Eat within a 10-hr window to ward off type 2 diabetes, say experts
We need to rediscover the ancient wisdom that says let food be your medicine... Also, if you cut down on processed carbohydrates it will put less stress on your body when you are going from eating to fasting. Shift the focus on quality of food from quantity.
NEWDELHI: You can be healthy and fit, without counting calories, by merely changing meal times and avoiding processed carbohydrates, said experts at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on Saturday.
Speaking at the session titled Nutrition & Diets—what Works, What Doesn’t, the experts also elaborated on the importance of diets in warding off lifestyle-related disorders. “It’s important to know what the body needs and how we can nurture it well. Our studies have shown eating all calories within a consistent 10-hour window, and fasting for the remaining hours in a day, protects from diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases etc,” said Dr Satchin Panda, professor, Salk Institute, and author of The Circadian Code.
However, water is allowed during the fasting period. “One can have water and medicines when fasting. For those addicted to tea or coffee, one cup without milk or sugar can be had,” added Panda.
The science behind it is based on the concept of the circadian rhythm, which is the 24-hour cycle of living beings.
“Like the brain, every organ of our body has its own clock that needs its own downtime. The downtime for an organ comes when we fast. Our lab studies in mice cured hun
DR DAVID LUDWIG, Professor at Harvard University
dreds of them of diabetes by merely following the 10-hour eating window pattern,” said Panda.
The study was extended to humans with similar results, he added. “We asked them to follow the time schedule that was self-selected for 12 weeks, and they had improved parameters at the end of the study that confirmed the findings,” he said.
The second expert on the panel, Dr David Ludwig, professor, paediatrics and nutrition, Harvard University & paediatric endocrinology, Boston Children’s Hospital, stressed on the importance of food and diets.
“In India, for example, type 2 diabetes is big; and to stop this epidemic diet, plays a great role, especially avoiding processed carbohydrates that result in most of the metabolic disorders that give rise to diabetes, hypertension etc. We need to rediscover the ancient wisdom that says let food be your medicine,” he said.
“Also, if you cut down on processed carbohydrates it will put less stress on your body when you are going from eating to fasting. Shift the focus on quality of food from quantity. Increasing protein intake is healthier than consuming processed carbohydrates,” he said.
Restricting eating time automatically will reduce the total number of calories consumed in a day.
Ludwig also addressed an oft-asked question on whether wheat was good for health. “There are a couple of problems with wheat. We’re not eating it the way we used to centuries ago. Wheat products now are highly processed... like white bread,” he said. Consuming these products results in a spike in blood sugar levels, as compared to eating say, a quantity of beans with the same number of calories.
“Then there’s a specialised issue which relates to gluten, which is a type of protein... that make wheat sticky... Some people are extremely sensitive to wheat. When they eat gluten, their gastro-intestinal tracts get inflamed, and that’s called Celiac disease... But there’s probably some additional people, who don’t have Celiac, but when they eat wheat, there is low-grade inflammation.” This might affect hunger or general well being, Ludwig said and suggested that in such cases, people should give up wheat. “There is no human requirement for wheat,” he said.