Since one of my principles is: "Eat breakfast as if you were a king, lunch as if you were a prince and supper as if you are a poor man" the following study surprised me. But, none the less, you have to be open minded to learn new things. So here it goes…

One hundred obese policeman (BMI above 30) from Tel-Aviv district participated in this research. The policemen that participated in this research were mostly office ones and not field ones. Totally, during the half year study these policemen lost more than a ton (1000 kg) of their weight.

In the beginning of the study the policemen were divided into two groups. The research group, which followed a special diet plan. This diet plan besides being a regular diet (controls calorie intake), has one "big" meal during the day and it's in the evening. And the control group that keeps regular diet (controls calorie intake). Each policeman received a diet plan from a dietitian and the food in the dining room was also adjusted.

Sigal Sofer, head dietitian of this study, told: "the idea for the study came from researches that were made on Muslims during the Ramadan post [^1]. These researches found that Leptin hormone level, "fullness" hormone, were high during the day. These research outcomes lead to a theory that the suggested dietitian plan will cause similar changes. Which is "fullness" feeling during the day and by doing this it will allow keeping a diet for longer periods."

Usually Leptin hormone level is low during the day and high during the night, opposite to Ghrelin, "hunger" hormone, that's secreted at bigger amounts during the day and at lower ones at night. This causes us to feel hungry during the day. The dietarian change got the opposite result - fullness during the day hours.

According to Sofer, "the main idea is moderate eating during the day, while dinner is the main meal and it's mainly composed of carbs. During the day the policemen ate everything except bread, pasta, rice, fruits and sweets. In the evening they've ate a bigger meal that included carbs, such as bread, rice, pasta with proteins, vegetables and even a dessert (a fruit or low fat ice cream).

The study showed greater weight loss per the study group than per the control one. Average weight loss in the control group was 9.1kg. While the average weight loss in research group was 11.6 kg. The average abdominal circumference decrease was 11.7cm against 9.4 cm in the control group. Also, the fat percentage decrease was 7% compared to 5% per the control group. All participants showed improved health: the cholesterol levels and the blood sugar levels were improved. The research group showed better result.

According to Sofer: "this diet plan can be an alternative per obese people, heart risk group or diabetes, that haven't succeeded in dieting so far."

If you tried regular diets and found out that it's hard for you to keep up because of hunger level, you can try moving some carb portions/calories from day time to evening and see if it has any effect. But before starting any diet please review general nutrition principles. Frequent eating (one of the most important principles) should cause you feeling satiated.


[1] Ramadan post lasts about a month and during this period eating during sunlight is forbidden. Thus, people eat early in the morning and late at night.