We all want to eat what we want around the holidays and not worry about our weight – it’s the holidays and we want to RELAX after all, BUT when the holidays are over and reality sets in, we are often left feeling sluggish with clothes a little tighter.
An interesting way to combat against holiday weight gain is the theory of ‘time restricted eating’. This is based off the principle that you can eat what you want, just at a certain time. So what this means is that we should eat within a certain time frame such as 9am to 9pm which is said to shift pounds.
And there is a study to prove it. It compared the effects of feeding Group 1 of mice a high-fat, high-sugar diet within a time frame, verses Group 2 of mice who could eat a high-fat, high-sugar diet at anytime.
After nine months, the group 2 mice were obese while the Group 1 mice didn’t gain any weight – even when given cheat days! What’s also interesting is that when the Group 2 mice changed to restricted eating, they lost weight.
Study author Associate Professor Satchin Panda says the reason for this is that “Mealtimes have more effect on circadian rhythm than dark/light cycles,” impacting metabolism.