Does anyone have any information/experience of Time restricted eating?
Time Restricted eating: Does anyone have any... - PMRGCAuk
Time Restricted eating
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Rachmaninov2
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PMRproAmbassador
What do you mean by restricted eating?
Isn't that what you do? Eat only between certain limited hours?
I don't do it deliberately - it happens like that! I wondered if there were other forms besides time-restricted.
Hello PMRpro, sorry I should have said time restricted.
I eat lunch about 1.30pm and dinner at 7.45. Breakfast is just a couple of mugs of tea - no real food, just a bit of milk. I also eat low carb - I need to get to very low carb to lose weight but don't have major weight gain problems with pred.
Are you strict about having no snacks in between meals, and do you eat an Anti-Inflammatory diet?
I am trying to research Anti-Inflammatory/Inflammatory foods in order to improve my health.
Not deliberately no. Low carb is antiinflammatory in itself and I don't eliminate so-called inflammatory foods like nightshades. Everyone is different and while there may be certain foods that don't agree with you, something someone else can't eat may be fine for you.
I usually eat quite a lot of potatoes and tomatoes(because I grow my own) and I just wondered if it may have some bearing on the inflammation I have.
Lots of carbs if you eat a lot - potatoes anyway and although tomatoes are pretty low carb it is surprising how carbs mount up!!!
Have not eaten any potatoes since reading on here that they may cause inflammation, and cutting down on tomatoes. Yes that’s another reason why I must stop grazing I need to know exactly how many Calories I am really eating.
As I said somewhere else - you have to find out for yourself which things make you worse. I don't eat spuds because of the carbs, not because they might cause inflammation because they are nightshade vegetables. I did cut nightshades at one time - it made not the slightest difference to the PMR but it did make my diet much poorer! That is where you must be careful reading when it all up on the internet. If you eliminated everything someone somewhere says makes their illness worse you would have nothing left. Find out what affects YOU - most of us find it is sugar and processed carbs. If you test eat it and feel fine - keep eating it. A food diary is a good way to start and make notes of any worsening symptoms etc.
Very sensible advice PMRpro, what you say about a food diary I will do. I can see that I need to get organised!!!
A friend of mine had arthritis pain in her hands and fingers ( notPMR). She cut out the nightshades, potatoes, tomatoes peppers etc, and found pain much reduced.
Hello Bibliomaniac, thank you, I am trying to do the same. The pain is stopping me doing a lot of things which really do need to be done.
Hello HeronNS, yes do you have any more info. please?
Not I! I do not do well with long breaks between meals.
I’m not sure that I would either!
I get weak and shaky sometimes. Other times I get a headache. I don't have a weight problem, other than if you can call being too thin a problem, which at my age it is.... 
However back in the day, when I was healthy and wanting to keep my weight from creeping up, I found giving up a bedtime snack I'd made a habit when nursing my babies was all I needed to do.
Snacking would be difficult for me to give up. Although I do try to snack on fruit, nuts etc. not always successfully.
As long as snacking isn't adding to your calorie count. You could cut the calorie count of the main meals. I eat a substantial breakfast, lunch is very small, but I have something with carbs with mid-morning tea (usually Jane's crackers, do you know them?) and at afternoon tea I have something with protein, usually a small handful of nuts, so in a way I'm stretching my lunch (cheese and dried fruit) into the entire middle of the day between breakfast and supper. Sometimes I have an apple, apples are surprisingly filling. And my supper is usually quite filling because we eat a lot of veggies or salad and only a small helping of rice, potato, pasta or bread. At bedtime I have one of my doses of calcium (helps me sleep better) and a small glass of plain kefir, or a big tablespoon of plain yoghurt.
I am noting your eating plan it will help me to decide what foods to include in mine. No, I don’t know Jane’s crackers.
I want to reach the point where I understand my dietary needs, it will make life a bit easier. I guess it will be a gradual process.
With pred my blood sugar went quite high. I promptly gave up all carbs from grains. That was when I became aware how much wheat I consumed. Over the years I've gradually started to eat bread again, mostly because my son has been keeping us supplied with "pandemic sourdough" loaves, but my sweet tooth is very easily satisfied so I don't have a problem with craving sweets which I know a lot of people do. And I've never eaten bowls of cereal for breakfast and for bedtime snack again - ovwer five years now! I am a bit of an evangelist when it comes to fermented foods, they are good for us (or for most people, I think there is an uncommon condition which means some people can't eat fermented foods, something to do with histamine).
