TRE (time restricted eating) has become very popular in the last 6-7 years and let me tell you, it is not a trend. This holistic tool is a gift to anyone that is willing to make it part of their lifestyle.

I started TRE many years ago when I was researching how to help my mom with Alzheimer’s and how to prevent Alzheimer’s for myself. Amongst many holistic tools recommended by leading doctors and scientists in the Functional Medicine world- TRE was one of the most powerful FREE tools I could implement. It was a little difficult to get started because I, like most people, was a “sugar burner”. I needed to eat every two to three hours in order to feel satiated and feel well.

Since I have reduced my refined carbohydrate intake and eat mostly whole foods, good sources of fat and protein and practice TRE daily, I am now metabolically flexible which means I can switch from burning glucose to ketones much quicker. This enables me to go without food for much longer, it increases overall health span and increases autophagy- which is our bodies natural way of cleaning out senescent cells and recycling used parts. Yoshinori Oshumi won the Nobel prize in 2016 for discovering the mechanism of autophagy.

In my book Two little F Words- Feasting and Fasting Your Way To Optimal Health it explains in detail how to start implementing TRE into your lifestyle. For this post I will keep it very simple and give you the bullet points as to why TRE is so good for your overall health and what body systems and biomarkers can be affected in a positive way.

TRE is actually a type of hormetic stress, this is a good kind of stress because it is for short periods of time and it helps build resilience. But, with that said, if you are already under lots of stress, are under weight, have adrenal fatigue or a chronic infection, you may want to consider starting with a gentle time period until you balance any of those issues. Just doing 12/12 is great. You can also still eat breakfast and practice TRE, often, lately (2024) I am eating breakfast at 9am and dinner by 5 or 6 pm. There are many ways to implement TRE and they don’t have to be strict.

A mistake I made when I started TRE was not eating within an hour of my workouts, now I always recommend for women to try to eat a bit of protein before a workout and eat within an hour after workout, this helps us build muscle.

TRE (Time Restricted Eating) helps with the following: Please note that I have not read any specific papers on endometriosis and TRE but from my experience with stage 4 endo it has helped reduce my overall inflammation immensely.

Supports immune health (longer fasts are different)
Balances circadian rhythm
Reduces the risk of developing Alzheimer’s
Helps in weight loss
Improves blood sugar balance
Improves insulin sensitivity
Improves type 2 diabetes
Improves overall inflammation
Reduces inflammation from endometriosis
Improves energy
Lowers oxidative stress
Supports cardiovascular health
Reduces triglyceride count
Balances cholesterol
Promotes autophagy- autophagy helps clean out the accumulation of senescent cells and improves our overall health. Think of autophagy as our natural in house garbage removal and recycling depot.

Please remember that when you do FEAST, eat nutrient dense foods that satiate you and keep you feeling energetic. Woman need to fast a little differently than men do, Dr.Mindy Pelz is a great resource for women and fasting. This article on How to use Fasting to Support Progesterone is a MUST know for any woman wanting to add fasting to their lifestyle. We must fast according to our cycle ladies and sometimes we shouldn’t fast too long throughout the day.

I am always changing my fasting times up, I can go months fasting 16/8 then switch to 12/12 then 14/10. It really depends on many things such as what you are going through at that time, what part of your menstrual cycle are you in, how much stress are you under, what season it is, your sleep habits and so on. We are cyclic beings, we like diversity and this is how we evolved.

Links and research
The Immunity Fix
Daily Fasting improves health i mice study
Cardiovascular Health and TRE
10 Hour TRE improves metabolic Disease

It can be so complicated figuring out what oils and fats to eat on a daily basis. They can either nourish our cells or damage our cells and cause aging and disease, so it’s kind of important to choose the right oils and fatty foods to eat.

Here is my golden answer whenever I doubt if I am doing the right thing when it comes to my health choices. Nature always provides the goods. What I mean by this is that natural sources of fat such as saturated fat from grass fed animals (not grain fed), organic butter, organic ghee or monounsaturated fat such as organic olive oil, raw nuts and seed or avocado couldn’t possibly be the wrong choice for our health compared to the highly processed seed oils our health advisors have told us to eat for the last 60 years or so.

Nuts and seeds and their oils are not inherently bad for us, the problem is actually the refining process of these seed oils (which oxidize the fats), high heat extraction and the imbalance between omega 3 and omega 6 in our diet. Consumption of high sugar, refined and processed foods mixed with refined and processed seed oils are what increases our chances of atherosclerosis and heart disease.

Top offenders to our health

Canola oil
Safflower oil
Rapeseed oil (grape seed oil)
“light” olive oil
Sunflower oil
soybean oil
Margarine
Vegan “butters”
Cooking with any oil/fat at high heat *ghee is an exception

Top store bought processed food offenders

Mayonnaise
Salad dressing
Nut butters that contain more than just the nut
Frozen french fries
Baked goods

Here are a couple of reasons why I choose to stay away from refined seed oils and go for Organic Cold Pressed olive oil most of the time and some organic saturated fats.

1. Every single one of our trillions of cells are coated with fat, it’s called a cellular membrane. If we nourish our cells with oxidized, highly processed seed oils, that is what our body will be made up of and inflammation will thrive.

2. The 7 Country study by Ancel Keys (this is THE study that made us believe that saturated fat is the cause for high cholesterol and heart disease.) Over the years it has been disproven over and over again for its bias nature, misleading and very faulty research collection. In fact more and more studies are coming out that say the complete opposite, saturated fats in moderation are actually good for the body for many reasons and one of those reasons is because they are much more stable when heated.

3. Despite moving away from saturated fats and moving to seed oils in the last 60 years, we have only gotten sicker with food related chronic diseases.

4. Refined seed oils are oxidized which cause inflammation in the body and aging

5. Saturated fats such as ghee, have amazing nutritional properties that you cannot get from seed oils. I eat ghee mostly for its butyrate content and it tastes delicious. Butyrate is super beneficial for our gut microbiome which is an important biomarker for our overall health and specifically for Alzheimer’s prevention.

6. The Mediterranean diet has been one of the most researched diets and from my knowledge there has never been a study showing that quality olive oil harms the body.

My top fats and whole food sources

Avocados
Raw nuts and seeds
Grass fed beef
Wild caught fish
Organic ghee
Organic butter
Organic cold pressed coconut oil
Organic olives
Organic cold pressed olive oil
* Avocado oil is also a great source, I just personally prefer the taste of others. The fat/oil I use the most is organic, cold pressed olive oil

Here are my final words, eat less processed foods, eat mostly organic cold pressed olive oil saturated fats are more stable when heated and a little goes a long way. Do not cook on high heat (if you do, use ghee), eat more omega 3 rich foods, eat out less and do not buy refined seed oils.

Resources and research papers ?
Read eat Fat, Get thin by Mark Hyman
Watch Fat fiction on Netlfix
Read Immunity Fix by Dr.James Dinicolantonio and Siim Land
Pub Med 2015
Pub med 2020