Fasting - yay or nay?
I recently changed my mind on this.
I am sure I will write about this in more depth but here are a few of my thoughts on fasting.
1) The benefit of fasting for fat loss is primarily just the fact that when you shorten the time in which people have to eat they usually eat less. Any benefit over and above caloric restriction is at best tiny and insignificant if even present.
2) There is a difference between fasting and time restricted feeding but they are often used interchangeably.
Fasting is generally over 12h. Think 5:2 diet
Time restricted feeding is usually a 6-8h eating window. 16/8 is the most popular.
The health claims around fasting seem overhyped with little evidence to me.
I am more impressed with time restricted feeding.
3) IMO the data is pretty good now to show there are benefits to time restricted feeding beyond that of just caloric restriction.
These include benefits to cardiovascular & metabolic health
(many of the studies that have not found these benefits have been done in healthy individuals where you wouldn’t expect to see benefits anyway e.g. someone with normal blood pressure is unlikely to see changes to blood pressure. This explains a lot of the conflicting findings).
4) It seems that many of the benefits of time restricted eating actually come from consistent meal times.
I think this should be encouraged first and foremost. That means where possible eating at the same times every day.
(if you want to know more about this read up on chrononutrition EIQ nutrition grads you have more on this incoming)
5) If you are going to follow a time restricted eating protocol you will get more benefit from front loading your calories.. e.g. bigger breakfast/lunch, a lighter dinner plus ending eating earlier in the day.
This is in part due to your circadian rhythm & in part due to food being processed better when you are most active- I will cover this in more detail another time.
6) If you’re looking at the hierarchy of importance - how much you eat is still the most important for health & for fat loss but when you eat is also a consideration & it’s short sighted to ignore it.
Any questions comment below 🥰
& if you’re a coach make sure you’re on EIQ nutrition 💜🤝