(Newser)
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Want to lose weight, but can't bear to give up french fries? Well, there might be a "diet" of sorts that lets you indulge—provided you do it early. A new study has found that eating early, and then fasting at night, could be a powerful weight-loss strategy, the LA Times reports. "We have come up with something that is a simple alternative to calorie counting," the biologist who led the study boasted.
Researchers fed mice a high-fat, high-calorie diet, but restricted half of them to eating for the first eight hours of their night (mice being most active at night), and fasting the other 16. The rest could eat any time. The restricted mice came out remarkably lean, while the other group grew obese. But obesity experts say more study is needed before recommending this eight-hour technique on humans, noting previous studies suggesting humans should eat small meals throughout the day. "I hope it's true," said one, "but I doubt it."
