Timing Protocol
What researchers say about when, how and with what to take fasting, and how strong the evidence is.
The verdict on Fasting overall
Strong consensus for
Fasting is worth doing for health.
35 sources: 24 positive, 11 partly
Short answer
Avoid food for at least 1 hour after waking and 2-3 hours before bed (Andrew Huberman). Keep the window at the same place in the 24-hour day to match circadian rhythms. Protein early in the day may help keep muscle.
One verdict, worked out from every counted mention. One dot is one source: a researcher or a study. Tap a dot to see its receipt.
positive partly neutral negative Each researcher and each study counts once per claim, however often they come up.
An eating window early in the day works better than a late one.
5 sources: 4 positive, 1 partly.
Researchers say
4 positive, 1 partly
Rangan Chatterjee, on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 23:48
Positive Video · Opinion
Open the tape at 23:48 →“when I ate late just before bed there was a huge impact and when I ate early my sleep was much better”
Dr. Satchin Panda, on FoundMyFitness, at 1:03:06
Positive Video · Opinion
Open the tape at 1:03:06 →“we suggest that you try to finish that window relatively early so that one thing is you have less chance for consuming too much alcohol”
Dr. Michael Snyder, on Huberman Lab, at 23:05
Positive Video · Their own research
Open the tape at 23:05 →“if you have your bigger meal first thing in the morning, you generally have lower glucose and not later at night.”
Dr. Marie-Pierre St-Onge, on Huberman Lab, at 1:12:18
Positive Video · Their own research
Open the tape at 1:12:18 →“the meals later in the day that were consumed late relative to the earlier version of those meals led to less fat oxidation.”
Andrew Huberman, 2 mentions on this claim
Partly Video
on Huberman Lab, at 48:44 · partly
“you don't want your feeding window to be too close to bedtime.”
on Huberman Lab, at 18:02 · partly
“no eating within 2 to 3 hours prior to bed.”
Studies show
No study counted yet.
Rangan Chatterjee, on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 23:48 Video · positive · Opinion
“when I ate late just before bed there was a huge impact and when I ate early my sleep was much better”
Dr. Satchin Panda, on FoundMyFitness, at 1:03:06 Video · positive · Opinion
“we suggest that you try to finish that window relatively early so that one thing is you have less chance for consuming too much alcohol”
Dr. Michael Snyder, on Huberman Lab, at 23:05 Video · positive · Their own research
“if you have your bigger meal first thing in the morning, you generally have lower glucose and not later at night.”
Dr. Marie-Pierre St-Onge, on Huberman Lab, at 1:12:18 Video · positive · Their own research
“the meals later in the day that were consumed late relative to the earlier version of those meals led to less fat oxidation.”
Andrew Huberman Video · partly · 2 mentions
on Huberman Lab, at 48:44 · partly · Opinion
“you don't want your feeding window to be too close to bedtime.”
on Huberman Lab, at 18:02 · partly · Opinion
“no eating within 2 to 3 hours prior to bed.”
Built from every credited researcher and cited study on each claim.
An eating window early in the day works better than a late one.
Rangan Chatterjee, on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 23:48
Positive Video · Opinion
Open the tape at 23:48 →“when I ate late just before bed there was a huge impact and when I ate early my sleep was much better”
Dr. Satchin Panda, on FoundMyFitness, at 1:03:06
Positive Video · Opinion
Open the tape at 1:03:06 →“we suggest that you try to finish that window relatively early so that one thing is you have less chance for consuming too much alcohol”
Dr. Michael Snyder, on Huberman Lab, at 23:05
Positive Video · Their own research
Open the tape at 23:05 →“if you have your bigger meal first thing in the morning, you generally have lower glucose and not later at night.”
Dr. Marie-Pierre St-Onge, on Huberman Lab, at 1:12:18
Positive Video · Their own research
Open the tape at 1:12:18 →“the meals later in the day that were consumed late relative to the earlier version of those meals led to less fat oxidation.”
Andrew Huberman, 2 mentions on this claim
Partly Video
on Huberman Lab, at 48:44 · partly
“you don't want your feeding window to be too close to bedtime.”
on Huberman Lab, at 18:02 · partly
“no eating within 2 to 3 hours prior to bed.”
Fasting is worth doing for health.
Researchers
Kristen Holmes, on The Diary Of A CEO, at 28:01
Positive Video · Opinion
Open the tape at 28:01 →“consolidate our eating window to 8 to 10 hours we get ourselves like 60% of the way to our our kind of metabolic goals”
Shi Heng Yi, on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 1:10:50
Positive Video · Opinion
Open the tape at 1:10:50 →“fasting is something that I also regard as being something practical because it solves two problems”
Dr. David Sinclair, 3 mentions on this claim
Positive Video
on FoundMyFitness, at 28:51 · positive
“So fasting, I still do that as much as I can for one main reason, and that is that it's going to activate these defenses”
on Huberman Lab, at 14:17 · positive
“by having high levels of insulin all day, being fed, means your longevity genes are not switched on.”
on Huberman Lab, at 24:45 · positive
“what I think was a big mistake was the idea that people should never be hungry.”
