Time Restricted EatingBy Nancy Sterling, RN BSN

Definition

Time Restricted Eating is when you restrict your daily eating window to a set amount of hours so you maximize the amount of time your body is in a fat burning state.

Health BenefitsTime restricted eating is great at curing:

• Overweight• Type 2 diabetes• Insulin resistance• High blood pressure• High triglycerides

• Obesity• Metabolic syndrome• Fatty liver• High cholesterol• …and many more

By Doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!

Physiology (How does this affect our body)

Fed vs. Fasted:• Fed State: Insulin is ELEVATED which then

signals your body to store excess calories in fat cells. When insulin is present, fat burning is stopped and glucose burning/storing is taking place.

• Fasted State: Insulin is LOW and growth hormone is HIGH. The body starts moving stored body fat from the fat cells and begins burning it for energy.

What’s this mean?• You can only burn stored body fat while in the

fasted state and you can only store body fat while in the fed state.

Insulin Resistance• Due to the fact that we normally eat 5-6 times a day now, we

have conditioned our bodies to overuse the glucose-burning pathways. This leads to chronic elevation of insulin and high reliance on glucose.

• The chronic exposure to high insulin levels leads to “insulin resistance” where the body secretes even more insulin in response to the “fed” state. Chronic insulin resistance is the cause of “Metabolic Syndrome” (obesity, abdominal fat storage, high triglycerides, low HDL, and elevated glucose with eventual Type 2 Diabetes) (Naiman 2019).

Stats:

• 1 in 12 people in the world has full blown Type 2 DM

• 35% of adults have Metabolic Syndrome or pre-diabetes

Fat Adaptation

• People can use glucose or fat (stored or dietary intake) for energy. If a person is able to use fat, then they are fat adapted.

• A very lean athlete that is fat adapted still has well over 20,000 calories of fat to use at any given time. If that same athlete was a glucose burner, they would only have about 2000 calories of energy to burn before they would need to refuel.

Fat Adaptation• It takes time to switch your body from a glucose burner to a fat burner.

Here are a few ways to become fat adapted:• Low carb/high fat diets—improves the body’s ability to utilize fat for energy.• Exercise—high intensity exercise depletes glucose and glycogen rapidly forcing the

body to switch over and utilize more fat for fuel. It also improves insulin sensitivity.• Caloric restriction—eating fewer calories also equals less glucose available for fuel,

so the body is forced to rely on stored body fat for fuel. Eating nutrient dense foods decreases one’s appetite naturally.

• Intermittent Fasting—spending more time in the fasted state gives your body more practice at burning fat.

Metabolic ExerciseYou can consider spending time in the fasted state as a form of exercise

— a METABOLIC WORKOUT!

There are many parallels between exercise and fasting:• Decreases blood glucose• Decreases insulin level• Increases insulin sensitivity• Increases lipolysis and free fatty

acid mobilization (moving fat from your fat cells).

• Increases cellular fat oxidation• Increases glucagon (the opposite

of insulin)• Increases growth hormone (the

opposite of insulin)You can do all the above simply by FASTING.

Proven Benefits Of Intermittent Fasting• Promotes fat loss• Improves insulin sensitivity• Improves metabolism• Starves “bad” bacteria in the colon• Promotes longevity• Improves hunger• Improves mindful eating• Improves appreciation of real whole foods• Improves eating patterns• Improves brain function• Improves immune system

• Fights cancer cells (glucose-dependent)• Reverses diabetes• Improves fatty liver• Improves neurodegenerative disorders• Reduces inflammation• Improves cellular regeneration and repair• Improves lipid parameters• Normalizes blood pressure• Improves allergies• Rest for digestive organs

Metabolic Exercise• Another parallel between fasting and exercise is that it takes

practice. When you start an exercise program, you normally end up with sore muscles and a mental thought of “This is harder than I thought”.

• Fasting is similar to starting your exercise program. We’ve been conditioned to eat or graze almost continuously throughout the day. So it will feel strange at first.

