Intermittent Fasting and Goalposts

I may come across as harsh on Intermittent Fasting (IF) and I’d like to be clear about something. I’m not saying IF will make you gain body fat or die a slow and painful death. I am saying the quality of evidence presented in human studies suggesting it will benefit you somehow is #weaksauce. Further, I don’t really like the idea of huge refeeds. Like, how can 2000 kcals in one sitting be remotely healthy?

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Metabolic. Mayhem.

You may have noticed many guru’s sliding away from “intermittent fasting” and “skipping breakfast” and toward promoting a more circadian-appropriate feeding pattern. That’s because it’s about when you eat, not the precise duration of the feeding window.

The studies have been done:

• Jacobs & Hirsh showed that eating all your food for breakfast is more conducive to weight loss than eating all your food for dinner.
• Melatonin sensitizes the system, priming your body for optimal nutrient partitioning in the morning.
• Metabolism is gimped at night.
• “early Time-Restricted Feeding” (eTRF) works even in the absence of weight loss.
• Your metabolism is naturally more ketogenic with an earlier feeding window.

Which brings me to the current IF study #weaksauce du jour and it’s implications. But for that you’re gonna have to head on over to Patreon! Five bucks a month gets you access to all articles and there are many other options. It’s ad-free and you can cancel if it sucks 🙂