What does this really mean?
Time restricted eating covers using certain time blocks, including hours or even days whereby only water, hibiscus / green tea, black coffee and sometimes BCAA's and 0 calorie supplements are consumed.
One of the very popular modern day trends in respect to the nutrition and lifestyle is the rise of intermittent fasting across various cultures.
The most common has been the use intermittent fasting with a 16:8 ratio. This involves consuming 0 calories for 16 hours, over the course of the night time and commonly skipping breakfast followed by an eating window of 8 hours.
The second most common is the 5:2 cycle. This involves fasting for 24 hours twice per week on days that are not consecutive.
The science?
The science has proven benefits such as cognition, mood, energy consistency and something called autophagy.
Autophagy is where cells digest and remove dysfunctional contents of cells that can lead towards improving our health and immunity from short and long term illness or disease.
It has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity, with it this carries the ability to utilise stored fat more efficiently.
It can help with anti-aging and longevity shown by studies on rats.
There has been research showing a reduction on cholesterol levels that influence heart disease.
Improved hormonal responses such as human growth hormone to help with increased metabolic rate and utilisation of your stored energy in addition to anabolic activity responsible for muscle growth and repair.
How can it benefit you?
Provide consistency with your eating habits and prevent late night snacking by having a shut off time 2 hours before bed time for improved sleep.
Improve your mental focus and the ability to concentrate on tasks.
It can help you to align with your natural hunger signals and therefore prevent snacking and inconsiderate eating routines towards your actual physical requirements, stemmed from culture, tradition, emotional eating and poor routines.
Reduce your daily calorie intake for sustaining weight loss leading towards overall health, reduced adipose tissue and reduced risk of chronic diseases.
It can help you spend less money and time around food preparation or thought - Less meals to prepare in the day providing so you can focus more on other aspects of life!
Things to consider
For athletes with high training volumes / regular training intervals it might make overall daily calorie intake a challenge and impairment of recovery could be an issue.
It could cause poor choices and mood if food is not prepared, caused by being "hangry".
You may miss out on certain nutrients if you cut out food groups, therefore try to sustain a varied balanced approached to nutritional choices in the diet.
You might struggle with energy with more intense exercise towards the end of a fast, therefore performance could be compromised if you're no strategy is in place.
You don't have to use IF everyday if your lifestyle doesn't fit for it, find a balance and use the method as an effective tool for managing your
overall weekly calorie intake.
Who should avoid it?
For people with eating disorders, blood sugar related issues such as Type 1 diabetes, people who are underweight or with blood pressure issues and pregnant women it would be wise to consult with a medical expert prior to implementing such nutritional strategies to prevent the compromise of your health.
Guidelines to begin:
Experiment with your eating window - start with 12:12 and build upon the time spent fasting.
Change the time that you start and stop eating in relation to lifestyle and training if you wish to enhance your energy and recovery.
Prepare you nutrition and track using 'myfitnesspal' initially to ensure that you're not in too great of a calorie deficit.
Drinking black coffee can help with appetite suppression.
Ensure that you drink adequate levels of water and stay hydrated.
Drinking a supplement such as BCAA's can help with muscle retention during exercise in a fasted state.
Set daily reminders and have a nutrition plan in place (especially for when breaking your fast)
This isn't a ticket to eat whatever you like, therefore focus on getting nutrient density through natural wholesome food choices.
Break a fast ensuring that you consume a meal high in protein, fruit and vegetables with a source of natural grains...
Example 1 - Lean meat with baked sweet potato and a salad of spinach, rocket, capsicum, dates, red onion, cucumber, avocado, sunflower seeds and apple cider vinegar.
Example 2 - Soaked rolled oats with chia seeds, cinnamon, protein powder, flaxseed meal, macca powder, organic dates, banana, blueberries, almond milk and honey.
Need some assistance with nutrition? Book in a consult today - https://calendly.com/kurtdinglept/
Great read and advice - thanks Kurt!😀