eli5 Is it more healthy to eat equal amount of food over time or in one time window and why?

Question

When I was younger, regular eating was considered healthy. Nowadays I read that fasting has benefits. I really want to know what is better and why.

Let’s assume same calories, nutrients and macro if that’s possible.

In: Biology

Answer 1

It actually does matter, a great deal, almost as much as what you eat.

Not a doctor, but I’ve got a decent amount of experience with fasting and can 100% confirm that it is so much more effective and satisfying than the old traditional diets that folks have been trying to follow (and usually failing at) for so many years. I’ll try to explain this as best I can, but honestly, I would get on Youtube and look up some of Dr. Jamnadas’ interviews about fasting, such as this [one](https://youtu.be/wGrWznkQWpE?si=rg8UEa0rAH8rXMMe). He’s a well-known cardiologist down in Florida.

The old school of thought used to be that it was a simple matter of calories-in/calories-burned, but what is becoming better understood in recent years is the effect that eating has on your body hormone levels.

In short, eating constantly means your body is constantly digesting new food, and you are constantly triggering complex metabolic responses.

Eating a single meal or confining your eating to a specific window of time means that you go through this hormone trigger process just once and then giving your digestive system a chance to rest.

It’s been awhile since I’ve talked about this or read about it, so I’m forgetting a lot of the terminology behind the science, but I would definitely recommend you watch the interview above or any of Dr. J’s interviews where he breaks this process down.

But yeah, if you can also go for longer periods of time without eating, your body will actually switch “fuels” from the food you’re eating to converting your body fat into ketones which are then burned for energy. I’m sure you’ve heard of ketosis, or keto diets.

With fasting, you are also giving your body a chance to start consuming and replenishing old cells through autophagy, so it’s kind of like internal housekeeping on a cellular level.

Research has indicated that regular fasting contributes to dramatic decreases in certain types of cancers, chronic diseases related to inflammation (IBS, etc), improved mental functions, etc.

In short, fasting is a much better option for not only losing weight but improving your overall health than simply reducing calories.