Rangan Chatterjee, on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 1:02:07
Positive Video · Opinion
Open the tape at 1:02:07 →“I have seen just incredible benefits when patients who were eating in eating Windows more than 12 hours they move down to 12 hours”
Mark Hyman, 9 mentions on this claim
Positive Video
on The Dr. Hyman Show, at 50:47 · positive
“they all do the same thing they activate the body's repair and healing system so what do they do they decrease inflammation”
on The Dr. Hyman Show, at 02:42 · positive
“nobody should eat uh within 12 hours of their last meal after going to bed that's just that's just a given”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 50:14 · positive
“16 hours is a little bit longer. That can also have benefits.”
on The Dr. Hyman Show, at 01:44 · positive
“long-term fasts have lots of benefits it stimulates autophagy or cellular cleanup”
on The Dr. Hyman Show, at 35:45 · positive
“if you give yourself these periods of temporary starvation right like a 12 hour fast 14 16 it it really activates this self cleaning process”
on The Diary Of A CEO, at 42:25 · positive
“it's important to give yourself a break of 12 hours”
on The Dr. Hyman Show, at 29:26 · positive
“why should you fast at all after 50. well for sure you should and you can and it's helpful”
on The Dr. Hyman Show, at 55:20 · positive
“there's so many benefits to it”
on The Dr. Hyman Show, at 30:34 · partly
“anybody can go 12 hours and i think we should and it's probably good for the baby to do that”
Dr. Satchin Panda, 7 mentions on this claim
Positive Video
on Huberman Lab, at 2:02:51 · positive
“then we saw a significant reduction in that systolic as well as diastolic blood pressure”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 45:00 · positive
“any interval from 8 to 12 hours is good enough if people can stick to it. And we're finding benefits from metabolic disease”
on FoundMyFitness, at 50:10 · positive
“versus eating to this 8 hours, even though it starts at noon, I will prefer the 8 hours starting at noon.”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 1:29:54 · positive
“compressing eating window to a narrow interval is almost like exercise any exercise at any time of the day is always better than no exercise”
on FoundMyFitness, at 37:39 · partly
“So since time was restricted, calorie was not restricted. So that's why we call it time-restricted feeding. And surprisingly, the mice that ate for 8 to 12 hours, they did not become obese, diabetic,”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 08:16 · partly
“demise that ate within 8 to 10 hours were completely protected from all these diseases obesity type 2 diabetes fatty liver disease”
on FoundMyFitness, at 1:08:53 · partly
“if you are doing eight hours' time-restricted eating, it's almost like brushing your teeth twice, flossing your teeth, taking too much care of your health.”
Doctor Jason Fung, 3 mentions on this claim
Positive Video
on The Diary Of A CEO, at 59:53 · positive
“you're getting rid of the old you're bringing in the new it's basically the process of Rejuvenation”
on The Diary Of A CEO, at 1:04:46 · positive
“there's a lot of evolutionary reasons why the fasting might be good for you know bacterial infections taking care of things increasing your energy”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 15:09 · partly
“if you're malnourished, if you're underweight, you know, sure, absolutely. But if you're overweight, if you're type 2 diabetic, that's actually exactly what you want”
Eileen White, on The Drive, at 1:20:07
Positive Video · Opinion
Open the tape at 1:20:07 →“I think they must have learned by trial and error that this was a healthy thing to do”
Dr Sandrine Thuret, on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 34:27
Positive Video · Their own research
Open the tape at 34:27 →“similar effect than intermittent fasting so we did see that both improve a pattern separation”
Dave Asprey, 5 mentions on this claim
Positive Video
on The Dr. Hyman Show, at 00:26 · positive
“skipping breakfast is easier and it's okay to do both it's just from a return on investment thing that it's the most important thing”
on The Dr. Hyman Show, at 40:00 · positive
“getting rid of the weak mitochondria and replacing them with strong ones and so now you've given yourself a power upgrade”
on The Dr. Hyman Show, at 1:31:12 · positive
“fasting can still help it's just a lot easier and it helps more if you eat the right way”
on The Dr. Hyman Show, at 1:41:43 · positive
“that's why fasting is so powerful it puts you back in charge of you”
on The Dr. Hyman Show, at 58:43 · partly
“if you do intermittent fasting every single day and your metabolism isn't up for it it's too much of a stress”
Andrew Huberman, 4 mentions on this claim
Positive Video
on Huberman Lab, at 17:17 · positive
“it's ideal for sake of the fasting related improvements in health,”
on Huberman Lab, at 34:39 · positive
“the sleep related fasting is especially important because of all the cellular repair processes that occur in the liver”
on Huberman Lab, at 1:38:17 · partly
“the eight hour window, it isn't holy, but seems to be a really useful guide to extract the great health benefits”
on Huberman Lab, at 28:44 · partly
“for some people, timerestricted feeding is not going to be compatible with hormone health for them.”