I only eat wholemeal bread, is sourdough as good for this inflammatory condition.
It would be good to eat a different type of bread. I eat live yoghurt and have looked at kefir in the supermarket but not sure that it would suit me as I have hay fever.
The histamine thing is not directly to do with allergies but something to do with the lack of an enzyme (or something (too lazy to look it up) in some people, which means histamine buildup causes problems. I doubt it's very common.
Thank you HeronNS.
Sourdough bread can be made with any kind of flour, it's just that it is risen through a culture rather than a packet of yeast. I'm not sure of the actual benefits, but as my son is baking it and giving us a good share, who am I to object? I do have some idea, however, that the use of the natural culture makes the bread itself more digestible. If you think about it, fermented foods have been partially digested by micro-organisms, so part of the process of our body's being able to absorb the nutrients has already taken place. Some people can consume yoghurt or kefir and cheese, but not liquid milk. Fermenting also produces important nutrients. For example, Vitamin K2 is especially abundant in a Japanese fermented soy called natto. Natto is actually the source of the supplements we can buy.
Most of the improved digestibility is due to the time it takes - modern commercial bread is made quickly with a lot more yeast to get a lighter result but there isn;t time for gluten to be broken down in the same way
healthline.com/nutrition/so....
I too heard that sourdough is more easily digested and have been making it for nearly three years. Usually wholesale. Sourdough pizzas though (white flour and tomatoes) are probably my big treat these days (most weeks).
I now make my own kefir. It has a stronger taste than the bought variety which is more like a drinking yogurt. With my home made kefir a add about half a banana a small handful of berries and a good chunk of frozen spinach (or fresh if I have it). I find this makes it far more palatable and really yummy.
Like tomatoes (above) even fruit will soon cause the carbs to mount up - especially things like apples and bananas.
I love bananas, have been having one every day for breakfast. I am probably having more calories than I realised!
I have been using TRE to try to avoid weight gain while taking prednisone. It is also supposed to reduce inflammation. I feel it has improved my health all the way around. Google Dr. Satchin Panda for interviews and Tedtalk. You can even participate in his clinical trial at mycircadianclock.org.
Hello Xlator, thank you for the positive info. I will certainly Google Dr. Panda.
Dr Panda wrote a quite readable book “The Circadian Code”. I was trying to do TRE with all food in ideally an 8 (but in reality) 10 hour window. Then I had to start taking pred so need to eat earlier in the day and it’s just not working for me at the moment. I also fast two days a week and then I do manage to stop eating earlier. The book covers much more than eating though with suggestions about when to take meds.
Hello DogAgilityObsessed, thank you I will try to get the book.
Unfortunate that the Pred stopped you continuing with the TRE. I read that fasting can be of benefit, although I’m not sure if I could manage it, especially two days a week.
Does fasting help, or is difficult to know?
Fasting does not necessarily mean no food - it means a restriction. The famous 5:2 diet is 5 days normal eating and 2 days, preferably not consecutive, limiting the calories to 5/600 for women, more for men. Because the calorie restriction isn't continuous the body doesn't shut down into starvation mode, which is how it works. Careful selection of the meals means that you can get a lot of food bulk for 500 calories so you don't feel hungry and one of the effects after a few weeks is that you also want less to eat on the non-restricted days. I used it for a few months when I first cut carbs - it was great for reprogramming portion size expectation!
Michael Mosely recently did a short series on losing the lockdown bulge and reducing the risks re Covid due to diabetes and obesity
channel4.com/programmes/los...
where they showed how to cook meals within the 800 calorie restriction. It is safe to do for short periods without close medical supervision. The NHS has just announced they will introduce the Newcastle 800 calorie diet using shakes and soups which lasts 12 weeks and has been shown to CURE Type 2 diabetes (I'm quoting Dr David Lloyd on Sky this morning) just through considerable weight loss and the reprogramming of the insulin sensitivity of cells.
Thank you for enlightening me PMRpro, so I am aiming for approx. 1,200 per day on normal days and approx. 500 on fasting days?
At present as I am not on any medication, the reason I want to modify my diet is only for the inflammation and to be ready if and when I am prescribed Pred. Should I speak to my GP before changing my diet and starting to take supplements? I have just started taking Seven Seas Omega-3 Fish Oil + Magnesium.
