It's not chock full of hard scientific evidence, and I think I have heard this idea before concerning the food + tired feeling, but nonetheless interesting.

Via HumanNatura.org

Feast-Fast Eating For Superior Health

A Switch to One Large Evening Meal Each Day May Offer Significant Health Improvements


Greg Battaglia © 2006

Being a part of the HumanaNatura community, we all aspire to achieve optimal levels of health and vitality through the use of evolutionary health practices. The foods that we eat are composed of the raw materials that humans are designed by nature to eat, the exercises we engage in mimic the activity patterns of our ancestors, and we strive to obtain and maintain healthy sexual and social lifestyles. The area that I want to focus on in this article is the topic of nutrition and diet, but more importantly on meal frequency.

When viewing meal frequency through an evolutionary scope, one can easily conclude that humans certainly did not evolve to consume food very frequently. In nature there is no absolute guarantee that food will be available or when it will be available. It is likely that humans would have been subjected to many hours or even days without food throughout the entirety of our evolution. It is also likely that when food did become available, for example, after a vigorous but successful hunt, that our ancestors would have consumed a large quantity of calories to make up for the deficit created during the fast. Once a kill and any gatherings were completely eaten, the fast would then begin once again and this cycle might continue as the basic template for a typical hunter-gatherer (H/G) eating pattern.

This same logic is consistent with the fact that many humans find it difficult to exercise on a full stomach. The question that must be asked in order to find the solution to this problem is: Why would H/G’s pursue food? The answer to this question is obviously because they were hungry! It only makes sense that H/G’s would exercise (hunt and gather) on an empty stomach because hunger is what initially motivated them to seek out food in the first place. It is therefore reasonable to assume that the human body will perform better both mentally and physically in a fasted state, due to the heavy reliance on this ability during the Paleolithic era of human evolution. During a hunt, humans would be required to be physically light and agile and mentally sharp in order to be successful. People who could not do this did not survive and ultimately failed to pass their genes on to the next generation.

The fact that people are more adapted to a feast-fast feeding cycle also may help to explain why modern humans have such a tendency to be sedentary. Since the advent of agriculture, the availability of food has become more constant. Rather than periodically hunting or gathering food, people now simply need to hop in their car, drive to the nearest grocery store, and are immediately supplied with a plethora of easily accessible, high calorie foodstuffs. The fact that modern people eat whenever they please removes feelings of urgency for hunting and gathering (exercise and other activity) and greatly influences our sedentary lifestyle. It is my contention that if modern people were to adopt a more evolutionarily appropriate meal frequency, they would also regain the desire to be active, resulting in a simultaneous improvement in both diet and exercise patterns.

So the central question is: How often should I eat in order to mimic the meal frequency that I would be presented with in nature? The answer to this question needs to be expressed as a range, since there was likely fairly high variation in food availability in different regions of the world and at different times of the year during our ancient life in nature. For instance, H/G’s living in Central Africa would normally have a much larger variety of plant food sources that could be consumed between hunts, reducing the fasting period. However, H/G’s living in Alaska would be much more dependent on animal sources for most, if not all, of his calories, which would result in longer fasting periods due to the inability to snack on plant foods between catches.

Loren Cordain, a leading researcher in Paleolithic nutrition, has concluded from studies done on modern day H/G’s, that the natural meal frequency for humans is characterized by one large feeding a day, which is consumed at night. This follows logic, as it would make sense that H/G’s would hunt during the day and then eat one large meal after a successful hunt. This eating pattern is probably conducive to proper sleeping patterns too. Meals tend to raise and then lower blood sugar levels and cause one to feel tired and lethargic, which is often seen in individuals who eat three large meals a day. The fact that meals tend cause one to feel tired is evidence enough to suggest that eating large meals during the day will greatly increase the likelihood one will avoid exercise due to lethargy. It is also supportive of the single large nighttime feeding, as a feeling of tiredness and exhaustion is appropriate to prepare one for sleep.

It is also important to note that a feast-fast eating pattern has been indicated in the scientific literature to decrease the occurrence of Syndrome X diseases (heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, etc) and increase life span in laboratory animals. What these studies have found is that by putting mice on a day-on/day-off feeding cycle, researches were able to increase their life span by as much or more than mice on a calorie-restricted diet (which has already been shown to be life-extending versus higher-calorie diets). The studies also observed a reduction in blood sugar levels, insulin levels, and improvements in blood lipid profiles, suggesting that intermittent fasting may be an effective tool in the prevention and treatment of diseases of modern civilization. Studies are currently in progress on squirrel monkeys, close biological cousins to humans, and have so far found similar beneficial health effects of intermittent fasting. Other studies utilizing intermittent fasting have yielded improvements in markers for disease.

