It appears that there are now multiple reasons for not eating at night. Women have known for a long time that it's better to eat something "bad" that you want while there's time to start burning it off. Resisting nighttime snacking is also important because eating carbs close to bed makes some people fall asleep hard, and then wake up -- usually hungry -- several hours later. Dairy before bed apparently can contribute to snoring!

But now we're seeing signs that our ancestors ate their last big meal before the sun set, and then did not eat until 16 hours later. And that may have to do with why they were mostly a slender people. Simply put, your liver may need to rest. And allowing it to rest during your "recharge" hours may make it burn calories more efficiently at other times.

I know several people who have been slowly but steadily losing weight on this system. The hardest part for me is that I literally forget to eat until later in the evening. Or I don't get around to breakfast, so I eat lunch at 3 pm, and there you are -- the day is pushed back.

But since the sun doesn't set until after 8 pm, as long as I don't eat breakfast until noon, that might still work! I've been trying to stop anything other than water or coconut water after 7 pm, so this is just another step in a better direction.

Advantages? You get to eat meals with higher fat and calories IF you then don't eat anything from 6 at night until 9 the next morning. I did watch a woman at work lost 25 pounds by not eating after 5 pm, and having one big salad a day as her only required food -- otherwise she just varied healthy choices as her food selections. That definitely worked for her.

Wouldn't it be incredible if it could work for most of us, or even all of us? Has this been the missing explanation of why meat and potatoes did not cause most people to get fat -- not just work, but real rest of the entire system?

PS -- magnesium supplements help when I'm having sugar or chocolate cravings. I really like ones that have more than one form of magnesium in them, like Vital Nutrients Triple Mag 250 mg. It contains oxide, dimagnesium malate and glycinate forms of magnesium. Magnesium depletion is almost always at the root of my cravings. Water soluble, and we burn it when stressed -- make sense?