When it comes to maintaining a healthy weight and boosting your overall health, giving your digestive system a break and a chance to recover may be the answer. A new study by the Salk Institute found that confining your eating to an 8- to 12-hour period can starve off obesity, diabetes and high cholesterol.
The study looked at mice that were fed a high-fat diet, but allowed access to that diet for only eight hours per day. Researchers found they were healthier and slimmer than mice given access to the same food for the whole day, even though the two groups consumed the same number of calories.
Time restriction better synchronizes the function of hundreds of genes and gene products in our body with the predictable time of eating.
Don’t fret, however, if you decide to go out for late night pizza on a Friday night. Researchers gave some of the time-restricted mice a respite on weekends, allowing them free access to high-fat meals for these two days. These mice had less fat mass and gained less weight than the mice given a freely available, high-fat diet the whole time. In fact, the mice that were freely fed just on weekends looked basically the same as mice given access to food nine or 12 hours a day for seven days a week. Looks like a healthy diet can withstand some temporary interruptions and it’s okay to have a little fun with your food – provided you follow healthy rules most of the time.
