Most predators only eat once a day at most. They hunt when hungry, eat a lot, then nap the rest of the day. Hunting for animals is tough. It’s definitely not something you can do three “square” times per day or all day incessantly. Most predators also happen to very lean and lithe. It’s hard to hunt when you’re carrying dead weight.
Us omnivorous humans are predators too. We we’re built to stuff our selves at a specified time morning, noon, and night. At best, our caveman ancestors ate a fresh kill once per day (maybe stretched out over the few hours that the unrefrigerated meat would remain fresh,) and maybe grazed briefly on nuts an berries when available. I’ve added a new book to my reading list, The 8 Hour Diet. I haven’t read it yet, but I understand it is about intermittent fasting–more of an eating schedule, rather than a diet. The idea is that the human body is functions better when you eat less often. The easiest IF diet is simply controlling all your eating to an 8 hour window; basically a 16 hour fast every day. It’s really not hard. It’s as simple as skipping breakfast and eating lunch and dinner in the same half of your waking day. Here are some of the benefits of IF.
- Fat loss. With your body devoid of fattening carbohydrates, it has to seek fat for energy. This means the excess lard on your body get burnt. A person who fasts periodically will find that he or she can maintain a lean body even when indulging from time to time because the body is trained to seek fat first.
- Muscle Gains. The body produces more growth hormone when fasting. This means particularly great gains when exercising during a fast.
- Slows growth of cancer. Cancer cells need fuel to grow. Their fuel is the glucose from the food you eat. When you fast, your body goes into protective mode. Your body needs glucose for energy, so there is less for cancerous cells to thrive. Essentially, they start to starve.
- Longevity. Energy-restricted brains have shown to resist degeneration. This means less chance of Alzheimer’s.
This is my kind of diet. Eat whatever I want, just not when. I think I can live with that.