Um, Can We Eat Now?
Maybe you know someone who doesn't eat until noon. Or a pal who checks her phone at dinner, hoists a huge forkful into her mouth and announces: "It's 8:00. I can't chow down until tomorrow. " (Apparently, wine doesn't count.) This, my friends, is what you call intermittent fasting. It's a somewhat complicated name for simply eating during certain hours. The most popular regimen is 18:6, which means you eat for six hours and then zip it for the remaining eighteen. (Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Halle Berry are fans.) But does it work? Yes and no. In studies of fat rats, IF helped regulate weight and improve blood sugars. But there is no research that shows IF can assist you in long term weight loss. (Here's a smart breakdown for more info on the findings.) I tried IF for 30 days over Covid and the restrictive eating from noon to 6:00 curbed my late night snacking. I lost a small amount of weight and became more mindful about cramming kettle corn into my big mouth at midnight. That, in itself, made IF worthwhile for me.