The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Guide to intermittent fasting
Studies show that eating the same amount of calories early or later in the day produces two very different results. Frontload your food intake so you get 80 percent of your calories before 1 or 2 p.m., and you can lose weight. Eat more than 20 percent of your calories in the evening, and you’ll have trouble losing weight and may even pack it on. That’s because timing is everything.
In “What to Eat When,” Dr. Mike’s new book with Dr. Michael Crupain, the “When Way” guidelines are:
1. Fast each night with at least 12 hours between dinner and breakfast. Want more benefits? Extend that to 14 hours, and then 18. This causes your body to burn up most circulating glucose and stabilizes insulin levels. Then your body burns stored fat.
2. Breakfast and/or lunch should contain lean and plantbased protein (think whole grains, legumes, salmon) and fats (think healthy fats in salmon, or use extra-virgin olive oil with grains and veggies). Because your body is naturally more insulin-resistant at night, avoid simple carbs after mid-day. Dinner should be plant-heavy (salad and other green, leafy veggies) and calorie-light (about 400 calories, if you need 2,000 a day to maintain a healthy weight.)
3. The Longevity Institute at USC says you can superpower your health and boost weight loss by reducing your calorie intake to 1,000 for one day, 750 for four days. Then resume eating the When Way.
Other patterns for intermittent fasting
You may want to try eating for eight hours and fasting for 16. Or try the two-five routine, in which you restrict your intake to 500 calories a day twice a week. Then, five days you eat a healthy, full complement of calories (that’s 1,800 to 2,400 for most folks). And then there’s the Warrior Plan: eating during four hours a day and fasting for the remaining 20.
Mehmet Oz, M.D. is host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” and Mike Roizen, M.D. is Chief Wellness Officer and Chair of Wellness Institute at Cleveland Clinic. To live your healthiest, tune into “The Dr. Oz Show” or visit www.sharecare.com.