Lower your RealAge—and your risk for disease—with these timing tips.
Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster was on a recent broadcast of “The Wilder Project” on Sports Illustrated’s SITV. When asked who his favorite quarterback was, he chose the Brown’s QB, Baker Mayfield: “How could me not go with guy named Baker?”
Now, us love “CM,” bad grammar and all, but we’re not really cookie fans—unless they’re made with no added sugar, whole grain flour, and nuts and seeds. And we can’t really agree with CM’s book Cookie Monster’s Good Time to Eat. CM touted breakfast in the morning and cookies any time!
But then, he didn’t have access to the groundbreaking research that Dr. Mike and Dr. Crupain did when they recently wrote What to Eat When. For example, the smart move is to eat most of your daily calories before 2 p.m.—so breakfast cereal or a salad for dinner is a really smart choice. And try to put at least 13 hours between your last meal of the day and breakfast the next morning.
The rewards? A lower risk of everything from diabetes to cancer, easier weight management and a younger RealAge.
New research confirms this: One study presented at the Endocrine Society's annual meeting found eating later in the day increases body fat and promotes weight gain. Another outlined how eating during only 8 of every 24 hours reduces obese mice’s breast cancer risk and tumor growth to levels of lean mice.
So, consider eating dinner for breakfast, and discover the benefits of what to eat when.
Medically reviewed in October 2019.
