Can you lose weight by changing meal times?

We’ve long known that altering meal times can affect weight and metabolism.

At least if you’re a mouse.

According to some studies with these animals, it seems that the secret to better health is to restrict the time we eat and, thus, lengthen the time we go without eating.

A few years ago, Professor Satchidananda Panda, from the world famous Salk Institute in California (USA).

In a more recent study, the same researchers subjected hundreds of mice of various sizes to daily fasts of 12 to 15 hours.

Once again, they found that mice that went at least 12 hours without eating remained healthier and slimmer than those that consumed the same number of calories, but spread them out throughout the day.

But to what extent will this technique work in humans?

To find out, the BBC Trust Me I’m a Doctor (“Trust me, I’m a doctor”) recruited 16 volunteers for a 10-week investigation, led by Dr. Jonathan Johnston of the University of Surrey in England.

His team measured the volunteers’ body fat, sugar (triglyceride) levels, and cholesterol levels at baseline, then randomly divided them into two groups, the blue team and the red team.

One blue, the control group, asked them to continue their normal habits.

But the red team was told to continue their normal diet but eat breakfast 90 minutes after and 90 minutes before dinner.

That meant that for three hours every day they would go without eating (fasting).

They kept a food and sleep diary, sure they ate the same amount of food as usual.

Can you really lower cholesterol without medication simply by changing your diet?

Well, there are two possible reasons.

First of all, today there are many studies showing that by going longer without eating, fasting is beneficial.

It also appears that our bodies handle calories better at certain times of the day.

According to Johnston, one of the worst times to eat sugar and fat is late at night, when blood levels of these substances are already high.

To test it, I decided to perform a rather unpleasant self-experiment.

After an overnight fast, I took some blood samples, and at 10am I had a typical British breakfast: lots of bacon, eggs and sausage.

I did some blood tests right after breakfast and every half hour for the next few hours. And yes, it was painful.

12 hours later, at 10 p.m., I ate my second meal of the day, exactly what I had eaten for breakfast.

Again, I took regular blood samples for the next few hours until I finally went to bed.

A midnight snack will have a negative impact on your body if you eat it during the day.

Blood tests showed that after breakfast, my sugar levels returned to normal fairly quickly, and fat levels began to decline after almost three hours.

However, at night, after eating the exact same meal, my blood sugar levels stayed high for much longer and my fat levels stayed up several hours after I finished eating.

So Johnston was right; our bodies really do NOT like having to deal with large amounts of food late at night.

A midnight snack will have a worse impact on your body if you eat the same thing and in the same quantity earlier in the day.

There is an old saying, “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper,” which seems to be true.

If you are going to eat fried, better eat it for breakfast.