Time-Restricted Eating (TRE)

Time-restricted eating is a form of intermittent fasting in which all of the day's food is eaten within a set window, with the remaining hours spent fasting. It is a daily pattern, which sets it apart from approaches that fast on only some days or for longer continuous stretches. A common example confines eating to an eight-hour window and fasts for the other sixteen.

The defining feature of time-restricted eating is that the eating window recurs on a consistent daily schedule, which is part of why it appeals to many people as a routine. Keeping the window in the same part of the day allows the body a predictable daily fasting period, during which insulin falls and the body draws on stored fuel before the next window opens.

Because it aligns eating with a regular daily rhythm, time-restricted eating is sometimes studied in connection with the body's circadian rhythm, the internal clock that governs many daily biological cycles. Specific daily schedules, such as the 16:8 method, are particular versions of this broader approach.