Did you know that being careful about WHEN you eat could have significant health benefits? Researchers believe doing so could even extend your lifespan!
Known as time-restricted eating (TRE), this approach aligns meal timing with the rhythm of your body’s internal clock, which is naturally aligned with active daylight. When combined with calorie control, TRE can also help with weight loss. This is just one more example of how we at the Center focus on harmonizing daily routines with the body’s processes to improve your quality of life.
As you should know by now, our “Fall Cleanse Event” is just around the corner.
It’s no secret that Americans are continually being sold bad habits. We are conditioned to make poor choices! As a result, today’s unhealthy adult often needs personalized, professional counsel on how to correct course. Many of my patients have started their new path at our spring or fall Cleanse event, because it is the quickest way to learn the basics of proper eating while resetting your metabolism for better results.
Past "cleansers" have heard me refer to a “genetically congruent” lifestyle. Unlike the messages you receive about fad diets or weight-loss pills, a lean body is a function of regaining your health, not the other way around. Consider that many thin people are in poor health and never know it. While you may have been told to lose weight in order to gain good health, I teach that healthful action comes first, which then leads to a healthy weight. Also, since writing my book, a Longer Healthier Life, many additional thoughts about the correct diet have been raised. This includes eating for your blood type, the keto diet, and intermittent fasting. The last thought is the topic of today’s article.
TIMING MATTERS
So, does “time restricted eating” really work? In numerous laboratory animal studies, it has been demonstrated that, when combined with calorie restriction, TRE does extend life.
For example, a study published in the journal Nature demonstrated that calorie- and time-restricted eating “robustly extended fly lifespan….”
Another study, performed at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, investigated this subject in mice. It used hundreds of male mice over a 4-year period (a long time for mice). These researchers found that restricting both caloric intake and eating time gave better results than either one independently. This study also took into account the circadian rhythm theory with very interesting results. The mice were only permitted to eat controlled quantities of food at controlled times in a 24-hour period.
- One group was allowed to eat as much and whenever they wanted.
- Five other test groups were limited to 30%-40% of their normal calorie intake.
- One group ate over the 24 hours.
- The second calorie-restricted group ate only within a 2-hour window.
- The third calorie-restricted group was restricted to a 12-hour window in which they could eat.
- The researchers then went even further and allowed some of the time-restricted groups to eat only at night when they were most active (opposite of humans) and allowed the rest to eat only during the day.
RESEARCH SUMMARY
The results of this study were then published in the journal Science.
- The mice in the unrestricted feeding group lived a normal mouse lifespan of 800 days.
- The calorie-restricted group that ate only during the day lived 20% longer (959 days).
- Mice in the calorie-restricted group who were also time-restricted to eat only during the night (their most active time) lived an amazing 35% longer (1,068 days).
Dr. Joseph Takahashi, the lead researcher on this study, noted, “We have discovered a new facet to caloric restriction that dramatically extends lifespan in our lab animals.”
But the real question is, does this research translate to humans? If so, according to Takahashi, “… we might want to rethink whether we really want that midnight snack.”
Dr. Victoria Acosta-Rodriguez, a colleague of Dr. Takahashi, notes, “Our findings serve as a proof-of-principle for investigating circadian clocks as potential targets to delay aging.”
Therefore, not only restricting caloric intake but also the time during which you eat may have an even larger effect on systemic inflammation and the aging process than either one of these on their own.
Eating only during the 12-hour period of activity during the day (6 a.m. to 6 p.m. for example) can provide significant health benefits for most folks. Additional studies on this topic have concluded that eating out of phase with daily circadian rhythms may increase chronic disease risk. So, we now have research indicating that the body’s daily (circadian) rhythms do in fact play a large part in longevity.
LET US HELP YOU
Here is where we get into the meat (no pun intended) of what my “Full System Detoxification Cleanse” is all about. You see, research demonstrates that even a nearly 12% reduction of caloric intake in 21-50 year olds will improve multiple cardiometabolic risk factors such as blood fats (cholesterol, and triglycerides) blood pressure, blood sugar control, and inflammation/joint pain. I can tell you that our “Cleansers” have experienced improvement in all of these areas during our Cleanse programs.
So, whether you decide to join us in person or virtually for our Fall Cleanse Event, or you feel that you have the willpower to do these things on your own, you need to consider both calorie (12% - 20% reduction), time restricted (12 hours of eating time only), and circadian (active period/daylight) eating in order to live a Longer Healthier Life.
As you should know by now our “Fall Cleanse Event” is just around the corner. A healthy way of living is the best insurance that you have of living a Longer Healthier Life.
Hope to see less of you (girth-wise) in the future.
Yours in Health,
Dr. Pfeiffer