16:8 intermittent fasting
16-hour overnight fast, 8-hour eating window. Not new, monastic traditions have done it for centuries.
Why
A daily eating window of about 8 hours (e.g., noon to 8pm) with the rest of the day fasted. Often improves insulin sensitivity and reduces visceral fat in trials, though the mechanism is largely the spontaneous calorie reduction it produces rather than fasting per se. Easy entry-level intervention.
Slot in your day
How to do it
How
Skip breakfast or skip dinner. Black coffee, tea, water during the fast. No special protocol needed; consistency over weeks matters more than perfection on any one day.
Ideal for
People with metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, or who tend to graze.
Sticking with it
Decide your eating window for the week, not the day. Drift is the failure mode.
Markers this may influence
Evidence
Patikorn 2021 JAMA Network Open umbrella review (11 meta-analyses): intermittent-fasting protocols (including 16:8 time-restricted eating) produced modest reductions in body weight, fasting glucose, and LDL-C vs control diets, the effect is largely mediated by the spontaneous calorie reduction the eating window produces. No clear superiority over conventional caloric restriction.