With compelling ideas and evidence coming from evolutionary theory, observation of H/G populations, and scientific studies, it would be wise to consider a feast-fast meal frequency as part of the HumanaNatura lifestyle and reduce the frequency of large meals. The evidence seems to suggest that one large nighttime meal per day is appropriate for the human biological design, with fasting or light meals in between. The effects of this pattern of eating is still being studied, but may offer significant health benefits and a more active lifestyle.


Greg Battaglia is a member of the HumanaNatura community

Sources:

Beneficial effects of intermittent fasting and caloric restriction on the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular systems.

Intermittent fasting dissociates beneficial effects of dietary restriction on glucose metabolism and neuronal resistance to injury from calorie intake.

Posted By Greg Battaglia, December 12th, 2006

I prefer to eat three balanced meals a day. Breakfast, to get my metabolism going and give me energy to be alert for my early classes, and lunch because I get hungry by then, and dinner because it allows for a source of nutrients and energy for my body to repair what I've worn out that day while I sleep.

So, three square meals a day seems to make the most sense to me. I mean, if you just ate one meal a day, your body would have a slower metabolism and you'd have less trouble gaining weight and fat. Your body would want to store everything possible and not let any fat, muscle, bone get lost. If this is what you want, then go ahead and eat only one large meal a day at night.

Dr. Eades has some informative posts about this stuff too.

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/?p=278
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/?p=279

I think I usually end up fasting for at least 14-16 hours each day anyway, as I will stop eating around 10PM and I often don't eat my first meal of the day until 12-2PM. In high school I basically did the one huge meal a day thing without realizing it, and I was skinny as a rail. That could have just been my age, though...no way to tell.

I remember a day that I went without eating. It was a Saturday and I was a college student. Up until recently I mistakenly thought that was the most unhealthy day of my life. I was quite thin up until about 10 years ago. Even now, as a low carber, I still eat way more than I did back in the day. Recently, I have been contemplating the possibility of eating one big healthy meal a day.

I have been initiating a 14 - 15 hour fast. I think that is all I can excpect to do sucessfully without passing out . It was difficult yesterday because I actually went 16 hours and I was in a fog. But, today it was notably easier although I went 14 hours instead of 16. My biggest worry is planning this during my regular work schedule. I think that by beginning this during my Spring break will be helpful.

You're doing great! It gets way easier once your body realizes you are changing your schedule. I used to come home from school and gorge myself for about 2 hours, then not eat until I got home from school the next day...the ole bod gets used to it pretty quick after those first few tummy-grumbling days.

What we forget is that we all fast. There is a period of time when we don't eat for several hours that is why our first meal of the day is called breakfast, we are breaking the fast. Extending the fasting period has been benficial as it seems to make me stronger metabolically, just like when I was a kid. Most kids my age were bigger than me, ate more and ate more often than I did. I remember trying to keep up with them -mealwise-but couldn't do it. My body was actually telling me not to do it. I am hoping to get back to my roots and help my body get stronger before I reach my 60th birthday or 35th class reunion, which ever comes first.

There's quite a few people doing IF (Intermittent Fasting) which is along the lines of this concept. We've had (at least) one diabetic person substantially reduce her fasting glucose levels by doing IF. The Warrior Diet is also the same sort of thing.

The link to the IF thread is in my signature.

I'm struggling to get back with it!

feast/fast is similar Warrior Diet: undereating during the at day, and overeating at night.
http://www.warriordiet.com/

I agree with the article and posters. I don't do it myself right now, but like Kallyn fell into a one meal a day routine at different times in my life. Yet I managed to stay very healthy. I agree that paleo people had times of feast/famine.

This is pretty much how I eat, not frequently, not even everday most of the time now, but when I eat at night, I eat huge quantities very fast.

When I don't eat I sleep less, have more energy and react quicker, when I eat at night(usually only at night and maybe left overs the next day) I relax and sleep 10+ hrs.

It's similiar to being on long hunting/camping trips or SERE , your senses, energy levels and alretness increase along with aggression levels, a great survival mechanism.

It sounds interesting. Only eating once and at night. But doesn't that make your metabolism become extra slow so you don't burn fat or have adequate energy during the day? And what about supplements and bone health? Are these important to take only once a day as well?

