It’s Not What You’re Eating, It’s When You’re Eating

Time-restricted eating may be the easiest path to your health goals.

Health is confusing. There are so many diets to choose from, exercises to try, and different people saying conflicting things about what is best.

For years I have experimented with different diets and exercises to try to find the best one. And the truth is, there isn’t one. Diet and exercise are highly personal. You can read more about this here.

But there is one strategy that is universal: Time-restricted eating.

You can optimize your health simply by changing your routine, namely, when you take your first bite of the day and when you take your last, and eating on a consistent schedule. This isn’t fasting in the formal definition of the word. You won’t be hungry, you won’t have to avoid all the foods you love. You’re simply changing when and how often you eat. That’s it.

“What about counting calories? What about a low-carb, sugar-free, Paleo, vegan, Mediterranean, Blue Zones, Atkins, or Warrior diet? What about critical supplements like fish oil or green tea? You no longer have to worry about them. Just pause for a second and think — only a hundred years ago people all over the world ate different types of foods depending on where they lived: There was no Chinese takeout in New York or bagels in India. And there were no correlated chronic diseases to any particular type of cuisine, whether it was high in fat, carbs, or protein. But our ancestors all over the world had one thing in common — they ate less, did more physical activity, slept more, and completed their daily routines with clockwork precision because they did not have the luxury of light.” — Dr. Satchin Panda, author of The Circadian Code

Our current lifestyle

Our society, with its unlimited access to any food one could ever want, is causing problems.

We most likely start eating at some point in the morning. Or maybe we don’t. Maybe we start with a coffee with some milk and cream and maybe a little bit of sugar. Either way, we likely ingest our first calories within a couple of hours of waking up.

Then, we’ll probably have a snack sometime in the mid morning. Maybe with a cup of tea or more coffee, or maybe some juice.

Then it’s lunch time. We have a meal.

Then, an afternoon snack to get us through till dinner.

Then dinner.

Then a bedtime snack because we start feeling hungry again after dinner, or we just need something sweet.

If we wake up in the night, we might eat again.

We do this every day. When asked how many times one eats in a day, most people will say 3. But further investigation shows that people actually eat around 8 times a day, and that their eating windows are well over 12 hours.

This is the problem. While of course we should eat nutrient-dense foods, get enough protein, and limit processed foods, a big issue is not what or how much we eat, but rather when we eat and how frequently we are eating.

This lifestyle is a contributing factor in a lot of disease and ill health.

“Our modern lifestyle is disrupting a deeply ingrained, primordial, and universal code to being healthy.” — Dr. Satchin Panda

A new approach

This new approach is actually a very old approach. Take a second to think about how our ancestors would have eaten, back before electricity, fridges, and Uber Eats.

They’d wake up with the sunrise, eat whatever they had on hand — which would largely depend on what part of the world they lived in — and maybe forage for some fruits or nuts.

After they ate, they’d get on with their daily activities — hunting for more food, taking care of children, doing maintenance on their dwellings. They’d have a long break from food.

Then, they might gather to have some more food around lunch time, maybe cooking up some meat that was caught in the morning.

Then they’d take another break from food, before having dinner before the sun went down.

Their eating windows, depending on their latitude, would be less than 12 hours. They’d only eat when the sun was up.

“Human metabolism follows a daily rhythm, with our hormones, enzymes and digestive systems primed for food intake in the morning and afternoon. Many people, however, snack and graze from roughly the time they wake up until shortly before they go to bed.” — Anahad O’Connor

This is the schedule that we should look to follow — eating only when the sun is up, and taking breaks during the day from food by avoiding snacking.

How it works

Reduced eating windows are linked to good health

A study was conducted to determine the impact of time-restricted eating on body weight. The researchers divided mice into two groups — one group could eat whenever they wanted, and the other group was restricted to eating between certain times. Both groups ate the exact same food and the exact same number of calories. However, the mice that could eat whenever they wanted gained more weight and were sicker than the mice eating between certain times.

This study shows the power of when you eat. You can eat the same food and the same calories, but when you eat has a huge impact on the result.

“It is hard enough for the body to monitor hormones, genes, and clocks for someone with a strict eating routine. But when eating occurs at random times throughout the day and night, the fat-making process stays on all the time.” — Dr. Satchin Panda

Eating is a strong circadian cue

Furthermore, eating is highly linked with our circadian rhythms — our bodies prepare for food at certain times of the day, and our hormones and metabolism are optimized to be able to handle food at these times. However, when we eat at a different time every day, our bodies can’t properly deal with the food we are giving them.

For example, if we eat at 6am when our bodies are expecting food at 10am, the processes occurring in our bodies will have to stop in order to process the food. Dr. Panda explains what happens when we eat earlier than usual:

“(The body) stops its usual before-breakfast activities, which include cleansing itself and running on stored energy…. What’s more, the clocks in your stomach, liver, muscles, pancreas, etc., will also take note of the unanticipated breakfast and will get confused.”

Implementation

Reduce your eating window

Figure out an eating schedule that works for you that involves a maximum of a 12 hour feeding window. For example, if you want to eat breakfast at 8am, make sure you have your last bite of the day by 8pm.

Eat at the same time, every day

Figure out when you want to eat breakfast, and eat breakfast at this time every single day, even on weekends. Similarly, figure out a lunch and dinner time that work for you, and stick with these every day.

Have your last bite at least 2 hours before sleeping

Finish eating and drinking (except water) at least two hours before going to bed, and ideally 3–4 hours.

“Living in opposition to the circadian code can push us toward disease…. A disrupted clock is the mother of all maladies, and, conversely, in most chronic diseases, clock function is compromised.” — Dr. Satchin Panda

Our current lifestyles are making us sick — we have unlimited access to food and can eat for as long and as many times as we want throughout the day. But by optimizing our circadian rhythms through time-restricted eating and eating at the same time each day, we can negate the impact of our current lifestyles, and begin our journey to optimal health. Following these 3 simple steps will enable you to experience improved health and wellbeing:

1. Reduce your eating window
2. Eat at the same time, every day
3. Have your last bite of food 2–4 hours before going to sleep

Want to try implementing some new habits into your life? Sign up for my free newsletter. Each week you’ll receive one new habit to try, with an explanation of why it’s important and how to implement it. The habits focus on improving all aspects of health and wellbeing, from physical fitness and nutrition, to happiness and finding meaning.

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