You Are ‘When’ You Eat?

There are two things that affect weight more than anything else – diet and exercise.  Sure, genetics, gender, metabolism and muscle mass play roles as well, but how much you gain is mostly a function of how much you’re taking in versus what you’re expending in energy.  It’s really as simple as that.

But it’s understandable why so many people are confused about weight gain when so many medical myths find their way into our subconscious.

One such myth is the notion that when we eat affects weight gain.  To this I say the following:  Rubbish!

The notion that late night snacking packs on pounds proves a sad reality in life – that if you repeat a lie often enough, it will eventually be believed.   I know I believed it before I got into natural health, and I’m sure many of you have believed it…or perhaps still do believe it.

And when you have studies pushing these myths, like one recently published in the journal Obesity, it’s understandable why so many people have fallen for this whopper hook, line, and sinker.

The latest disseminator of deceit comes from Northwestern University, where researchers used mice as their specimens.  Over the course of six weeks, they gave the mice carte blanche over their food intake; in other words, they constantly kept high fat foods in front of their faces, allowing them to eat as much of it as they wanted.

There were only certain times in the day, though, that the rats could partake in the high fat smorgasbord.  The feeding frenzy for one group was held during the day, while the other group indulged at night.  Apparently, rats as a species operate on the third shift:  Up and at ‘em at night, fast asleep during the day.

So when researchers found that the rats that ate during the day gained more weight than those that ate at night, they naturally assumed the time of day was the culprit (those that ate during the day gained about 50 percent more weight).

A culprit indeed, for the researchers went so far as to label the time of day in which someone eats as being “right” or “wrong.”

I’ll tell you what’s really wrong:  this study’s results.

For starters, it’s filled with caveats, or disclaimers that may have impacted their findings.  A major caveat is the fact that those that gained more weight exercised less than those that ate at the “wrong” time.  That alone should render these findings null and void.

But another inconvenient truth is that the rats that ate during the “wrong” time of day had a greater amount of fat than the “right” time of day eaters.  And as I alluded to earlier, muscle mass affects the rate in which the body metabolizes calories.  Greater muscle mass, greater calorie burn.  Greater fat storage, lesser calorie burn.  So it makes sense that the “right” time of day eaters didn’t gain as much weight.

Another thing – rats aren’t people.  Sure, rats are often used in studies, and results are often applied to humans.  The human genetic code is much more in line with the monkey, though, and a 2007 study done on monkeys found that their late night noshing had no impact on weight levels.

The one year study was published in the journal Obesity Research in 2006 but presented to the Society for Neuroscience in 2003.

Sources
sciencedaily.com
health.msn.com