Metabolic Exercise• Some Tips:

• Eat whole non-processed foods. This will help decrease your hunger.• Drink plenty of water!!• Drink coffee with Heavy Whipping Cream for breakfast.• Your first food of choice should always be a PROTEIN.• Train yourself to eat two meals a day and eliminate snacking.

Less feeding, more FASTINGThe BEST way to achieve effortless and long-lasting fat loss is to use your natural overnight fasting state to your advantage. SKIP BREAKFAST!! • It takes 8-12 hours after your last meal for your body to fully enter the fasted

state. With our current routine of eating, it’s rare that our bodies ever truly enter into a fasted state and starts burning fat. REMEMBER—if insulin is high, fat is being stored instead of burned.

• If you have hunger pains in the morning, drink coffee with HWC (Heavy whipping cream). Fat creates a minimal insulin spike and can help you feel full until lunch.

Less feeding, more FASTING

There are 3 Main MacroNutrients:

• Protein

• Fat

• Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates put your insulin production into overdrive.

Fat has the least effect on insulin.

Protein is needed by every cell in your body to make daily repairs. There are “essential amino acids and essential fatty acids.” There aren’t any essential carbs.

FASTING Myths

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!”• Most people are just entering the fasted state. It would be better to

hold off a few hours and push breakfast until mid morning to start and then push it off until lunch.

• If you eat a high carb meal at breakfast, then it spikes your insulin and stops fat burning. As insulin spikes, glucose drops and HUNGER is triggered.

FASTING Myths

“Eat small frequent meals!”• This advice originally started to “keep your metabolism going” and

“don’t let your body enter starvation mode”. This is actually the opposite of the truth. The longer one spends in the fasted state, the more body fat is burned.

FASTING Myths

“Fasting leads to burning muscle instead of fat.”• Growth hormone is increased during fasted states (both during sleep

and after a period of fasting). Growth hormone should be called “fasting hormone”, as it rises by as much as 2000% after 24 hours of fasting. Growth hormone builds muscle and is used by bodybuilders to build muscle and burn as much fat as possible.

FASTING Myths

“Your metabolism slows down when you are fasting.”• Research shows that your metabolism does not slow down for short

fasts (up to 72 hours) and actually speeds up.

FASTING Plans• There are several ways to FAST, but the easiest way is to take

advantage of your natural overnight fasting state and keep it going by moving your first meal to noon or after.

• LCHF: It’s much easier to fast when you are fat adapted. Low Carb/High Fat diets naturally lead to fat adaptation.

• Ketogenic: The keto diet is very low carbs, moderate protein and high fat. It’s very easy to fast when one is in a state of ketosis.

• Carbohydrates: Even if you don’t want to do LCHF or Keto, you can still do intermittent fasting. Eat more fibrous carbs (High fiber) which is indigestible.

FASTING Plans• Reverse Taper: Eat most of your calories late in the day or evening.• 16:8 — Skip breakfast every morning and push the first meal of the day to lunch. All

eating is done within an 8 hour window. 16 hours fasted and 8 hours fed.• 20:4 — Skip breakfast and lunch. Eat all your days calories in a 4-hour eating window.• 24-hour fasts: Eat supper, then fast until supper time the next day. This is also called

OMAD (One Meal a Day).• Mix and match: Use intermittent fasting in what ever manner works best for you.

There’s no wrong way.

FASTING—It’s what’s for dinner JOverview:

• Skip Breakfast

• Sometimes Skip Lunch J

• Avoid Snacking

• Consolidate calories near the end of the day.

• Stay flexible with your fasting plan

• Fast for at least 12 hours.

• Drink Water, Tea, or Coffee (yes coffee is great at fighting hunger pains)

• Choose REAL food—stop eating processed, packaged foods

• Exercise while in a fasted state (you’ll get better results)

More informationVisit RooksCountyHealthCenter.com/Wellness

References• Diet Doctor

https://www.dietdoctor.com/intermittent-fasting/time-restricted-eating

• Dr Jason Fung—Intensive Dietary Management https://thefastingmethod.com/

• Maria Emmerich https://mariamindbodyhealth.com/