According to U.S. National Center for
Biotechnology Information (NCBI),
“Time-restricted feeding is a daily eating pattern in which
all nutrient intake occurs within a few hours (usually ≤12h) everyday, with no
overt attempt to alter nutrient quality or quantity. The concept of TRF arose
within the context of circadian rhythms.”
Since a few years, we have been battling a lot of health
issues and trying to gain better understanding of health. Our kids have been having
tummy issues and we were not getting anywhere with Ayurveda or the periodic
purges that western medicine practices. Dev has had a “leaky gut” for long. His
reading and research introduced us to Dave Mayo’s program on TRF and retraining
circadian clock. We have been following this program for the past four months.
Basically, the idea is to eat well, very well, during the
day (between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.) and not eat anything before or after this
window; also it is equally important to eat ONLY during meal times and not
in-between. Mealtimes are driven by
hunger and not clocks. Here, I will outline the changes we have made in the recent
months:
About an hour after waking up, we have our coffee/tea and
follow it with breakfast (in 20-30 min). We have a substantial (vegetarian)
breakfast with a good amount of protein and fat. We use coconut oil and
sometimes ghee to increase the fat content in our meals. For the next four
hours we don’t eat or drink anything other than water. We are typically
outdoors after breakfast.
Lunch is around noon. This is also a heavy vegetarian meal,
with good amounts carbs, protein and fat. Post-lunch is indoor time. The
next four hours is a break for the tummy; nothing goes in except water.
Dinner is around 5:30. This last meal is very light;
sometimes I skip it. Thus the body gets a break from food for about 14 hours
(till 8 a.m. next morning). If we feel
like tea or snacks or fruit, we have it either before or after meals (within a
20-30 minute window). Kids follow the same eating pattern.
Now, this is all based on modern research and understanding
but it is totally compatible with how poor and lower middle class villagers live. Life during the
pre-electricity years was also TRF-compliant. I remember stories of my parents’
childhood (from 60 years ago). It was imperative then to finish the last meal before
sunset and almost impossible to start the fire in-between meals for snacks. Also, the luxury of snacking never existed in the evolution of mankind.
Before the TRF program, our family was the only one that was
into snacking in the village. We used to eat fruit or have tea/milk in-between
two meals. In a way, we were resetting our digestive clocks every couple of
hours or so. The rest of the people here never snack; they simply can’t afford to.
They are healthy people though, raising healthy children in spite of the poor quality
food that they eat. This had caused me a lot of confusions for very long,
because of the American culture of (healthy) snacking that we got exposed to.
Now with the new understanding of TRF, it all makes sense.
The benefits of the fasting period, between 6 p.m. and 8
a.m. the next morning, are now being understood by science. NCBI’s research
article says:
“The fasting period also serves as a time for standby and
repair so that the organism is fit and competent to harvest energy when food
becomes available.”
There is an old sanskrit saying that goes “langanam
parama oushadham” which means fasting is the best medicine.
Because of TRF, my energy stays constant throughout the day;
it doesn’t plummet all of a sudden. I have lost a couple of kilos; but that was
not the objective. I don’t have headaches like I used to. Dev and kids enjoy
much better gut health than before.
Other resources:
-- Hema