Mindy Pelz, 23 mentions on this claim
Positive Video
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 1:16:12 · positive
“I would encourage her to try to get to that 24 hour so she can create some gut repair”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 2:02:03 · positive
“fasting and estrogen go hand in hand the more you fast the more you cycle fasting”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 12:56 · positive
“every single time they got energy every single time those adrenals healed”
on The Diary Of A CEO, at 20:41 · positive
“you're creating a internal mechanism with time restriction that is going to stimulate a healing process”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 20:07 · positive
“look at it as a therapeutic healing state that every single moment you dip into it, your body is actually starting to build more health”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 11:19 · positive
“I would encourage her to try to get to that 24 hours so she can create some gut repair”
on The Diary Of A CEO, at 19:40 · positive
“they're making ketones testosterone's going up inflammation's coming down hunger might be going away”
on The Diary Of A CEO, at 06:59 · positive
“fasting became this incredible tool that everybody could do”
on The Diary Of A CEO, at 2:03:50 · positive
“about 15 18 hours you're going to start to get the testosterone increase”
on The Diary Of A CEO, at 2:05:41 · positive
“we've talked about are going to start to the healing is going to happen at a much quicker R”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 06:08 · positive
“The more you fast, the more you cycle fasting the way I teach, the more you're going to keep your age-appropriate estrogen”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 1:22:25 · positive
“Your body wants to fast, so the more you train it to do it, it gets easier and easier and easier.”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 1:43:20 · positive
“It is not a fad diet. It is a healing state you put your body into.”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 11:33 · positive
“it's like skimping on sleep. You're missing out on all these healing effects that can really support you metabolically.”
on The Dr. Hyman Show, at 18:47 · positive
“that's why the variation is getting us back to how we're genetically designed”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 33:33 · partly
“if you can get to that first fasting ledge of 15 hours for that 40-year-old woman that is gold except the week before your parot”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 48:36 · partly
“we need to change our fasting behavior when hormones are low we can really fast as long as we want”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 1:56:32 · partly
“estrogen loves when we fast so anytime we want to bring estrogen up low carb more fasting”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 1:19:19 · partly
“it's a time when you can go into longer fast you want to become insulin sensitive during that time”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 1:45:30 · partly
“fasting is a healing State you put yourself in but not everybody thrives in a fasted window”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 2:09:01 · partly
“get to that first fasting ledge of 15 hours for that 40-year-old woman that is gold except the week before your parot”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 1:25:32 · partly
“fasting becomes this imperative tool for perimenopausal women to start”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 1:34:55 · partly
“I would encourage her to try to get to that 24 hours so she can create some gut repair”
Dr. William Li, 2 mentions on this claim
Positive Video
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 1:17:57 · positive
“skipping a few meals a week actually is helpful for your body”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 11:38 · positive
“how and when we eat actually can be also very very important”
David Perlmutter, on The Dr. Hyman Show, at 52:23
Positive Video · Opinion
Open the tape at 52:23 →“which puts your body into a semi starvation state that activates all these anti-aging which is imperative mechanisms”
Dr. Dale Bredesen, on FoundMyFitness, at 31:46
Positive Video · Opinion
Open the tape at 31:46 →“12 hours, that gives you time for autophagy,”
Dr. Pradip Jamnadas, 4 mentions on this claim
Positive Video
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 27:52 · positive
“they're feeling better their guts have better their joints are better their minds are better”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 01:04 · positive
“when i tried fasting i started seeing changes people began to lose weight people's blood pressures came down diabetes got reversed”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 05:46 · positive
“they're getting the benefits of some degree of autophagy growth hormone um bdnf production and mitophagy”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 01:52 · partly
“if you go into a fasting with your regular diet pattern you can have a very nasty experience”
Eric Topol, on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 30:00
Positive Video · Opinion
Open the tape at 30:00 →“giving your body a break from uh metabolizing uh food intake just that works”
Valter Longo, 5 mentions on this claim
Positive Video
on FoundMyFitness, at 59:08 · positive
“the benefits are weaker than the ones that you get by doing the real thing.”
on FoundMyFitness, at 50:55 · positive
“you never develop defense against autoimmunity because fasting always took care of it.”
