13 hours.
If you’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer, letting 13 hours pass between your evening meal and the next morning’s breakfast may reduce your risk of breast cancer recurrence.
This is what a small study from the University of California, San Diego Moore Cancer Center found.
For example, if you finished dinner at 6 pm, the next morning you would hold off on breakfast until 7 am.
An extensive body of research in animals and humans shows that extending the overnight fast by a few hours can help “tune” your metabolism. By “metabolism,” I’m referring to your body’s ability to use foods and other nutrients to fuel and repair itself. In the study mentioned above, women who fasted at least 13 hours each night processed glucose better than those women who dug into breakfast 12 hours or less after supper.
During fasting, each of your cells seeks out abnormal structures to burn for fuel. Think of fasting as metabolic housekeeping, and consider putting plenty of space between supper and breakfast.
For instance, if you finish supper at 6 PM, let 7 AM come around before you dig into breakfast. Your mitochondria will repay you by making your cells more cancer-resistant.