Updated

Updated · The Guardian · Sep 22

Harvard's Daniel Lieberman Scrutinizes 4 Diet Trends in 'Fed Up' as Social Media Fuels Confusion

Updated

Updated · The Guardian · Sep 22

Harvard's Daniel Lieberman Scrutinizes 4 Diet Trends in 'Fed Up' as Social Media Fuels Confusion

Q: After testing the most hyped diets, which single eating habit did a Harvard evolutionary expert actually keep in his routine?

The one habit Daniel Lieberman said he actually kept was **intermittent fasting, specifically a time-restricted eating pattern**. In the Guardian Science podcast, after testing a range of fashionable diets himself, Lieberman said this was the approach that stayed in his routine. That fits with his broader message that extreme or highly restrictive diets often generate more hype than evidence, while simpler, sustainable habits can be more useful in real life. His wider view, drawn from both evolutionary anthropology and nutrition research, is not that intermittent fasting is a miracle cure. Rather, he presents it as one practical pattern that some people can maintain, unlike more punishing regimens such as raw food or very low-carb plans he found difficult. The broader evidence he discusses suggests fasting may offer modest benefits for weight and metabolic health, but it is not clearly superior to other sound eating patterns if total diet quality is poor. So the single eating habit he kept was **limiting his eating to a defined daily window — a form of intermittent fasting**.

1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Sep 22

Daniel Lieberman uses his new book "Fed Up" to examine popular diets including paleo, keto, raw food and intermittent fasting, arguing that social media hype has outpaced scientific evidence.
Harvard's evolutionary anthropologist says he tested several regimens on himself as a guinea pig, using that experience alongside research to assess what, if anything, actually works.
In a Guardian Science Weekly podcast, Lieberman tells host Ian Sample that one of those approaches has stayed in his routine, framing the book as a guide through competing diet claims.