Intermittent fasting, also known as time-restricted eating, is where you alternate between periods of eating and fasting during certain hours of the day or certain days of the week. For instance, the 16/8 method involves eating within an 8 hour window and then fasting for the remaining 16 hours of the day, or you could eat for the first 12 hours and then fast for the next 12 (12/12 method), etc. Scientists discovered that eating in a 10-hour window followed by a 14 hour fast each day can reduce amyloid deposits in the brain, which are a key factor in the development of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. When foods are consumed only within this 10 hour window every day, cognitive functions like memory, focusing, and thinking all improve. People are also able to fall asleep more quickly and maintain a better quality of sleep when they practice intermittent fasting. One of the many studies that support these findings was published June 19, 2024 in Cell Metabolism.
While Mrs. White’s health benefited from eating two meals a day, she realized that many people would be slow to adopt this lifestyle. In 1884 she wrote, “It is quite a common custom… to eat three times a day, besides eating at regular intervals between meals; and the last meal is generally the most hearty, and is often taken just before retiring. This is reversing the natural order,” and she recommended that if a third meal be eaten at all, it “should be light, and several hours before going to bed.” She also wrote that “overeating causes a dull stupor” and “benumbs the sensitive nerves of the brain.” [2T 428.1] Wikipedia defines stupor as a lack of critical mental function. Benumb means dazed, confused, and numb.
Many of us have decreased energy, lack of focus, or sleepiness after eating large meals, an experience known as postprandial somnolence or “food coma.” The larger the meal, the worse the symptoms [J. Nutrition, July-August 2019]. Over time, these effects may accumulate. A 2012 Mayo Clinic study found that people who regularly consumed more than the recommended amount of calories had at least double the risk of cognitive impairment than those who ate fewer daily calories, and cognitive impairment is one of the risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease.
She understood that eating too much, too often, and too late in the day are habits that can impair how our brains function while most scientists are only now beginning to understand the many benefits of intermittent fasting.