Are you really only eating 1200 cals a day? That is already well below the daily calcorie requirement for most people. In the 5:2 diet they weren't calorie counting on the non-diet days, it really was eating normally. But overall the really important aspect of diet is to get rid of processed carbs in the diet and eat good quality food.
I think I may be eating more than that, but I thought that would be good to aim for. I’m sure 1200 was what I stuck to after putting on weight when expecting my son. I’m shocked at how ignorant I am about healthy eating compared to everyone who has responded to me.😟
Been at this a long time - it is talked about a lot! And I'm a scientist, my brain has a built in automatic food group assessment section 
Been there, done that! The 5 days are not necessarily normal...it kind of depends what your normal is...you should still not eat over what is anon weight gaining number of calories. I do Time restricting eating breakfast at 10 am small lunch at 1.30 to 2 ISH and then finish evening meal before 6pm. I've lost 4 lbs and OH who really does need to shift some lbs has.lost 6lbs. Been doing it now for about 3 months, not religiously all the time as early eating not always very sociable! But the aim is 16 hours fasting and 8 hours window for meals. I find this much better than the 5:2 or any other diet...and I've probably done them all from the egg diet, cheese and tomato and water, counting calories, keto, F plan....remember that? Beverley Hills, Cambridge formula, Atkins, Slim fast...I chickened out of the cabbage soup but OH insisted on doing it.....too much information to describe the outcome! Of course I try to be low carb. I take my pred with a good spoonful of Greek yogurt as a 50 calorie snack, if taking pred is a snack🙄, apparently doesn't break the fast.
That's interesting - have always wondered what is defined as breaking the fast!!
I have been able to take Pred on an empty stomach, so the 8/16 TRE is working really well for me. Fortunately I am still losing —rather than gaining —weight. I also limit (not entirely!) sugar, white carbs, grains, and legumes based on what I read in Dr. Steven Gundry’s book, The Plant Paradox. There is so much contradictory info out there about autoimmune and inflammatory diseases that it’s hard to know what might make a difference.
On a personal note, I am also dog-sport obsessed. I did a little agility, but then I got hooked on scent-work.
Hello Xlator, I’m glad the 8/16 TRE is working so well for you and that you are losing weight, I don’t want to loose any really (maybe just a bit around the tummy.) I have cut out alcohol, coffee, sugar, white pasta and rice already. I think The Plant Paradox is another good book suggestion, thank you. You are so right, about contradictory info. I think getting my diet right is going to take some time!
Hopefully you are feeling well enough to be able to continue with the dog-sport.
My diagnosis was pretty straightforward once I sought help, as I don’t have many other health issues. It sounds as though you have a number of complicating factors, and I hope you can get some answers and relief soon.
Day 14 on 10 mg of Pred and still no pain.! I’m just wiped out if I overdo it. I don’t know if this is because I got so weak and out of shape in the 5 months before I was diagnosed, if it is the fatigue that comes with PMR, or just plain depression. In any case, I am working with my dogs and cycle again, and that does wonders for my soul!
So far 3 months in and my weight has just about remained the same (slightly overweight). Blood sugar levels fine. I’ve cut out refined sugary carbs. I still eat about 500 calories on fast days. If I didn’t have a husband who likes cooking and eating in the evening TRE might be easier 😂
Yes, difficult to resist the temptation!
Especially when the steroids make you so hungry
I have got that to look forward to!!
I’m still waiting to be prescribed Pred.
I get it! My husband’s cocktail “hour”makes it difficult to finish eating by 7 PM too, but he is trying his best to accommodate me on this journey.
Sugar ans dairy are supposedly inflammatory. I took them off my diet.
It s also worth getting a food intolerance blood test.
Otherwise, if the pred provokes food craving, Nuts and red fruits like berries have always done the trick for me, or a glass of water. Often we mistake hunger with thirst.
But like PMR pro, a regular meal pattern helped me.
Hello Zozoi, I love dairy It would be difficult to do without cheese! What do you eat instead?
Would the GP do a food intolerance blood test?
I am trying to up my intake of liquid to 8 glasses a day including water, juices and milk. Yes, you are right about mistaking thirst for hunger.
I tend to be a grazer, but will take on board that regular meals are best.
