Is this timed eating technique worth the hype?

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Eating in a time window: how intermittent fasting works. Photograph: Getty
Eating in a time window: how intermittent fasting works. Photograph: Getty

Health and family editor Damian Cullen had already ticked off a long list of diets before he hit on intermittent fasting and three years later, and 16kg lighter, he has stuck to the plan. He eats in an eight-hour window.

At the more extreme end of intermittent fasting, British prime minister Rishi Sunak follows the so called “monk fast” of eating nothing for a 36-hour period every week.

As a way of losing weight, timed eating is probably the weight loss method of the moment; it follows a long list of diets, some of which became wildly popular for a time and then slid off the menu.

In this episode of In the News, first published in March 2024, Damian explains how it works for him. Dietician Sarah Keogh gives the expert view.

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Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan

Bernice Harrison

Bernice Harrison

Bernice Harrison is an Irish Times journalist and cohost of In the News podcast