Doctor Recommended Health Hack That ACTUALLY Works — Transcript

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1. 0:00It sounds like clickbait, doesn't it?
2. 0:01But there's a powerful psychological
3. 0:03hack with a massive potential payoff
4. 0:05that I share with my patients. And it
5. 0:06has to do with when you brush your
6. 0:08teeth. Get the timing right and you
7. 0:10could significantly boost your health in
8. 0:12terms of improved energy levels, sleep
9. 0:13quality, lower blood sugar levels, and
10. 0:15weight control. And to show you why, I
11. 0:17need to explain intermittent fasting
12. 0:19controversy and the mistakes that we've
13. 0:21now corrected. And yes, this does all
14. 0:23link back to the timing of when you
15. 0:24brush your teeth. And if you want weekly
16. 0:26health research summaries and health
17. 0:28strategies that I share with my
18. 0:29patients, sign up using the link in the
19. 0:31pinned comment. Now, the initial
20. 0:33excitement for intermittent fasting came
21. 0:35from studies on rodents where calorie
22. 0:36intake was restricted to a small window
23. 0:39each day. They found that this feeding
24. 0:41strategy reduced weight, improved blood
25. 0:43sugar control, lowered insulin levels,
26. 0:45and even increased lifespan. And here's
27. 0:47the critical point. Even when food
28. 0:49intake is matched to the control group,
29. 0:52here's why that last point is so
30. 0:54important. We already knew that from
31. 0:55previous rodent studies that restricting
32. 0:57calories extended rodent lifespan. And
33. 1:00we might expect that having a shorter
34. 1:01window in which to eat leads to eating
35. 1:03fewer calories. If true, that could
36. 1:05explain the benefits seen. But in these
37. 1:07time-restricted feeding studies, both
38. 1:09groups of rodents ate the same amount of
39. 1:11food. So it wasn't the amount of food
40. 1:13that was driving the benefit seen, but
41. 1:15the fact that the rodents were eating
42. 1:16within that shorter window in the day.
43. 1:19This finding led to an explosion in
44. 1:20popularity of timerestricted feeding and
45. 1:23people usually call it intermittent
46. 1:24fasting. And even for those who don't
47. 1:26need to lose weight, it was hoped that
48. 1:28if humans also ate within a small window
49. 1:30each day, we too could live longer and
50. 1:32be healthier. So does this eating
51. 1:34strategy offer the same benefits for
52. 1:36humans as it does for rodents? Well,
53. 1:38first we need to understand what's going
54. 1:40on. Why was timerestricted feeding
55. 1:42having this impact on rodents? So when
56. 1:44the rodents were in this fasting period
57. 1:46each day, scientists took biopsies and
58. 1:49they found that a process called
59. 1:50autophagy was occurring in the cells of
60. 1:52these mice. Autophagy is the cell
61. 1:54clearance process where old damaged
62. 1:56components are flushed away so that new
63. 1:58components can be built. The evidence
64. 2:00suggests that autophagy can play an
65. 2:02important role in extending lifespan. So
66. 2:04that sounds really exciting, but we of
67. 2:06course are not rodents. What does the
68. 2:08human clinical research show? Well,
69. 2:10currently we lack the evidence that
70. 2:12timerestricted feeding triggers
71. 2:13autophagy in humans in the same way that
72. 2:15it does for rodents. This might be
73. 2:17because the metabolic syndrome of
74. 2:19rodents differs so much to ours. You've
75. 2:21probably heard of dog years, the idea
76. 2:23that dogs age 7 years for every one
77. 2:25human year. And something similar is
78. 2:27true for rodents. One rat day is around
79. 2:3027 human days. So that means we might
80. 2:32need to fast for several days to see the
81. 2:35same effects that the rats experienced
82. 2:37by fasting for just a few hours.
83. 2:39Especially when you consider that our
84. 2:40liver stores energy in the form of
85. 2:42glycogen and it can take up to 48 hours
86. 2:45to burn through our glycogen stores
87. 2:46before autophagy can be meaningfully
88. 2:48activated. But what about timerestricted
89. 2:50feeding's effects on weight and blood
90. 2:52sugar levels? Well, at first the
91. 2:54research looked promising. A 2020 meta
92. 2:56analysis of human studies suggested that
93. 2:59timerestricted feeding offered greater
94. 3:01weight loss and reductions in blood
95. 3:02sugar levels than diets where people
96. 3:04could eat whenever they wanted. And that
97. 3:06sounds like the results match the rodent
98. 3:08studies. But if we dig deeper, we find a
99. 3:10massive problem. Most of the studies
100. 3:12that looked at time-restricted feeding
101. 3:14had a fatal flaw. The time-restricted
102. 3:16feeding groups ate fewer calories than
103. 3:18the control groups. So to know whether
104. 3:20timerestricted feeding actually helps,
105. 3:22we need to compare groups that eat the
106. 3:24same amount of calories. And that's
107. 3:25precisely what the Cochran organization
108. 3:27did in 2021. Through a careful meta
109. 3:30analysis, they found that in trials that
110. 3:32matched the calorie intake between both
111. 3:34groups, there were no differences in
112. 3:36weight loss or blood sugar levels. So,
113. 3:38the take-h home message here is this.
