If you are considering intermittent fasting, you may be better off not skipping breakfast and not eating in the afternoon or evening. Studies show that eating in the morning is better suited to our physiology.
The studies that are being carried out on the effects of intermittent fasting show very interesting results: it promotes weight loss, improves blood pressure and reduces cholesterol and blood sugar levels, among other benefits.
To do this, the most frequent recommendation is to have dinner early and skip breakfast or do it almost at noon to be without eating for a period of 14 to 18 hours. For example, this condition is met if we eat dinner at 9:00 p.m. and have breakfast at 11:00 a.m., in the short version, or at 3:00 p.m., in the long version.
However, recent studies show that it would actually be better to skip dinner and eat breakfast early. This proposal will be very popular with people who do not dare to intermittent fasting because it is very difficult for them not to eat breakfast after getting up.
WHAT IS THE BEST TIME TO FAST?
The idea behind intermittent fasting is that if we allow enough hours to pass between meals, it is allowing blood insulin levels to drop enough for the body to turn to fat cells for energy. But what is the best time to fast?
Over hundreds of thousands of years we have evolved under the succession of days and nights, that is, under a circadian rhythm that our body has made its own in many ways. Our metabolism has adapted to daytime eating and nighttime sleep. That is why it is consistent that eating at night is associated with a higher risk of obesity, as well as diabetes, because our metabolism does not work the same as in the morning.
STOP EATING BEFORE 3:00 P.M.
Based on this idea, researchers from the University of Alabama (United States) conducted a study with a small group of obese men with prediabetes. They compared a form of intermittent fasting called “time-restricted early feeding,” in which all meals were eaten within an early eight-hour period (7 AM to 3 PM). Participants in the other group, who acted as a control, were able to eat until 7:00 p.m.
After five weeks following these feeding schedules, both groups of men maintained their weight (did not gain or lose it). However, the group that restricted meals to an 8-hour window and ate snacks after 15 hours had much lower blood insulin levels, higher insulin sensitivity, and lower blood pressure. Also, interestingly, the 8-hour group experienced less appetite.
The bottom line is that simply changing the timing of meals and stopping eating early produced significant benefits on metabolism.
According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, fasting is part of our physiology and triggers essential cellular functions that support weight control, reduce inflammation and improve symptoms of a variety of health problems, from pain caused from arthritis to asthma.
An overnight fast may even lower your risk of cancer (because it helps kill damaged cells through a process called autophagy) and improves brain function.
BALANCED DIET, SLEEP AND REST
Of course, not eating in the afternoon and at night is not the only key to health. It is equally essential that meals are balanced and based on natural foods, and that our lifestyle includes sufficient physical exercise, rest and emotional well-being.
On the other hand, people with advanced diabetes or taking medications, with a history of eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, and pregnant or lactating women should not practice intermittent fasting unless supervised by a doctor who can control them.
