Need to Burn Fat? Eat Dinner Early or Skip It to Help Weight Loss

By Heather Callaghan, Editor

Now that people are catching on that obesity equals toxin storage and endocrine problems – losing excess weight is more important than ever. “Meal batching” might be the key instead of popping popular but risky stimulant fat-burners.

During an oral presentation at The Obesity Society Annual Meeting at Obesity Week 2016 in New Orleans, Louisiana, researchers revealed that a meal-timing strategy reduced swings in hunger and altered fat and carbohydrate burning patterns, which may help with losing weight. This is the first time this specific theory was tested on humans (it’s about time!). Previous work tested rodents with the strategy and found that it reduced fat mass and decreased the risk of chronic diseases in them.

It’s called early time-restricted feeding (eTRF) where people eat their last meal by the mid-afternoon and don’t eat again until breakfast the next morning. This technique can also be considered a form of intermittent fasting.

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Courtney Peterson, PhD, who led the study at Pennington Biomedical Research Center said:

Eating only during a much smaller window of time than people are typically used to may help with weight loss.

We found that eating between 8 am and 2 pm followed by an 18-hour daily fast kept appetite levels more even throughout the day, in comparison to eating between 8 am and 8 pm, which is what the median American does.

Obesity.org reports:

To conduct their study, Dr. Peterson and colleagues followed eleven men and women with excess weight over four days of eating between 8am and 2pm (eTRF), and four days of eating between 8am and 8pm (average feeding for Americans). The researchers then tested the impact of eTRF on calories burned, fat burned and appetite.

To eliminate subjectivity, the researchers had all participants try both eating schedules, eat the same number of calories both times, and complete rigorous testing under supervision. The researchers found that although eTRF did not affect how many calories participants burned, it reduced daily hunger swings and increased fat burning during several hours at night. It also improved metabolic flexibility, which is the body’s ability to switch between burning carbs and fats. Whether eTRF helps with weight loss or improves other aspects of health is still unknown.

Dale Schoeller, PhD, FTOS spokesperson for The Obesity Society and Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin added,

These preliminary findings suggest for the first time in humans what we’ve seen in animal models — that the timing of eating during the day does have an impact on our metabolism.

With additional research on early-time restricted feeding on humans, we can create a more complete picture of whether this innovative method can best help prevent and treat obesity.

Detox experts agree that to stop eating earlier – say 6pm or 5pm – is a great way to start “mini-intermittent fastings” for weight loss and that burning fat is a great way to unload environmental toxicants which are stored in fat. It’s very important that people not restrict calories or food because that will have the opposite effect by creating cortisol crashes which will inflame the body and create an “inner-tube” around the belly. (It also creates mood swings – especially in women, so please make sure to eat!) Detox experts agree that skipping dinner or moving it up and then abstaining from eating for the rest of the evening is a great way to restore your body and break down those fat causing toxins without depriving your body of any nutrients or food.

If you think about it, this might be similar to what our ancestors did as they arose early and went to bed early after lots of physical labor. In George Washington’s time, it was common to eat two large meals a day because it was more practical while being so busy farming.

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What do you think of these findings – is this something you would try or have you tried it? Let us know your results! Comment below and don’t forget to share!

Download the presentation graphic

Obesity Society. “Eating dinner early, or skipping it, may be effective in fighting body fat.” ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161103091229.htm (accessed November 7, 2016).

This article (Need to Burn Fat? Eat Dinner Early or Skip It to Help Weight Loss) can be republished with attribution to Heather Callaghan, source article and Natural Blaze.com, keeping all links and bio intact. 

 Heather Callaghan is an independent researcher, writer, speaker and food freedom activist. She is the Editor and co-founder of NaturalBlaze. Get a nifty FREE eBook – Like at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.