114. 3:40Any benefits seen from timerestricted
115. 3:42feeding are because we're eating fewer
116. 3:43calories, there's no extra magic
117. 3:45happening. But there is something really
118. 3:47important about meal timing. And the
119. 3:49evidence shows us that most of us are
120. 3:51getting this wrong. And it relates back
121. 3:53to when we brush our teeth. Our bodies
122. 3:55have a natural rhythm called the
123. 3:56circadian rhythm. And we go through a
124. 3:58sleepwake cycle over a period of 24
125. 4:01hours. And it isn't just about whether
126. 4:03we're awake or not. Many other bodily
127. 4:05functions follow this daily cycle. And
128. 4:07this includes digestion. So when we eat
129. 4:10impacts how our bodies handle food. And
130. 4:11for many of us in the west, our eating
131. 4:13follows this pattern. We have a light
132. 4:15breakfast, a medium lunch, and a heavy
133. 4:17dinner. And we're often eating that
134. 4:19dinner relatively late. And even those
135. 4:21practicing a time-restricted feeding
136. 4:22strategy often do something similar.
137. 4:24They'll skip breakfast and pack most of
138. 4:26their calories in the later part of the
139. 4:28day. But this is not the best approach.
140. 4:31Part of the reason why is connected to
141. 4:32weight. Maintaining a healthy body mass
142. 4:35index is a crucial factor in overall
143. 4:37health. And one analysis of over 500,000
144. 4:40adults with a follow-up of 20 years
145. 4:42found the striking connection. The risk
146. 4:44of all cause mortality was 21 to 108%
147. 4:47higher for those with a body mass index
148. 4:50of 30 and above. This is because, and
149. 4:52I'm sure you know this, excess weight
150. 4:54connects to many other important factors
151. 4:55from cholesterol levels to blood
152. 4:57pressure to inflammation. And with an
153. 4:59epidemic of obesity, this is an area
154. 5:01that we have to get right. So, how does
155. 5:03meal timing connect to weight? Well, one
156. 5:05of the first studies to directly look at
157. 5:07this question involved mice. Researchers
158. 5:09fed two groups of mice the same a
159. 5:11highfat diet, but one group ate during a
160. 5:13normal time for mice, and the other ate
161. 5:16within a time that wouldn't be typical.
162. 5:17So, the mice that ate at the normal time
163. 5:19gained less weight. So, does this
164. 5:21pattern hold for humans, too? Well, a
165. 5:23more recent study divided those pursuing
166. 5:25weight loss into those who ate lunch
167. 5:27early and those who ate lunch late. and
168. 5:29the late eaters lost less weight during
169. 5:32the treatment. But this was just an
170. 5:34observational study. Researchers were
171. 5:36interested in the mechanisms that might
172. 5:37be driving the difference. So the same
173. 5:39researchers designed a randomized
174. 5:41control trial with standard meals. They
175. 5:43divided participants into those who ate
176. 5:45lunch at 1:00 p.m. and those who ate at
177. 5:474:30 p.m. And they revealed some really
178. 5:50interesting findings. The late eaters
179. 5:52burned less energy. They used
180. 5:54carbohydrates less efficiently. Their
181. 5:56bodies didn't produce glucose as well.
182. 5:58and the later meal disrupted their
183. 5:59cortisol patterns. And this showed us
184. 6:01that when we eat is critical to our
185. 6:03long-term health. A separate study
186. 6:05looked at blood sugar response after
187. 6:06breakfast in comparison to dinner. The
188. 6:09participants ate the same meal at both
189. 6:10times and the results were similar to
190. 6:12the study with lunch. The meal eaten
191. 6:14later in the day elevated blood sugar
192. 6:16levels a lot more compared to when it
193. 6:18was eaten in the morning. And this isn't
194. 6:20just a matter of blood sugar control.
195. 6:22Additional research found that morning
196. 6:23meals stimulate our body to burn more
197. 6:26calories compared to the same meal eaten
198. 6:28in the evening. Together, these results
199. 6:30point to two important principles.
200. 6:32Timing matters. Earlier the better
201. 6:34because of how our bodies respond. And
202. 6:36secondly, the distribution of calories
203. 6:38matter. Intuitively, since we process
204. 6:40foods better in the morning, having more
205. 6:42of our calories in the morning should
206. 6:44help if we want to manage our weight.
