What time do you have your breakfast? If you’re eating shortly after waking up, according to one doctor’s claims, you’re doing it wrong.
Nutritional scientist and doctor Tim Spector claims leaving breakfast until after 11am could aid weight loss. Speaking at the Cheltenham Literary Festival, the King’s College London professor and founder of the Zoe health app suggested those looking to shed pounds should heed his advice.
“If you have a later breakfast, that will give you some benefits,” he told reporters. “I think we have to rethink all the things we have been told are unhealthy, because there’s just so much new science coming out.”
He continued: “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 9pm, making it difficult to achieve a 14-hour fasting period.
“There is a simple change people can make by shifting their breakfast from 8am to 11am, which actually is more effective than more fashionable fasting diets like 5:2.”
TikTok user Kathy Ooritz followed the advice, claiming it took her just three weeks to shed the pounds. “I don’t eat breakfast until after 11am and I stop eating at 7pm,” she wrote. “What worked for me might not work for you but this is how I lost weight in only three weeks.”
Revealing she lost 10lbs during that period, she added: “For breakfast I eat avocado and egg on wheat bread with my iced coffee. For lunch I eat rice, chicken and beans or a chicken salad. And for dinner I eat a wheat bread sandwich with ham and lettuce and drink [nutritional beverage] Bloom to fill me up.”
She reiterated: “I don’t eat after 7pm but if I want a snack I eat a brownie bar with only 70 calories and drink a lot of water. I do workouts for 25 minutes, four days a week on a StairMaster.”
And speaking on ITV’s This Morning, Dr Julia Jones, neuroscientist and author of the book F-Bomb Longevity Made Easy, shared that not eating breakfast until 11am is a simple tweak that could add 20 years to your lifespan.
Dr Jones said: “Just to give our system a rest, so try and leave 16 hours overnight, fasting, and then eat within an eight-hour period. A lot of research is now showing that we’re just eating too often, and we’re eating the wrong things obviously, but we’re eating too often.
“To give your digestive system a rest, and let other cellular pathways and important housekeeping processes kick in, can help reset those cells.”
It should be noted that intermittent fasting or skipping meals doesn’t suit everyone, with reported side effects such as feeling “dizzy, irritable… headaches, and [difficulty] concentrating”, according to the British Dietetic Association.