Health News Update: Time Restricted Eating Improves Health

Mark Smith • December 9, 2024

Hello again everyone:

 

Thanks for taking your time to stay informed on how to be maximally healthy. Here is some good news:

 

•           Time-restricted eating (TRE) is a type of fasting that involves eating within a certain time window.

•           Researchers recently found that time-restricted eating (TRE), combined with standard nutritional counseling, can help improve glucose control and weight loss among adults with metabolic syndrome.

•           Compared to people who followed standard dietary guidance alone, people who engaged in TRE experienced greater reductions in fat mass and hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c) levels.

•           These data suggests that TRE is an effective and practical lifestyle intervention with positive impacts on glycemic control and cardiometabolic health.

 

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/time-restricted-eating-linked-greater-blood-sugar-control-fat-loss?slot_pos=article_2&utm_source=Sailthru%20Email&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=MNT%20Daily%20News&utm_content=2024-10-01&apid=41304130&rvid=a32216b5e1c0c5df3c84080e2b2e161318206dbce6fd663dd747aa557a4753cd

 

Bottom Line:

 

Personally, I use this type of eating plan to effectively keep my weight and blood sugar numbers in the optimal ranges, and I strongly recommend early time restricted feeding…start with a breakfast of some type, then lunch so that you get 80% of your total calories before 2 pm, and then a light dinner as early as possible so that you have 12 to 14 hours without any calories. This is critically important for your long-term health because it aligns with your natural circadian rhythms. When we live a lifestyle that is out of harmony with our inborn biological clocks, we create an internal environment that is not only inflammatory but will seriously degrade many aspects of our health including our immune system, hormonal regulation, blood sugar balance, weight, brain function, digestive function, our microbiome health, our aging trajectory, the development of chronic illness and more. The two strongest ways to restore healthy circadian rhythms are when we eat and when we sleep. Sticking to the eTRF is the best way to get back into and align with our natural rhythms for optimal health.

 

Studies like the one above have revealed that following eTRF improved health an weight even without an optimal dietary pattern.

 

What do you think might have happened if they ran this test for a longer time frame and then used an unprocessed, whole foods, organic food plan?

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Health News Update: Inflammaging is Bad News

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Hello everyone: I think I have mentioned inflammaging before but never really focused on it. So, let’s dig into this interesting topic. Inflammaging is when chronic, low-grade inflammation develops with age as dietary and environmental stress accumulates, contributing to the development of all of the various age-related diseases and health issues. It results from a loss of control over systemic inflammation, which tends to come from an unbalanced and dysregulated immune system. One of the key drivers of inflammaging is diet…which means that one of the key tools to slow and reduce aging is our what we eat as well as what we don’t eat. In this paper, the authors reveal that the typical Western Diet (what science calls the Standard American Diet or S.A.D.) is the best example of a pro-inflammatory diet pattern. “ Conclusion: Inflammation is a key physiological process in immunity and tissue repair. However, during aging it becomes increasingly more chronic. In addition, we found that certain foods such as saturated fats have pro-inflammatory activity. Taking this into account, in this review we have proposed some dietary guidelines as well as a list of compounds present in foods with anti-inflammatory activity. It must be taken into account that the amounts used in the studies that detect anti-inflammatory activity of these compounds are very high, and the intake of a single food to achieve its anti-inflammatory power is not feasible. (My Comment: what this means is that it is the overall dietary pattern that matters the most.) However, the combination of foods rich in compounds with anti-inflammatory activity could exert beneficial effects during aging and in pathologies associated with inflammation and in reducing the detrimental effects of foods with pro-inflammatory activity. Therefore, we can conclude that the compounds in our diet with anti-inflammatory activity could help alleviate the inflammatory processes derived from diseases and unhealthy diets and thereby promote healthy aging. Thus, we can use diet not only for nourishment, but also as medicine.” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8389628/ anti-inflammatory diet and health aging https://www.healthline.com/health/5-minute-guide-to-inflamm-aging Bottom Line: We all must age, and how we do so is largely under our own control. To create an anti-inflammatory lifestyle is not that difficult, especially if you put it all together in stages. Start with a clean, whole-food, unprocessed plant-based food plan. And to begin, first focus on what you can add into your menus and use those additions to sort of crowd out the things that are more inflammatory…sugar, refined grains, processed and pre-packaged things. Set realistic goals such as going plant based one or two days a week, or even one meal…just start and gradually work up. It has to be doable so don’t stress. Next, start moving and doing regular exercise at least three times a week…and find what you enjoy doing and focus on that. Then add activities that de-stress you, whether that is socializing, church, meditation, prayer, yoga, etc. Overall, shift your attention to giving love to things that love you back. Sugar, drive-thru and processed food like thingies do not love you back but apples or kiwis or berries or veggies do. Sitting around does not love you back but going for a short walk after a meal does love you back. Hang out and give love to the people you really like to be with, they will most always love you back. Create a love you back lifestyle and see how you feel.

Health News Update: Blocking Internet on Smartphones Improves Mental Health

By Mark Smith • August 18, 2025
Hello everyone: I frequently hear about mental health issues with the people in our practice. They could be experiencing depression, or anxiety, feel flat, can’t focus or sustain attention, or may not feel well in general. These comments can come from anyone of any age…I can hear from parents about their kids, or it may be themselves experiencing these feeling. So, when I read this paper, it felt important to share it because we all seem to have mobile phones. Here is how the paper is summarized: “Concern about how smartphones affect users is widespread: half of American smartphone users—and 80% of those under age 30—worry that they use their device too much, and correlational research suggests that smartphone use is negatively related to mental health and cognitive functioning. However, few large-scale experiments have tested for causal effects. We report such an experiment, finding that blocking mobile internet for 2 weeks reduces smartphone use and improves subjective well-being (SWB) (including life satisfaction and positive affect), mental health (more than antidepressants), and sustained attention (as much as being 10 years younger). Despite the many benefits mobile internet offers, reducing the constant connection to the digital world can have large positive effects.” https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/4/2/pgaf017/8016017?utm_source=klaviyo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=%28Email%20-%20Chris%20Kresser%20General%20News%29%20Chris%27s%20Friday%20Favorites&utm_term=randomized%20controlled%20trial&utm_content=randomized%20controlled%20trial&_kx=fARhTo_gi8X3B_2-MaeO_RyzUl9tvT3tr4re-Dy7cNQ.my75y6 Bottom Line: It seems like a smartphone ‘timeout’ can be very beneficial for mental, emotional, physical health and can be an important part of stress reduction. The world today, with nearly instant communications, the almost constant bad and anxiety promoting news, and the fast pace of data consumption can add up to significantly stress us out and pull us down…or just simple keep us distracted. From what I can see, a ‘timeout’ may be just what the doctor ordered.
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