207. 6:46But does the research back up that
208. 6:48second principle? Well, one study
209. 6:50randomized participants into two groups.
210. 6:52One group ate a typical western pattern.
211. 6:54So, a light breakfast, larger dinner,
212. 6:56and the biggest meal was at dinner. The
213. 6:58other group did the complete opposite,
214. 7:00but the total calories eaten was
215. 7:01identical between the two groups. So,
216. 7:03what happened? Well, the bigger
217. 7:05breakfast group lost more weight. They
218. 7:07also saw bigger improvements in terms of
219. 7:08their blood sugar control. The data that
220. 7:10we've looked at so far would lead us to
221. 7:12expect these outcomes, but two other
222. 7:14findings are surprising. First is that
223. 7:16the big breakfast group had a whopping
224. 7:1933.6% decrease in triglycerides. So
225. 7:21triglycerides are a common form of fat
226. 7:23that's found in the blood. Elevated
227. 7:25triglycerides are a risk factor for
228. 7:27heart disease and are associated with
229. 7:29metabolic syndrome. So a drop like this
230. 7:31is a big deal. But in contrast, the
231. 7:33bigger dinner group had their
232. 7:35triglyceride levels rise by almost 15%.
233. 7:38The other surprise was that the big
234. 7:40breakfast group also experienced less
235. 7:42hunger throughout the day. Now, this is
236. 7:44just one small study, so we need to be
237. 7:45careful and we mustn't over interpret
238. 7:47it. So, we need to look at a meta
239. 7:49analysis. And luckily for us, we've got
240. 7:51one. It found that eating more of our
241. 7:53calories earlier helped with weight
242. 7:55loss. The authors cautioned, however,
243. 7:57that there are some issues with study
244. 7:58quality. This is an area where we need
245. 8:00ongoing investigation. But from the
246. 8:03evidence that we have so far, including
247. 8:04a strong connection between later eating
248. 8:06and higher body mass index, it looks
249. 8:08like our best strategy is to reverse the
250. 8:11normal western eating pattern. So, I
251. 8:13tell my patients to eat breakfast like a
252. 8:15king, lunch like a prince, and dinner
253. 8:16like a porpa, and shoot for an early
254. 8:18dinner. But what's early when it comes
255. 8:20to dinner? Well, experts usually
256. 8:22recommend to have our last meal at least
257. 8:243 hours before bed. But the longer the
258. 8:27better. This gives us time to digest our
259. 8:29food so that our bodies can shift into
260. 8:31night mode. If we have an early light
261. 8:33dinner and stop eating, our body focuses
262. 8:35on repair instead of digestion, which
263. 8:37helps to improve sleep quality. And
264. 8:39we've probably all experienced this. If
265. 8:41we eat a late heavy meal, we may have
266. 8:43trouble sleeping. But even if we can
267. 8:45fall asleep, our sleep quality is not
268. 8:47going to be nearly as good. So, a
269. 8:49population-based observational study
270. 8:51shows this problem is common. It looked
271. 8:53at people's sleep quality when they ate
272. 8:54less than an hour before bed. Women were
273. 8:57twice as likely and meant two and a half
274. 8:59times more likely to be awake more than
275. 9:0130 minutes during the nighttime when
276. 9:02they ate like this. A clinical study
277. 9:04also had similar results. It found that
278. 9:06eating closer to sleep had a negative
279. 9:08impact on several parameters of sleep
280. 9:10quality. So eating earlier means we
281. 9:12sleep better and sleep is a critical
282. 9:14time where our bodies are repaired and
283. 9:16restored. Sleeping better means more
284. 9:18energy both physical and mental for the
285. 9:20next day. And now it's time to explain
286. 9:22the hack. We've seen that the best
287. 9:24strategy is to concentrate calories
288. 9:26early in the day and then have our last
289. 9:27meal a long way before bed. But this is
290. 9:30tough to do. Many of us are in the habit
291. 9:32of reaching for a snack close to
292. 9:34bedtime. The solution is to start a new
293. 9:36habit. So half an hour after I eat
294. 9:38dinner, I brush my teeth. This gives my
295. 9:40mind a clear boundary that my teeth are
296. 9:42clean and I'm done eating for the day.
297. 9:44It's super simple but effective. A
298. 9:46couple of weeks and this becomes a habit
299. 9:48that we don't need to think about. And
300. 9:49we automatically fall into a pattern of
301. 9:52eating that's a lot better for our
302. 9:53long-term health. And of course, it
303. 9:55isn't just meal timing that matters.
304. 9:57When we're eating an early dinner, we
305. 9:58need to pay attention to what's in it.
306. 10:00So, make sure to check out this next
307. 10:02video here to discover what foods we
308. 10:04should be prioritizing.