Alright!

Hopefully, you are becoming more and more curious and are starting to try some of the recommendations in Dr. Panda’s book and lectures.

Before moving on to the next topic of a circadian lifestyle, I thought I might say a few more things about Time Restricted Eating (TRE) before discussing the necessity of quality sleep.

As discussed earlier, TRE is eating within a prescribed period of time each day. One takes their first bite at a certain time to break their fast, and then their last bite at night- meaning NO OTHER FOOD, except water.

To determine one’s TRE, all you have to do is make a note of when you started eating at the beginning of the day, and then note when you stop or took your last bite of food- and this would include snacking at night.

You might have eaten breakfast at 8 am, and finished dinner at 7 pm and this would appear to be an 11 hour Time Restricted Eating period, which is good, BUT… what about that popcorn you had while watching TV at 8:30 pm, and the scoop of ice cream at 10 pm right before you went to bed?

If 10 pm was the absolute last bite you took for the day, your TRE is actually 14 hours, which is not very healthy.

A TRE of 12 hours or let’s say 6 or 8 hours allows the GI system to actually shut down and repair itself while you are sleeping, rather than digesting food.

Don’t feel bad if you have a TRE greater than 12 hours… in our modern life, most eat more than 40% of their total daily calories after 6 pm!

In fact, eating over prolonged periods each day of 15 hours or greater can lead to obesity, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular disease.

I’m sure you’ve heard of metabolic syndrome if you’ll recall the COVID days… people who suffered from metabolic syndrome and the accompanying inflammatory processes had the poorest outcomes if they contracted COVID.

Metabolic Syndrome is not a disease per se, but a series of conditions where if a person has 3 or more of the conditions, they have metabolic syndrome.

These conditions are:

-Abdominal obesity (waist size 36 inches or greater for females, 40 inches or greater for males)

-High blood pressure

-Laboratory abnormalities of triglycerides (blood fats)

-High-density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels

-Fasting hyperglycemia (signature of diabetes)

Metabolic Syndrome can be deadly, but it is totally preventable and reversible with weight loss, exercise, and getting back in alignment with your natural circadian rhythm.

In the US, over 50% of the population eats 15 or more hours each day, while less than 10% eat less than 12 hours each day.

One of the best features of eating in a 12-hour or less TRE is that it will reduce inflammation. Keep in mind when I’m talking about inflammation, I am talking about systemic inflammation where the organs of your body, including the brain are inflamed.

Again, inflammation and the amount of inflammation a person had predicted whether a person would have a favorable or not so favorable outcome in terms of COVID infection.

You know, inflammation of the brain is a big problem and one that can potentially lead to a number of health conditions you do not want- dementia, Alzheimer’s, Autism, declining cognitive abilities…

In fact, one can see the signs right now.

When the brain is inflamed it shuts down the pre-frontal cortex which is that part of the brain that helps us make good decisions, pro-survival decisions, and its evolutionary development is what separates us from the animals.

But when the brain is inflamed, another portion of the brain called the amygdala takes over. It is a more primitive part of the brain that seeks instant gratification, pleasure, and whatever will please us at that moment… ALL ELSE BE DAMNED!!!!!

Have you seen any of these types of people recently?

How do you know if you are inflamed? Tape measure- measure the waist around the belly button. Men 40 or more inches, women 36 or more inches, and you are inflamed, as the belly fat is where most of the pro-inflammatory chemicals reside. Smaller belly, less pro-inflammatory chemicals; bigger belly… more pro-inflammatory chemicals.

So if a person is eating more than 12 hours each day, there is a significant increase risk of:

-Obesity

-Heart disease

-Metabolic Syndrome

-Liver disease

-Poor sleep (the problems of this will be discussed next blog.)

-A lower quality of life

It seems kind of silly not to do so when one looks at all the trouble that is waiting for them in the future for simply not restricting their eating time each day to 12 hours or less.

Here are 11 benefits one can expect from eating 12 hours or less each day:

-Weight loss

-Reduced body fat %

-Reduced abdominal fat (source of inflammation)

-Improved fasting glucose (due to fat loss)

-Improved glucose control

-Decreased triglycerides (fat in the blood)

-Reduction of bad cholesterol

-Reduced blood pressure

-Reduce inflammation

-Reduced oxidative stress

-Improved quality of life

Okay, for a few extra points that I wanted to make, this became another monster blog. If you are still with me, thanks!

I will mention just a couple of more things to keep in mind when considering the benefits of restricting your eating window each day.

When we eat, our pancreases release insulin to handle the sugar and use it for energy or store it for later use.

Our pancreas will release insulin for 2 to 3 hours after we eat… every time we eat!!! So as a person keeps snacking, the pancreas will be in fat-making mode for 2 to 3 hours- each time we eat.

Because the body makes less insulin at night- when it is supposed to be resting it will take nearly 6 to 7 hours after a person’s last bite before the body starts to burn fat for energy.

So that quick handful of crackers at 8:30 pm will have the pancreas work another 2-3 hours when it is supposed to be resting and repairing itself and that also means that it won’t be until 2:30 or 3:30 am before the body starts burning fat.

Had you stopped at 6:30 pm, your body would have started burning fat around 12:30 am!

If you slept until 7 am and didn’t eat breakfast until 8 am or 9 am your body would have been burning fat for energy for nearly 8 or 9 hours!

Okay, I think I’ve made my point.

Here’s the deal, if you are interested in knowing your blood levels we have a simple finger stick machine that can tell us your blood sugar and blood fat levels- it takes less than 5 minutes.

We also have a machine that can tell us your body composition, you know… how much is muscle, how much is fat and how much is water, and if the water is inside or outside of the cells.

Oh, and we have a tape measure and a scale!

Please know that we can help you with this and the other circadian topics I will discuss later.

Okay, wow! Thank You, Thank You for reading along and contact me with any questions.

Take Care,

Dr. Dave

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