It has always been a fad for all kinds of diets and routines for weight loss to come into light and shake the media and public, throwing almost everyone looking for THE WAY to lose some pounds in a somewhat faster, short cut and hopefully less suffering manner. Read more about Acupuncture for Weight Loss here. Read also about TCM Aesthetics Acupuncture Slimming here.

Intermittent fasting is the one hot in the limelight now where people advocate to only eat within 8 hrs of the day and then stop any intake for the next 16 hrs. Somehow even medical doctors are promoting that. So what does the ancient says about this?

As I made a quick google about intermittent fasting, it says to me, “limit the hours of the day when you eat, and for best effect, make it earlier in the day (between 7am to 3pm, or even 10am to 6pm.” Now I find it inspiring to talk about this as this post comes after my previous post about TCM Body Clock.

TCM Perspective

So previously we have mentioned that there are right things to do at the right times as different organs have their energy highest and function best during their designated energetic timings. 7am to 9am is the Stomach time and 9am to 11am is the Spleen time. That is why you should never skip breakfast because 7am to 11am is when the transformation of food to energy is the highest and most efficient, providing you with the day’s supply of battery to last you the rest of the day. So in accordance to what I have found from google about intermittent fasting, it is correct that you should eat in the daytime and especially at the morning hours.

How about nighttime?

Well, from 5pm onwards, it will be the Kidney, Pericardium, Triple Burner, Liver, Gallbladder timings which are mostly the detoxification organs. And as I mentioned in my previous post, in ancient times, people mostly stop working and rest after 5pm dusk. So by right, yes you should not eat so much or there is no need to eat a full full meal in evenings.

Monastic Perspective

Which leads me to remember and find it interesting to share about how monasteries are routined and the precepts that monks and nuns hold in terms of their day to day life. There is a precept called “过午不食“ (no meals after noon）, where the monastics will only have breakfast and lunch and not take dinner. Some monastics keep it to only one meal a day in the daytime. This is a tradition passed down as instructed by the great teacher Gautama Buddha. The reason for having this precept is so that the body can be kept healthy and the internal organs function well in preparation for meditation and cultivation of the mind. The timings for intake of food do fit into what intermittent fasting has proposed.

Yoga Ayurveda Perspective

In ancient yoga Ayurveda, it also sees the day differently and break the timings into 6 four-hour zones. Basically I’m not going to go too in depth into this but just know that it is encouraged in this tradition that we should eat the primary meal in the middle of the day from 10 am to 2pm when the fire of pitta dominates, aka the digestion fire is the strongest. Eat later in the day and the body will have more difficulty processing the meal.

Regulation is the key

So all in all, it seems that even ancient traditions support intermittent fasting in a way. But! Do note that in all these traditions, people who have followed such timings have ingrown such timings of mealtimes into their life and take it as a lifestyle or life practice.

For modern urban dwellers, intermittent fasting seems to be another fad that people will take on as and when they feel like it or when they have the illusion of sustaining this type of fasting for a few days and their pounds will shed fast. It is how people view and carry out such practices. You cannot take it as a one time pill just like western medications to give you the short term fast effect that you so desire. It is A LIFESTYLE that you have to adopt.

As I told my patients and clients over my decades long practice, whatever routine or diet or fasting method you take on, you have to take on for life. Switching around such routines, sustaining it short term and then returning to your normal late night suppers will just mess up the body’s routine and signals. With that more health problems can be sustained instead.