My diet sheet supplied at the hospital after GCA/PMR diagnosis: no snacking, low sugar, low salt, restrict carbs. It was hard, I was hungry a lot. But got used to it (three years plus now). For fasting, I use 'micro-fasting' (as proposed by Dr. Chatterjee's 'The 4 Pillar Plan' book) which means, basically, 12 hours no eating per day i.e. last meal, say, at 7pm. Breakfast next morning at 7am. This is not to say some cheating allowed (but don't let it get out of hand). Oh, yes- hospital also suggested weekly weighing just to keep tabs . And, as above PMRpro, regular meal pattern.
Hello FRnina, the diet sheet should be given to all GCA/PMR patients I’m not sure that it is, so helpful.
Again another helpful suggestion, The 4 Pillar Plan is something I will look into. I can see that having a regular meal pattern is necessary!
A good idea about weekly weighing too.
I started fasting 16 hours a day 7 weeks ago and low carbs. Pain has halved no weight loss
Hello carolBF, I’m glad your pain has halved that’s very encouraging for me.
I follow Dr Michael Mosely’s Fast 800 diet which advocates time restricted eating, the science behind it is interesting, his book is worth reading and on Amazon .
Hope that can help .
Hello Lone gardener, I have watched a couple of Dr. Michael Mosley’s television programmes and am interested in reading his book.
Thank you for helpful information.
Hi Rachmaninov2,
I have been experimenting with intermittent fasting with 16 hour gaps over the last 3 weeks. I put on some extra weight during the lockdown and I wanted to lose it. I was also inspired by a possible impact fasting can have on blood sugar, my ongoing concern while taking steroids. I am losing about 1kg per week. I eat a large breakfast and lunch is now my main meal. I also have a hot drink at 11am and a coffee (decaf) at 4pm. I don't eat dinner or snack. I make myself a cup of herbal tea and join my husband and daughter at a dinner table. I make sure I don't eat more than 4 portions of (preferably low GI) fruit. Over the past months of my PMR journey I have stopped eating refined sugar, gluten and dairy which initially resulted in a 10kg weight loss. Lack of physical activity was probably the main reason for the recent weight gain.
I have looked at the AIP protocols and am pondering how to go about it if I try eliminating more foods from my diet (temporarily of course). Eliminating legumes and tomatoes is my main stumbling block and I don't feel ready for that step right now.
My main tip would be to eat really well while introducing incremental changes over a long time period. Good luck and I hope it will work for you.
Hello MoaningViolet, 16 hours seems like a long time! You are being very disciplined, do you think you will be able to sustain your current eating plan? Can you tell me what low GI is and do you mean 4 portions a week? I am still learning. I’m afraid I have not been having very much exercise over the past few months which does concern me. It’s something I need to address along with a different way of eating.
AIP protocols is a term that I am not familiar with, but what you say about eating well and making incremental changes over a long period makes a lot of sense, I realise that I have a lot of learning to do!
Thank you for your good wishes. Good luck to you too.
The answer to your first question is, I don't know. I had a few evenings when I wanted to eat something, but managed to resist and this was on a few days when I had more carbohydrates that usual (black rice or non-gluten pasta). I am not really hungry in the evenings any more and as we are not entertaining or going out for a meal, it is easier to stick to this plan. I started getting ready-meals for my family for dinner a few times each week and I feel a lot more relaxed now that all that extra cooking is no longer a problem. Remember that 8 out of the 16 hours I am asleep and it is just a few hours after 6pm when I am likely to feel any temptation.
4 servings of fruit is per day. I always have the same breakfast which includes often frozen (or not) berries and an apple (with lots of other things, it may be boring to list them all). So this would account for 2 servings of fruit. I try not to eat more than one or two other pieces of fruit with lunch.
GI is glycemic index which you can look up online where explanations would be better than the one I could give you. Low GI fruits are berries, high GI are bananas, for example.
AIP is auto-immune protocol. Again, online explanations would be better than mine. In a nutshel, it is a restrictive way of eating with all potential irritants removed from one's diet and then slowly reintroduced to see whether one has an adverse reaction to them. There are a few variants out there and I prefer the ones that allow me to continue eating beans and tomatoes. 
I have been doing this since March, have lost 51 pounds and inflammation went down so I could taper down below 15 which I had struggled to do before. I eat between 10 and 6 each day. Is also good for reducing blood sugar levels
Hello Susan1705, thank you for the positive info. well done on losing 51 pounds and so good about the inflammation and tapering down to below 15👍
I wasn’t expecting so many informative replies to my post and so much support. It really helps.
