We hear that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, we take lunch breaks at work, and our social and family lives revolve around dinner. But is this the healthiest way to eat?
Before we think about how often we should eat, scientists encourage us to think about when not to eat.
Intermittent fasting, in which you limit your food intake to an eighthour window, is becoming a big area of research.
Leaving our bodies without food for at least 12 hours a day allows our digestive system to rest, explains Emily Manoogian, clinical researcher at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California, author of a 2019 article titled When to eat. .
Rozalyn Anderson, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, has studied the benefits of calorie restriction associated with lower levels of inflammation in the body.
“By observing a fast every day, you can reap some of these benefits,” she says.
“It’s the idea that fasting puts the body in a different state where it’s better primed to repair and monitor damage and eliminate misfolded proteins.”
Misfolded proteins are misfolded versions of ordinary proteins, which are molecules that perform a variety of important functions in the body. Misfolded proteins have been linked to a number of diseases.
Intermittent fasting is more in line with how our bodies evolve, Anderson argues.
According to them, it provides a break for the body to store food and bring energy to where it is needed, triggering the mechanism to release energy from our body’s reserves.
2 of 3 Condensing our food in a shorter time window of the day may have health benefits when practiced safely, researchers say — Photo: Getty Images
Condensing our food in a shorter time window of the day may have health benefits when practiced safely, researchers say — Photo: Getty Images
Fasting can also improve our glycemic response when our blood sugar spikes after eating, notes Antonio Paoli, professor of exercise and sports science at the University of Padua in Italy.
A smaller spike in blood sugar allows you to store less fat in your body, he said.
“Our data suggests that eating dinner early and extending your fasting window may have some beneficial effects on the body, such as: B. Better glycemic control,” says Paoli.
Because of a process called glycation, it’s better for all cells to have lower sugar levels, he adds.
At this point, glucose binds to proteins and forms compounds called “advanced glycation endproducts,” which can cause inflammation in the body and increase your risk of developing diabetes and heart disease.
But if intermittent fasting is a healthy way to eat, how many meals does it leave room for?
Some experts argue that eating one meal a day is better, including David Levitsky, a professor at Cornell University’s College of Human Ecology in New York, who is embracing the habit.
3 of 3 Some people think that eating just one meal a day is better for the body and health — Photo: Getty Images
Some people think that eating just one meal a day is better for the body and health — Photo: Getty Images
“There’s a lot of data to show that if I show you food or pictures of food, you’re likely to eat it, and the more food in front of you, the more you’re going to eat that day,” he says.
That’s because before there were fridges and supermarkets, we ate when food was available.
Throughout history, we’ve had one meal a day, including the ancient Romans eating around noon, says food historian Seren CharringtonHollins.
Wouldn’t one meal a day make us hungry? Not necessarily, Levitsky argues, because hunger is often a psychological sensation.
“When the clock strikes 12, we might feel like eating, or you might be conditioned to eat breakfast in the morning, but that doesn’t make sense. The data shows that skipping breakfast burns you fewer calories than a general route that day.”
“Our physiology was designed for feasting and fasting,” he says. However, Levitsky does not recommend this approach for people with diabetes.
However, Manoogan advises against sticking to one meal a day because it can raise your blood sugar levels when you’re not eating your fasting blood sugar.
Prolonged high fasting blood sugar levels are a risk factor for type 2 diabetes.
To keep blood sugar levels down, you need to eat more regularly than once a day, Manoogan explains, because this prevents the body from thinking it’s starving and releases more glucose when you end up eating in response.
Instead, she says, two to three meals a day is best — most of the calories are used earlier in the day.
This is because late night eating has been linked to cardiometabolic diseases, including diabetes and heart disease.
“Eating the majority of your food earlier allows your body to use the energy you expend throughout the day instead of storing it in your system as fat,” Manoogan explains.
But eating too early in the morning should also be avoided, she says, otherwise you won’t have enough time to fast.
Also, eating too early after waking up works against our circadian rhythm — better known as our biological clock — which researchers say dictates how the body processes food differently throughout the day.
Our bodies release melatonin at night to help us sleep — but melatonin also inhibits the secretion of insulin, the hormone that controls blood sugar.
“If you eat calories when your melatonin levels are high, you get very high glucose levels. Eating many calories at night poses a significant challenge for the body because when insulin is suppressed, your body cannot store glucose properly.”
And as we know, high glucose levels over a long period of time can increase your risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
That doesn’t mean we should skip breakfast altogether, but some evidence suggests waiting an hour or two after waking to set the table.
It’s also worth remembering that breakfast as we know (and love) it today is a relatively new concept.
“The ancient Greeks were the first to introduce the concept of breakfast, eating bread soaked in wine, then having a simple lunch followed by a hearty dinner,” says CharringtonHollins.
And, according to her, at first breakfast was reserved exclusively for the aristocratic classes.
It was first introduced in the 17th century when it became a luxury for those who could afford the food and time for a leisurely morning meal.
“Today’s breakfast concept is the norm [surgiu] during the industrial revolution in the 19th century and the introduction of working hours,” explains CharringtonHollins. This routine is good for three meals a day.
“The first meal would be something very simple for the working class it could be street food from a street vendor or bread.”
But after the war, when food supplies were running low, the idea of eating a full breakfast wasn’t possible — and many people skipped that meal.
“The idea of three meals a day went down the drain,” says CharringtonHollins.
“In the 1950s, breakfast became what we know today: cereal and toast. Before that we would have been happy about a piece of bread and jam.”
So science seems to be saying that the healthiest way to eat throughout the day is to eat two or three meals with a long overnight fasting window, not to eat too early and not to late, and more early in the day to consume calories. But is that realistic?
Manoogan says it’s best not to list prime times to eat, as it can be difficult for people with chores and appointments at irregular times, such as those who work the night shift.
“Telling people to stop eating at 7pm doesn’t help because people have different schedules. If you’re trying to give your body fast nights on a regular basis, try not to eat too late or too early, and try not to eat large meals later in the day. it usually helps. People can at least adopt parts of it,” she says.
“You can see a dramatic change by delaying your first meal a little and moving your last meal forward. Making it a habit without changing anything else can have a big impact.”
No matter what changes you make, researchers agree that consistency is key.
“The body works in patterns,” explains Anderson.
“We respond to the expectation of being fed. One thing intermittent fasting does is impose a pattern, and our biological systems are fine with patterns.”
She says the body picks up signals to anticipate our eating behavior so it can better handle food as we consume it.
When it comes to how many meals we consider normal, CharringtonHollins sees change coming.
“Throughout the centuries we have been conditioned to eat three meals a day, but that is now being questioned and people’s attitudes towards food are changing. We have a more relaxed lifestyle, we don’t have the same level of work as we did in the 19th century, so we need fewer calories.”
“I think we’re going to cut down to one light meal and then one main meal in the long run, depending on what’s happening at work. Our working hours will be the driving force.”
“When rationing ended, we introduced three meals a day because suddenly there was food in abundance. But time flies and food is everywhere now.”