only helps stop late-night snacking, a pitfall for many, but it can also help burn fat, all while lowering the risk of diabetes.
Dr Rangan Chatterjee, an author and former NHS GP, shared this dietary strategy on Channel 4’s Live Well with the Drug-Free Doctor. The programme host explained that many of his patients seeking health improvements could benefit from “eating all the food that you are going to consume in any given day within a 12-hour time period.”
The doctor explained: “Let’s say you finish consuming your final meal of the day at 7pm. For the next four hours, you are utilising the fuel that you just ate in that last meal, especially glucose.
“After four hours, and while you are sleeping, your body runs on glycogen stored in your liver. But here’s the thing, once you get to about 10 hours or so after your last meal, those glycogen stores are pretty much depleted, and you’re likely to be burning fat.
“Being able to switch up using these different energy sources is called metabolic flexibility – a key indicator in life expectancy. Studies show that time-restricted eating can help you burn fat and lose weight, improve your sleep, improve your digestion, improve immune system function and reduce your risk of getting diseases like type 2 diabetes.”
He’s not the only doctor to suggest this. In an episode of his Just One Thing podcast on BBC Radio 4, the late Doctor Michael Mosley said: “If you want to lose a bit of weight and improve your metabolic health, change your meal times.
“That means having breakfast a bit later and your evening meal a bit earlier. It’s also known as time-restricted eating, and I would recommend you start by trying to eat all your meals within a 12-hour window.”
Backing up his thoughts, a study published in the Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition revealed that time-restricted eating (TRE) “represents a promising dietary intervention for adults with overweight and obesity.”
Its findings further suggested “TRE can induce significant weight loss and improve cardiometabolic parameters (e.g., blood glucose and lipid profiles) in the short to medium term.”
Is intermittent fasting good for me?
According to an expert at Bupa, it can be beneficial for many people: “The idea behind intermittent fasting is that it gives your body a break from digesting food. This can potentially lead you to have less calories than if you were eating more regularly.
“Also, eating less often can have positive effects on your blood sugar levels, which can be useful if you have prediabetes or type two diabetes.”
The report explained that this type of fasting can initiate a process known as autophagy, where the body eliminates damaged cells. This happens when the body isn’t focused on digestion, and there’s some evidence suggesting that it could lower the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases, although more research is required.
Other potential benefits, according to Bupa, which backs up what Doctor Chatterjee has said, include:
- improved gut health
- better sleep
- reduced cardiovascular risk factors like lower blood pressure and lower inflammatory markers, which is linked to many chronic diseases
Will you try this new 12-hour rule? Maybe you do it already. Let us know in the comments what you think.
