Should we be eating like the Romans or the Greeks? The former had only one meal a day, around midday, and the latter, three meals a day, bread soaked in wine for breakfast, a light lunch, and finally a nourishing supper.

The experts are on it

Scientists are studying a variety of issues such as how many meals per day is good for you and how long you should go without food in any 24-hour period.

Emily Manoogian, clinical researcher at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California, and author of a 2019 paper entitled When to eat suggests that going without food for at least 12 hours a day gives the digestive system a well-earned break.

Another researcher, Rozalyn Anderson, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin's School of Medicine and Public Health, agrees and says that fasting puts the body in a different state, where it’s more ready to repair and survey for damage, and clear misfolded proteins. Misfolded proteins are faulty versions of ordinary proteins, which are molecules that carry out a vast range of critical jobs in the body.

The benefits of less sugar

Going without food could also improve our glycaemic response, which is when our blood glucose rises after eating, says Antonio Paoli, professor of exercise and sport sciences at the University of Padova in Italy.

Paoli also says that having a smaller blood glucose increase allows you to store less fat in the body; and having an early dinner and increasing the time of your fasting window, increases some positive effects on body, like better glycaemic control.

Consistently does it

The advice seems reasonable but what is the best way to implement the required change in our lifestyle? The feedback from the experts is that whatever changes you make, be consistent.

Anderson says that the body works in patterns. We respond to the anticipation of being fed. The good thing intermittent fasting does is it imposes a pattern, and our biological systems do well with a pattern. The body picks up on cues to anticipate our eating behaviours so it can best deal with the food when we eat it.

Earlier better than later

Manoogian says that two to three meals a day is best – with most of your calories consumed earlier in the day. Eating late at night is linked to cardio-metabolic disease, including diabetes and heart disease.

She continues, “If you eat most of your food earlier on, your body can use the energy you feed it throughout the day, rather than it being stored in your system as fat.”

In conclusion

Most of the research seems like common sense and that’s not surprising, after all, we have been eating for a very long time and have had plenty of time to work out what’s good for us.

Now that you have a clearer idea of when to eat, how about the best foods to consume? Have a look at bbc.com/future/article/20180126-the-100-most-nutritious-foods. Almonds top the list and there’s plenty to choose from: common octopus, sour cherries or dandelion greens anyone?