Should time-restricted eating affect meal frequency? | Satchin Panda
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Time-restricted eating limits the daytime hours during which we eat to a specific "window." But does it matter how often we eat during that window? Although data to answer this question are limited, a general understanding of human physiology suggests that fewer meals might be better for us. In this clip, Dr. Satchin Panda explains the physiological response to food and why eating less often while practicing time-restricted eating might have even greater health benefits.
-Rhonda: Within your eating window, like, does it matter if you're having lots of frequent meals or maybe two meals? - Satchin: Yeah, so that's a question that comes up very frequently. And, actually, this is where, again, I kind of go back and forth between what we know about metabolism and response to eating. And we know every time we eat a good amount of food, even a good size snack, there is enough sugar in most of the snack that it will trigger an insulin response. Our blood glucose will go up, it will stay up for maybe 90 minutes to a couple of hours, and then it will come down. So every time we eat we essentially trigger our insulin to go up slightly, so there is this anabolic hormone going up and staying up for maybe one or two hours. So in that way our body is getting into that fat storing mode every time we eat. So with that in mind I would say the smaller number of meals within that eight or nine hours is better than eating every one hour within that eight to nine hours. But, again, this is where we don't have hard data. It's just going by my prediction based on what we know from physiology. And this is, again, this might hold true for normal healthy people who do not become hypoglycemic after six, seven hours of fasting. - Rhonda: Right. - Satchin: But we know that there are a lot of people who actually prefer to eat twice. And this is something that we find with many people who adopt TRE, that what happens is after 14 to 16 hours of fasting they are hungry to have a good breakfast. And if they have a good breakfast with enough, say, protein, fat, and some complex carb, then naturally they'll not feel hungry for seven to eight hours easily. - Rhonda: Right. - Satchin: And then they have another dinner or maybe one snack in between. And essentially that has even happened to me. I eat mostly two meals, my big breakfast, and then I go to dinner, and it actually helps me stay productive throughout the day. I don't have to waste that one hour for looking for food, having lunch, and then the postprandial dip. So the short answer is the less number of meals may be better. - Rhonda: The same thing for me. It depends on what I eat for breakfast, and I've noticed change. Like, if I eat, like, a breakfast that's got higher protein, higher fat, I'll be satiated for much longer. - Satchin: Yeah. - Rhonda: As opposed to... Or even have higher fiber. - Satchin: Yeah. - Rhonda: As opposed to, for example, if I eat yogurt and some berries. - Satchin: Yeah. - Rhonda: Not good. - Satchin: No, not good at all. - Rhonda: I will be hungry a couple of hours later. - Satchin: The same thing with me. - Rhonda: Yeah. So that's definitely not my go-to breakfast.
A peptide hormone secreted by the beta cells of the pancreatic islets cells. Insulin maintains normal blood glucose levels by facilitating the uptake of glucose into cells; regulating carbohydrate, lipid, and protein metabolism; and promoting cell division and growth. Insulin resistance, a characteristic of type 2 diabetes, is a condition in which normal insulin levels do not produce a biological response, which can lead to high blood glucose levels.
The thousands of biochemical processes that run all of the various cellular processes that produce energy. Since energy generation is so fundamental to all other processes, in some cases the word metabolism may refer more broadly to the sum of all chemical reactions in the cell.
Relating to the period after eating. Postprandial biomarkers are indicators of metabolic function. For example, postprandial hyperglycemia is an early sign of abnormal glucose homeostasis associated with type 2 diabetes and is markedly high in people with poorly controlled diabetes.
Restricting the timing of food intake to certain hours of the day (typically within an 8- to 12-hour time window that begins with the first food or non-water drink) without an overt attempt to reduce caloric intake. TRE is a type of intermittent fasting. It may trigger some beneficial health effects, such as reduced fat mass, increased lean muscle mass, reduced inflammation, improved heart function with age, increased mitochondrial volume, ketone body production, improved repair processes, and aerobic endurance improvements. Some of these effects still need to be replicated in human trials.
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