The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting

by Jason Fung

Timing the Largest Meal of the Day So, what’s the practical implication of these hormonal rhythms for daily eating? At 8 a.m., our hunger is actively suppressed. It is counterproductive to force-feed ourselves then. What’s the point? Eating does not produce weight loss. Forcing ourselves to eat at a time when we are not hungry is not a winning strategy. Eating late at night is also a poor strategy. Hunger is maximally stimulated at approximately 7:50 p.m. At this time, insulin is maximally stimulated by food, which means that the same amount of food results in higher insulin levels. This higher insulin level will naturally drive weight gain. Unfortunately, that timing coincides with the largest meal of the day in North America. Making dinner the biggest meal of the day is mostly driven not by health concerns but by the hours of the workday and school. Shift workers are at a particular disadvantage. They tend to eat larger meals even later in the evening, leading to higher insulin. So the optimal strategy seems to be eating the largest meal in the midday, sometime between noon and 3:00 p.m., and only a small amount in the evening hours. Interestingly, this is the traditional Mediterranean eating pattern. They eat a large lunch, followed by a siesta in the afternoon, and then have a small, almost snack-sized dinner. While we often think of the Mediterranean diet as healthy due to the type of foods in it, the timing of meals in the Mediterranean may also play a role. Referenc...