Hello, ive been doing the 16hr fast for a while now, and when I started it, I lost nearly a stone in a month! Ive put a bit back on, but not much. I eat my evening meal about 8pm, then nothing till lunchtime the next day, apart from a glass of kefir to take my pred with (currently on 5mg after nearly 2 years).
I eat what I want for dinner, incl a glass of wine, but mostly smaller portions - I Iove food, but dont have a big appetite.
Its the easiest regime for me, as although you are fasting for 16 hrs, you are in bed for around 8 of them! Im also very active,hiking around 30 miles over the week, 2 big hikes and smaller ones on working days. Hope this helps!
Hello LWNE, the eating plan has worked well for you, well done on the weight loss and getting down to 5mg.
Yes, when you put it like that 8 hours of the fasting you are (hopefully) not awake.
You are doing all the right things, hiking included.I have to start doing some exercise again soon.
Your message has been very helpful, thank you.
tried all sorts of regimes,any restriction on calorie intake to below your body requirements will ultimately achieve weight loss.ok,but I struggle and get food obsessed,I can,t sustain regime satisfactory.I work best when I don't think about food at all,just a sort of sideways glance at what to eat then I don't get ravenous and am able to sneakily reduce the intake ok.difficult to explain but helps me.Caveat..the food available is ,of course ordinary nutritious foodstuffs,ie,fruit,nuts,animal protein inc fish,dairy pasta,rice spuds oils etc etc.There are cakes and biscuits and charcuterie but other person eats those..mostly!Strange but if it's all available[including chocolate] I can leave it .! good luck.
I started intermittent fasting about 3 weeks ago. I also eat low carb. I am still learning but so far it is working great for me. I have felt better and it has been easier tapering. I am still working out when best to take my steroid since it need to be with food. Right now I eat at 10 with half my prednisone. I have a snack a couple hours later and then I eat dinner around 5 with the other half of my prednisone. During the fasting part of the day it is water, black coffee or plain tea only. I have been reading info from Dr. Fung in Canada and Gin Stephens. There are podcasts by both too. The key takeaways are you want to keep your insulin levels down for as much time as possible. So during the feeding window, eating when you are hungry and stopping when full and not grazing all day works best. I still find I cannot have carbs or my pain is less controlled and my weight creeps back up. Other than that and some headaches while I am adjusting it is going well!
Hello cranberryt, you seem to have worked out what is right for you, do you think you will be able to keep to your eating plan?
Thank you for the info. about Dr. Fung and Gin Stephens, I have had lots of help on here, I have a lot of research to do.
I have reflux and a bleeding stomach from prednisone. I just make sure and do not eat any food after seven p.m. I stay away from soda pop. I was recently diagnosed with severe diverticulitis, which went un-diagnosed for decades. So I also stay away from nuts and corn. I see my rheumy in two weeks and am going to ask him about the depo medrol shot instead of oral prednisone. So many years on oral pred is destroying my digestive system.
The whole nightshade thing is bumpkiss unless you are allergic to that family of food.
I am allergic to ragweed so can't touch any of the herbal teas with hibiscus, which is in the ragweed family. Tears my stomach up. We are all different, and have different allergies and tolerances. What is good for one is bad for another. I tried low carb and got really sick. My blood sugar tends to bottom out easy. Potatoes are my friend.
Hello phebamom, sorry to hear that you having to deal with those problems in addition to PMR.
Thank you for helping me to understand how different we all are. Others have pointed out the same thing.
I was not able to get to a doctor during the Covid lockdown when I had the PMR symptoms. I noticed the pain would subside considerably when I did the 24 to 36 hours of fasting. After the diagnosis and prescription of Prednisone, I usually do a 18 to 20 hours of fasting. I do not restrict myself to calories counting. I eat low carb high fat diet until I am full. Because of PMR, I switch back and forth from ketogenic to carnivore diet .. Google "Dr Paul Mason low carb carnivore auto immune "
That is that is very interesting, what level of Pred did you start on?
I started at 10 mg on May 29, 9 mg on July 9, 8 mg on Aug 7
There is a lot of free information on low carb high fat diet. Dr. Jason Fung, Diet Doctor, Conferences like "low carb down under" in youtube..
CarnivoryCon2019: Dr. Paul Mason — “From Lupus to Diabetes: How Your Diet Can Impact Autoimmune..Youtube...
Hello Kulots thank you for that info. I appreciate it.
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