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This week I have some notes from one of my favorite podcasters Andrew Huberman. In this podcast, Andrew talks about the Effects of Fasting & Time Restricted Eating on Fat Loss & Health.
Please note that these are my notes and by no means do they replace or enhance the original content. There are still tons of information, which you might find useful. You can watch the original podcast at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tRohh0gErM&t=65s
What is Time-Restricted Diet?
As the name suggests, a time-restricted diet is, when you restrict your eating and calorie intake to a certain time period within 24 hours. It is also known as intermittent fasting and it has a wide range of scientific publications that support its benefits.
CICO – Calories-in, Calories-out
According to a study by Christopher Gardner, If the goal is to lose weight, it doesn’t matter what you eat, as long as calories-in lower than calories-out (depends on how much you move; metabolic rate such as hormone levels – thyroids, insulin, testosterone, estrogen)
A time-restricted diet is not about restricting your diet, it is about getting the benefits of a fasted state, so your body and your brain can regenerate and get rid of the toxins.
When we eat our food is vital
What you eat and when you eat it, set conditions in your body. When you eat your food is as important as when you eat.
The feeding window should be the most active time of your day and not close to the time you go to sleep.
When you eat whenever you feel like it, it will have negative effects on your body. But when you restrict your diet to the most active time period of your day, this will benefit you, even if you consume the same type of food and the same amount of calories.
Time-restricted eating protocol
There are 2 fundamental rules to a time-restricted diet. Number one, don’t ingest any food or liquid calories at least for the first hour after waking up. The second one, 3 hours prior to bedtime doesn’t ingest any calories.
When you do a time-restricted diet over 60 days, you will see an increase in Hepatic Lipase, which is an enzyme responsible for energy release and increase the speed of fat loss.
When to start and stop eating?
When you extend your fast after you wake up, it is very beneficial. Because, when you wake up, your body is already in a deep sleep-fasted state. This is when all the repair and regeneration occur in your body. So when you extend the time that you don’t eat after waking up, your body benefits from this greatly.
Importance of sleep-related fast
It usually takes 4 hours for your body to get into a fasted state. So you can’t say, your fast started as soon as you finish eating. Depending on what you ate, this time can be longer. So when we eat close to our sleep time, we won’t be able to take full advantage of a deep sleep-fasted state.
Sleep-related fast cleanses your body and gets rid of toxins and helps with brain health (Enhance cognition; offsets dementia).
Different Fasting Periods and Eating Windows
4 to 6 hours eating window
Some people reduce their eating window to between 4 to 6 hours. But according to data gathered from MyCercedianClock.com, people seem to overeat during that 4 to 6 hours. The 4 to 6-hour eating window still produce a number of positive effects:
- Increase insulin sensitivity
- Improvement in pancreas
- Decrease blood pressure
But it seems as weight loss is either none or very little. In fact, a lot of people observe weight gain.
Shorter eating windows may lead to overeating and may result in weight gain
8 hours feeding window
8 hours feeding window is a lot better to maintain and produce more health benefits. It helps you lose weight without counting calories.
Eating Every Other Day
- It can have rapid effects on weight loss
- Rapid effects on reducing blood glucose
- But difficult to maintain and may cause a rebound in weight gain
Muscle Growth During Fasting
Consuming protein early in the day supports muscle growth. So if your aim is to build muscle, it is beneficial if you consume protein early in the day. This means you will need to shift the 8 hours eating window to an earlier time.
Ways to transition to fasting state quickly
Glucose clearing is one of the ways to transition into a fasting state quicker. Light movement/exercise after your last meal can help reduce glucose in the blood and therefore, you can transition to a fasting state quicker.
Glucose Disposal Agent
Lemon and lime juice with a pinch of salt (not good if you suffer from chronic Hypertension)
Sometimes you think you need food, but all you need is salt.
High-Intensity Training later in the day can also help to get into a fasting state quicker 9not eating anything after).
What breaks fast?
Note that toothpaste doesn’t break your fast. Anything that involves sugar and carbohydrates will break your fast as it will increase blood glucose levels.
Apps and Websites
MyCircadianClock.com
Zero App