on FoundMyFitness, at 1:03:57 · positive
“So, that's the power of this, I think, much more than the metabolic”
on The Dr. Hyman Show, at 11:55 · positive
“maybe fasting was the moment where the body went to the body shop and the end the mechanic and everything got fixed”
on FoundMyFitness, at 33:12 · partly
“if you're overweight, or obese, or you tend to gain weight, then you have to go to this two-meal-a-day program”
Peter Attia, on The Dr. Hyman Show, at 1:21:59
Positive Video · Opinion
Open the tape at 1:21:59 →“take sort of the best of dietary restriction and combine it with time restricted feeding and then you get an even more potent tool”
Dr. Pradip Jamandas, 2 mentions on this claim
Positive Video
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 06:54 · positive
“the only thing I know that really helps to bring that insulin level down besides metformin and a few other drugs really is fasting.”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 00:51 · positive
“the body says, "hm, I need to start burning fat." Now, that's what you're supposed to do.”
Ray Cronise, on FoundMyFitness, at 50:43
Positive Video · Opinion
Open the tape at 50:43 →“fasting, which is this overnight fasting, which is has it's point, as you say, hormonally, has it's point.”
Studies
Satchin Panda, Salk Institute, Cell Metabolism, cited on The Dr. Hyman Show, at 21:21
Positive Study
Open the tape at 21:21 →“your blood sugar your microbiome so it can be really good just to not eat”
Satchin Panda and Krista Varady, cited on Huberman Lab, at 30:20
Positive Study
Open the tape at 30:20 →“an 8-hour timerestricted feeding produces a mild caloric restriction and weight loss without calorie counting.”
Satchin Panda, cited on Huberman Lab, at 1:16:19
Positive Study
Open the tape at 1:16:19 →“allowing periods of 12 hours or more each 24-hour cycle where you're not ingesting anything is beneficial for your brain and body health.”
Researchers
Ruth Patterson, 2 mentions on this claim
Partly Video
on FoundMyFitness, at 15:23 · positive
“we actually believe this dietary pattern could have really positive effects on other diseases and conditions,”
on FoundMyFitness, at 12:44 · partly
“reductions in breast cancer, for instance, recurrence, with at least 13 hours of fast. And we really believe that fast needs to start around 7”
Cynthia Thurlow, 4 mentions on this claim
Partly Video
on The Dr. Hyman Show, at 03:11 · positive
“patients that are embracing fasting are going to very likely have improved biophysical markers improved triglycerides HDL”
on The Dr. Hyman Show, at 00:38 · positive
“I like to start with intermittent fasting and describing it as eating less often and depending on the individual and what their goals are as an example a 16 out eight which is 16 hours faster with an eight hour feeding window is a good goal”
on The Dr. Hyman Show, at 17:07 · partly
“we know that there's benefit uh to utilizing fasting as a strategy in the follicular phase when estrogen predominates”
on The Dr. Hyman Show, at 07:44 · partly
“and then and only then is someone really in a position where they can say okay I'm not going to eat”
Tim Spector, 3 mentions on this claim
Partly Video
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 1:10:36 · positive
“a big fan of you know fasting and virtually every religion has had fasting in there as a way of training”
on The Diary Of A CEO, at 37:35 · partly
“this is something that that does work and is right for some people but importantly it's not right for everybody”
on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 1:23:38 · partly
“I'm not someone who believes in multiple day fasting”
Sarah Zal, on The Diary Of A CEO, at 1:08:52
Partly Video · Opinion
Open the tape at 1:08:52 →“can be very good for you. So it can be good for mitochondria. It can be good for uh your hormone balance.”
Chris Palmer, on The Diary Of A CEO, at 1:21:44
Partly Video · Opinion
Open the tape at 1:21:44 →“can fasting play a role 100% yes fasting can play a role”
Dr. Rhonda Patrick, on Huberman Lab, at 1:36:12
Partly Video · Opinion
Open the tape at 1:36:12 →“the metabolic switch is something to not be scared of as long as you're not again going to the extreme”
Fred Evra, on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 50:00
Partly Video · Opinion
Open the tape at 50:00 →“full fasting for long fasting will have faster results”
Jeannette Hyde, on Rangan Chatterjee's channel, at 50:14
Partly Video · Opinion
Open the tape at 50:14 →“I would do the eat in a 10 hour window if you've got a weight issue or a digestive issues”
Dr. Mark Mattson, on FoundMyFitness, at 1:55:15
Partly Video · Their own research
Open the tape at 1:55:15 →“We saw clear, beneficial effects of intermittent fasting on the brain that are independent of calorie”
Michael Easter, on The Diary Of A CEO, at 48:54
Partly Video · Opinion
Open the tape at 48:54 →“health benefits possibly um but I also think that if you're doing these extended fast that could maybe not be great for for muscle mass”
Studies
Rafael de Cabo, NIH, cited on Huberman Lab, at 28:49
Partly Study
Open the tape at 28:49 →“it was only the group that ate within that window that lived longer and dramatically longer.”
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