The Nutrient: Time-restricted eating, Protein absorption, Ketamine

Research

Time-restricted eating with or without low-carbohydrate diet reduces visceral fat and improves metabolic syndrome: A randomized trial

Does restricting your window of eating, even while keeping the same number of calories, help you lose weight? This study found that, yes, it does. What about subcutaneous fat, visceral fat, blood sugar, cholesterol, and uric acid levels? Yes, it helps with that, too.

This randomized trial separated people into three groups for 3 months: low-carb (<130 g/day), 8 hour time-restricted, and a combination of low-carb and time restricted eating.

Here are the main findings:

• All three interventions significantly reduced body weight and subcutaneous fat.
• Time-restricted eating provided more benefits on visceral obesity and cardiometabolic outcomes than the low-carb diet.
• A combination intervention led to more weight loss compared with low-carb or time-restricted alone.

The low-carb group lost about 5 lbs. in 3 months, whereas the group eating a time-restricted and low-carb diet lost about 11 lbs. in 3 months. This combination eating style also led to lower blood pressure, lower subcutaneous and visceral fat, lower cholesterol, lower uric acid, and lower blood sugar. Show me a drug that can do that.

Takeaway
Here's a strategy where you don't have to starve yourself to lose weight: change the time of day that you eat (IE only eat from 10am-6pm) and limit carbs. My favorite finding from this study was how 82% of participants said they were willing to continue this way of eating, suggesting it's effective and sustainable.

News

You Absorb Slightly More Protein From Meat vs. Plant-based Alternative

"A new study finds that plant-based meat proteins aren’t digested quite as well as those from chicken breast, although the difference is slight. Experts say plant-based diets have many health benefits, and there are many vegetable protein sources to choose from."

Of course it's possible to get adequate protein from a vegetarian diet, but it takes more work, and you need to be conscious of unhealthy additives in meat substitutes. A veggie burger should be made with veggies. Here's a detailed article on how much protein you need.

Article

Is Ketamine the Secret to Treating Depression?

"The research is most robust when it comes to treatment-resistant depression. This is when a person diagnosed with major depressive disorder does not respond to anti-depressants after at least six weeks of use. It can be a life-threatening condition, and is experienced by an estimated one-third of patients with depression."

If you really want to dive into the research on ketamine I suggest you listen to Dr. Peter Attia interview ketamine researcher Celia Morgan, Ph.D. Or you can read the show notes here.

Words of the week

"Here are five losing strategies that trip us up [in marriage]: 1. Needing to be right 2. Controlling your partner 3. Unbridled self-expression 4. Retaliation 5. Withdrawal."
–Terrence Real in The New Rules of Marriage

Take care,

Dr. Rondo