When vs. What you eat

iTim__

This study suggests when you eat is more important than what you eat.

What do you think?

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-brain-food/201206/eat-early-stay-healthy-and-sleep-better

Acg67

Without seeing the whole study is that the mice that had access to food 24/7 ate more hence gained more weight. Hardly shocking

alasin1derland

i thought it was interesting and a little depressing as i like to save my calories for an evening snack right before bed. kind of comfort food to unwind before turning in. :-(

gaia3rd

The article states all groups ate the same number of calories.

Sorry, this was in responses to Acg67's comment, above

LesterBlackstone

This study suggests when you eat is more important than what you eat.

What do you think?

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-brain-food/201206/eat-early-stay-healthy-and-sleep-better

Are you a rat?

xarge

I can't go to bed hungry so I save or end ups saving (because of daily life pushing me) most of my calories past evening. I never had a problem with weight gain because of this and I'm 28, very sedentary so I don't have the best metabolic rate either. I'm not saying what works for me works for everyone but I'm definitely not one of those mice.

nickyrobinson

Almost all research (especially on humans) suggests exactly the opposite, so nobody should go off the deep end worrying about this. What this study says to me is that these guys need to spend a bunch of time doing further work to figure out why they are seeing results that are so contrary. That's where the interesting stuff emerges (assuming that there is anything interesting here and not just a poorly designed study, which is also possible.)

iTim__

This study suggests when you eat is more important than what you eat.

What do you think?

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-brain-food/201206/eat-early-stay-healthy-and-sleep-better

Are you a rat?

Not a rat, but interested in the science.

iTim__

i thought it was interesting and a little depressing as i like to save my calories for an evening snack right before bed. kind of comfort food to unwind before turning in. :-(

Good point. I've been trying it and it isn't easy. I'll tell you the most difficult part is not having dinner with my family (or just watching them eat). It is a change for sure. I'm still eating the same amount of calories, but I have seen a rapid increase in weight loss doing this.

Also, I didn't switch over quickly. I started by cutting it off at 7 pm, then 6 pm, then 5 and so forth. I'll still sometimes have a light snack or glass of wine later, but not every day.

iTim__

Almost all research (especially on humans) suggests exactly the opposite, so nobody should go off the deep end worrying about this. What this study says to me is that these guys need to spend a bunch of time doing further work to figure out why they are seeing results that are so contrary. That's where the interesting stuff emerges (assuming that there is anything interesting here and not just a poorly designed study, which is also possible.)

I'd be interested in seeing some of the other research you refer to. Can you point to any studies / articles please?

Pedal_Pusher

My body doesn't care if it's 1AM or 1PM. No, really..........

tigersword

The article states all groups ate the same number of calories.

Sorry, this was in responses to Acg67's comment, above

Actually, the article doesn't say anything about total calories for either diet. It said one was high fat (61% at that, a ridiculously high amount anyway,) the other wasn't, never specified calorie totals at all.

So basically, this is a study that says intermittent fasting = good, and eating a thousand meals all day = bad. So, eating how we evolved to eat is better than arbitrary meal designations that people have randomly come up with. Shocking. Plus it never says you have to eat early, it just says you need a longer fasting window. Nothing mind-blowing.

bcattoes

Without seeing the whole study is that the mice that had access to food 24/7 ate more hence gained more weight. Hardly shocking

I haven't read the study either, but the article says they didn't eat more

Most surprising, the daily caloric intake of all groups did not differ, regardless of their diet or feeding schedule.

But this last paragraph is what caught my eye.

Most of us have a short fasting period, i.e. we stop eating only we’re sleeping; and a long feeding window, i.e. we eat all day long. This feeding pattern is very unhealthy for both mice and humans; the CDC statistics agree. The take home message from this study: eat early and eat whatever you like but skip dinner and never have late night snacks.

This doesn't suggest that you have to eat early, only that we need a longer fasting period. For example, I eat a big dinner late. Usually within an hour of going to bed. But I rarely eat breakfast, and often don't eat anythign until lunch around noon. There is nothing in this article suggesting that eating early is better than eating late if you keep the same window of fasting.

To really prove their point about eating early, they'd have to include groups of mice that had the same fasting window but at different times of the day.

ironanimal

I've just gotta go tend to my mushroom tree and feed my unicorns, but I just had to stop by to say the fact that I eat most of my 2.5k allowance after 8pm must be really hampering my progress.

glassyo

I think it's pretty obvious the mice with free access weren't logging their calories on MFP.