Not eating breakfast until 11am could add 20 years to your lifespan - doctor's 'easy' tips
Limiting your eating to an eight-hour window could help boost your longevity, according to a doctor.
Dr Julia Jones explains benefits of not having breakfast until 11am
While longevity can be a difficult goal to achieve, “easy” lifestyle changes could go a long way. Starting your day with breakfast at 11am boosts your longevity with gusto. In fact, this eating protocol could help reduce your risk of serious health problems like type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
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Speaking on ITV’s This Morning, Dr Julia Jones, neuroscientist and author of the book F-Bomb Longevity Made Easy, shared that not eating breakfast until 11am is a simple tweak that could add 20 years to your lifespan.
Dr Jones said: “Just to give our system a rest, so try and leave 16 hours overnight, fasting, and then eat within an eight-hour period.
“A lot of research is now showing that we’re just eating too often, and we’re eating the wrong things obviously, but we’re eating too often.
“To give your digestive system a rest, and let other cellular pathways and important housekeeping processes kick in, can help reset those cells.
“Easy.”
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This eating regimen that the doctor described is also known as intermittent fasting.
While there are many different approaches to this popular diet, eating within an eight-hour window describes "daily time-restricted fasting".
The Mayo Clinic explains that you can eat normally during this time each day.
Whether you decide to have breakfast at 11am or skip straight to lunch is up to you.
What’s more, intermittent fasting could help reduce your risk of various health problems.
The Mayo Clinic states: “Losing weight and being physically active help lower your risk of obesity-related diseases, such as diabetes, sleep apnoea and some types of cancer.
“For these diseases, intermittent fasting seems to be about as beneficial as any other type of diet that reduces overall calories.”
Furthermore, this dietary approach seems to be more beneficial than other diets for reducing inflammation.
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Intermittent fasting isn’t the only habit that can add years to your lifespan, as the doctor explained that eating 30 different plants each week can also help.
Dr Jones said: “It does sound huge but if you think about mixing things, you can mix nuts on kefir - that is fermented, it’s got bacteria in it.
“You can have four or five different types of seeds on a yoghurt.
“It’s that diversity that we’re missing. Over generations, we have lost gut diversity because we eat processed foods and if we eat vegetables, we’ll have carrots and peas.
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“If you can make tiny tweaks to your habits, they’ll become your forever normal. You don’t have to think about it.”
The expert shared that eating 30 plants weekly can also help boost your gut health, which is a “core pillar”.
Other foods that can help in this area include the likes of kombucha, kefir, and kimchi.
Furthermore, the doctor added that adopting these tweaks can start making a difference “within a week”.
