The Timing of Eating

A significant number of people struggle with weight their entire lives, while on a never-ending quest for the perfect weight-loss diet. And there are a dizzying array of diet plans vying for their attention, all claiming to be the answer to losing weight. Most focus on the types and quantities of food one should eat, and research is ongoing, but there is a new trend in dieting that is gaining in popularity called time-restricted eating (TRE).

The idea of intermittent fasting (IF) has been around awhile and centers on extensive periods of non-consumption. The emphasis is not on what a person eats but when they eat it. In one plan, the individual follows 24-hour periods of fasting (no foods, but non-caloric liquids allowed) two or more times per week. Although this approach has been proven effective, one major drawback is that most people don’t have the self-discipline to adhere to the protocol. For some, a more manageable variety of IF is time-restricted eating.

An attractive aspect of the TRE diet is the simplicity of approach. A diet that’s easy to follow will be one that is easier to adhere to and the TRE approach is certainly simple in concept. People do not have to count calories or limit their consumption to “permitted” foods, but they need to be consistent in following the restriction schedule and embrace it as part of a long-term eating lifestyle.

The idea behind TRE is to restrict all eating of calories to a window of about 8 hours. Some people following this approach skip breakfast and only eat food at lunch and supper (plus any snacks) between the hours of, say, 12 noon and 8 pm. A recent pilot study investigated the effectiveness of such a scheme.

There were 50 participants in the study, and they all attempted to restrict their calorie consumption to an 8-hour window each day. It can be challenging to adhere to such a schedule, and on average, the participants were able to follow TRE on 5 or 6 days of the week. Those who succeeded in following TRE on at least 5 days lost appreciably more weight than those who did not. In the study, 26% of the participants lost at least 5% of their body mass. They confessed that the biggest drawback to maintaining the diet were social occasions that involved eating and drinking, but 69% said they would recommend the diet to a friend.

I realized that I have actually been following a modified version of TRE, and I can attest to the challenges. I have a different motivating health concern, namely, type II diabetes, but TRE is well suited for attacking this challenge as well. I always try to eat my last meal of the day (or any food for that matter) by 6-7 pm if possible and my food consumption period does not usually exceed 10 hours. It has done wonders for control of blood sugar levels.