Excellent article, and I totally concur. I switched from a low-carb diet to a whole-food plant-based diet, and the first thing I noticed was how filling it is. I had to cut back on the amount of food I prepared because I just could not eat it all.

I had assumed that fat and protein, being slower to digest than carbohydrates (especially refined carbohydrates), were what extended satiation, but of course dietary fiber (a carbohydrate) is not digested at all, serving as a prebiotic to nourish the gut microbiome, and since I refrigerate intact whole grain after cooking it, that starch becomes resistant and slow to digest.

A few months after switching to the WFPB diet, I started restricting my food intake to a four-hour window (for me, from 10:00am to 2:00pm). It was surprisingly easy. When 10:00am rolls around, I am ready to eat something, but I am by no means ravenous — just peckish.

It helps that I long ago abandoned refined and processed foods. (I’m a type 2 diabetic.) I had given up refined sugar and any foods that contain it, fruit juice (though I do eat whole fruit three times a day), and flour and foods made from it (bread, pasta, bagels, and so on). I do eat grain, but only intact whole grain. I discovered that potatoes and rice spike my blood glucose, so I don’t eat them. I do eat cooked beans or lentils three times a day.

Because my diet consists of foods high in dietary fiber and includes no refined foods, time-restricted eating turned out to be easy. If someone finds it difficult, I recommend that they consider including more whole plant-based foods in their diet.