This might be bad news for anyone who wakes up hungry but, according to a British professor, eating breakfast at 11 a.m. could help you to lose between 2 and 5 kilos.
Should you skip breakfast to lose weight? According to Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, you should postpone breakfast until 11 a.m. to better achieve your weight loss goals. Coupled with a balanced diet, this simple habit could help you lose between 2 and 5 kilos over the months. The epidemiologist presented the results of his research at the United Kingdom’s Cheltenham Science Festival.
A 14-hour fasting period
Why wait to eat? According to the specialist, waiting until 11 a.m. makes it possible to achieve a 14-hour fasting period since the last meal of the day before.
To reach this conclusion, the specialist followed the eating habits of the Hadza tribe, mainly based in Tanzania. These hunter-gatherers have their last meal of the day between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Their first meal of the day is between 10:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m., i.e., 14 hours later.
Cutting down on snacking
The specialist notes that Europeans are eating dinner later and later.
“There are still people, particularly in the north of England, who eat earlier, but generally we have moved towards continental eating habits, having dinner much later like people in Spain and Italy. Even those who don’t do that may end up snacking up until 9p.m., making it difficult to achieve a 14-hour fasting period,” he said after the event, as quoted by The Daily Mail.
“There is a simple change people can make, by shifting their breakfast from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., which actually is more effective than more fashionable fasting diets like 5:2,” he explained.
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