I've never only eaten one meal a day, but I definitely eat way more on a high fat low carb diet than on the high carb low fat diet. Perhaps if you eat when you're hungry you'll have a higher bone density, more strength, and the ability to think more clearly if you eat whenever you're hungry (ie once or twice a day). I usually get hungry three times a day, so I eat three times a day. I think ultimately your metabolism adjusts to how much you eat, if its something like high fat low carb.

I eat when I am hungry.
If I ever run out of food I hunt or gather, then I will skip a meal, but until then, I will eat when I am hungry and not eat when I am not.

I've been IF'ing for just over 6 months now after finding Mike Eades original Blog entry fascinating. I was apprehensive at first because I got hungry three times a day too, like clockwork. I suppose it shouldn't really have been much of a surprise to find that this habitual 'clockwork' hunger has little to do with real hunger. It is basically habit. After three weeks I found my lifelong morbid fear of being hungry had been replaced by a realization that gradually ramping up the length of the fast I'd (and everyone else too) been doing from bedtime to waking, was actually pretty easy. I made the fast longer by about 20 - 25 minutes every day. At the end of a month I was alternating between a 16 and 20 hr fast, a regime I'm still doing now.

My energy levels, already excellent after four years of VLC, were immediately better and continued to improve, plateauing at the level I enjoy now after the first month. I never had to low carb for bodyfat loss, it was more the health benefits that appealed to me. But after six months of IF'ing I've noticed that the small 48 yr old's love handles I just assumed were typical for a fit bloke my age have all but disappeared. I think the idea that long daily fasts cause human metabolism to slow down is basically nonsense. I think if you restrict calories long term you inevitably slow your metabolism. Heck, our resident CRonie, Matt, positively likes the idea of slowing his metabolism down. But daily long fasts are far too short a time to have any effect on metabolic rate. And particularly if you make the eating window low carb, I can't imagine a better way to encourage bodyfat burning.


There's heaps of well designed and executed research on the health benefits of IF. None of it , however, is on LC IF'ing. So I'm pretty excited to be an LC IF guinea pig. The results so far, are nothing short of astonishing. The writer of the originally posted article, Greg Battaglia, is a regular contributor to the 'Performance Menu' and 'Crossfit' forums, both of which (particularly the former) have a pretty low carb bias. Many of the members of both these communities are now long term IF'ers. They are also body composition zealots. And the greatest muscle growth benefits seem to accrue when they do their (very strenuous) resistance workouts towards the end of the fast.

I'm certainly no gym junkie, but even my very moderate amount of resistance training has produced far more muscle composition improvements during IF than previously on just low carb.

As another regular Performance Menu member put it in one of his recent posts, IF produces health and fitness (including bodyfat percentage) improvements 'across the board'.

I suppose we should'nt be surprised that notions like 'fasting will slow your metabolism and fatburning down' turn out to be wrong. Most of the members of this forum are living proof that plenty of other tired old notions of health and nutrition are due for a big overhaul.

Of course, all the health benefits in the world wouldn't amount to much in my opinion if the dietary approach was difficult to stick to. But I find it remarkably easy. I suppose I should admit that I've always found sticking to low carb easy too. I've never once felt even remotely tempted to 'cheat'. Why would I? So many equally delicious low carb alternatives to choose from . But I was really apprehensive when I started low carb IF that the hunger factor would bring me unstuck really quickly.

Fortunately, I found very quickly that the getting my body accustomed to less frequent eating was not very difficult, and came with a raft of incentive immediate benefits. And I quickly discovered that I'd started to actually enjoy the 'not eating' time too. Coupled with the other stuff, more energy, mental clarity etc, it has become an amazing feeling of freedom from food. 20 hrs is not that long anyway. I mean, your'e asleep for 8 hrs of it anyway . Which leaves 12 hrs holiday from food. Scary at first. But like most monsters, all in the mind.

Hmmm. I am thinking I may want to try this. I already do a 24 hour fast once a week; however, I usually start my fast day with breakfast then don't eat again until breakfast the next day.

I've always heard that ideally you shouldn't eat a big meal before sleeping. I get home around 5:30, and often don't eat until 6:30 or later. Many times I feel like I'm still digesting when I go to bed at 10. Is this unhealthy?

I tried fasting from dinner to dinner once but I didn't like it as well as my breakfast to breakfast. For one thing, I didn't get that nice whoosh on the scale the next day. But I guess if I were going to do IF, dinner is the meal I'd want to eat since I've got to cook for the family anyway.