My life has never been a smooth ride when it comes to food. As a young teenager, I ate too much of the wrong things and became addicted to them. I tried to remedy this addiction with superficial solutions that just made my relationship with food even worse. I restricted myself then I binge ate. I tried a plant-based diet, a paleo diet, and a no-sugar diet.

Thankfully, food and I are in a great place now. I don’t overthink eating anymore. I may go overboard at times — who doesn’t? — but I generally make healthy and balanced choices.

One thing that I credit with getting me to where I am now is the practice of intermittent fasting, which restricts the time in which you can eat. It’s been linked to numerous benefits, such as reducing the risk of chronic diseases.

There are a few different forms of intermittent fasting, but I opted to eat once each day in the evening. I often skip breakfast anyway and I enjoy my food later in the day, so it seemed like the least intrusive and most convenient method.

Whilst I no longer practice intermittent fasting — other than accidentally skipping meals when I’m not hungry — it helped to change my attitude towards food and increased my mindfulness.

So, without further ado, let’s get to the most important things I learned from the process.

Quantity versus quality applies to food

When you’re eating three or more times a day, the decisions you make regarding food are very different from the ones you make when you eat only once.

When I ate multiple times a day, I’d pick up whatever was quickest, easiest, and tastiest. No individual meal or snack seemed particularly important, because I knew I’d be able to eat more later.

When you eat once a day, that one meal is much more important. My criteria for food changed. That meal had to be nutritious, balanced, and provide enough calories. I stopped worrying about eating too much and started making sure I was eating enough.

Admittedly, thinking about food in a regimented way could lead to an obsession with controlled eating for some people. I think that’s why a lot of people get uncomfortable with the idea of eating just once a day. However, for me, it had the opposite effect. It made me realize that food was a source of sustenance and not an enemy that needed to be contended with.

We mostly eat due to cues not hunger

Once I had comes to terms with the fact that my routine was to eat only in the late afternoon, I stopped expecting food earlier on in the day. And I stopped getting hungry earlier in the day too. This made me realize that most of the ‘hunger’ I had felt previously had been due to expectations and routines that I had built.

I had been eating out of habit and addiction. Not out of necessity.

Once upon a time, I’d wake up in the morning and breakfast would be one of the first thoughts in my mind. Then, after a few hours, I’d start looking at the clock again and thinking about when I could have lunch. Food was a huge part of my life and always on my mind.

As soon as I stopped expecting to eat, I stopped thinking about eating. What surprised me was that a big adjustment period wasn’t necessary — the mental switch happened almost immediately.

Food impacts my energy less than I thought

I used to think that, without regular meals, I’d be unable to concentrate.

That couldn’t be further from the truth.

When I ate more frequently, I’d get hungry more frequently. Being hungry made me groggy and tired. It was that grogginess that made me unable to concentrate. When I started eating once a day, I stopped getting hungry — so I managed to maintain a more focused state.

It would be an exaggeration to say that eating once a day gave me more energy, as some people claim. But it did prevent my energy from spiking and dropping, which I’d argue is just as good.

You don’t need to eat much for a sedentary lifestyle

I don’t count calories, but I was probably consuming less than the recommended amount when I was only eating once a day. Yet I never got hungry or tired.

Why would I? I lead a mostly sedentary lifestyle.

I think a lot of people need far fewer calories than they’re currently consuming. The quantity we really need to eat depends on lots of factors, such as muscles and height. Additionally, calorie restriction is the only proven way to extend the lifespan of many animals — it may turn out that the same is true for humans, too.

Unfortunately, so many people have an unhealthy relationship with food and calorie-counting that trying to eat less would do them more harm than good.

Eating once a day makes it easier to be mindful

When I was living alone and cooking for myself, I tended to make quick meals and eat them whilst I watching some kind of YouTube video on my phone. I knew this was a terrible routine, but that didn’t stop me.

When you’re eating once a day, it’s mentally easier to put a decent amount of time aside for that meal. Eating became more of a special occasion, so I was happy to take my time preparing a more complex meal and eating it in a more relaxed environment.

To sum up

I’d happily recommend eating once a day to try as a short experiment. It’s a useful exercise to learn about yourself and your relationship with food — the results might surprise you.

Have you been eating out of hunger or routine? Are you eating to power your body or satisfy your tastebuds? Do you truly savor your food?

However, for most people, it’s probably not sustainable to maintain this way of eating permanently. It’s inflexible and (I imagine) more difficult if you have a more active lifestyle. It may also carry more risks in the long term. But if you just want to increase your mindfulness when it comes to food, why not give it a go?